PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (PI)
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Dr. Weizhe Hong
Professor Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine Department of Biological Chemistry, David Geffen School of Medicine Department of Bioengineering, Samueli School of Engineering University of California, Los Angeles PhD Program affiliations:
Neuroscience PhD Program Bioengineering PhD Program Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology PhD Program Bioinformatics PhD Program |
Dr. Weizhe Hong is a Professor of Neurobiology, Biological Chemistry, and Bioengineering at the University of California, Los Angeles. After earning his Ph.D. in 2012 from Stanford University and completing his postdoctoral training at California Institute of Technology, Dr. Hong started his lab at UCLA as an Assistant Professor in 2016. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2020 and to Full Professor in 2023.
Dr. Hong investigates the fundamental neural mechanisms underlying social behavior in both biological (mice) and artificial intelligence systems, with a focus on empathy and prosociality. Using a multidisciplinary approach that integrates behavioral paradigms with genetic, circuit-level, and computational tools, he was among the first to demonstrate that mice exhibit comforting behavior to reduce other’s emotional distress (Wu et al. 2021 Nature), targeted helping behavior to attend to others' injuries or pain (Zhang et al. 2024 Nature), and rescue-like behavior to facilitate the recovery of an responsive animal (Sun et al. 2025 Science). Using these behavioral models, he has identified key neural pathways in the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex that specifically encode and control these behaviors.
In addition to mechanisms within a single brain, he was among the first to demonstrate that animals exhibit inter-brain neural correlations between interacting individuals (Kingsbury et al., 2019, Cell). Beyond biological systems, his research further extends to understanding emergent social behaviors between artificial intelligence systems.
Dr. Hong's work has been recognized by many honors and awards, including a Young Investigator Award from the Society for Neuroscience, an Early Career Award from the Society for Social Neuroscience, a Mallinckrodt Scholar Award, a Vallee Scholar Award, a Searle Scholar Award, a Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering, a McKnight Scholar Award, a Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship, and a Sloan Research Fellowship.
Dr. Hong investigates the fundamental neural mechanisms underlying social behavior in both biological (mice) and artificial intelligence systems, with a focus on empathy and prosociality. Using a multidisciplinary approach that integrates behavioral paradigms with genetic, circuit-level, and computational tools, he was among the first to demonstrate that mice exhibit comforting behavior to reduce other’s emotional distress (Wu et al. 2021 Nature), targeted helping behavior to attend to others' injuries or pain (Zhang et al. 2024 Nature), and rescue-like behavior to facilitate the recovery of an responsive animal (Sun et al. 2025 Science). Using these behavioral models, he has identified key neural pathways in the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex that specifically encode and control these behaviors.
In addition to mechanisms within a single brain, he was among the first to demonstrate that animals exhibit inter-brain neural correlations between interacting individuals (Kingsbury et al., 2019, Cell). Beyond biological systems, his research further extends to understanding emergent social behaviors between artificial intelligence systems.
Dr. Hong's work has been recognized by many honors and awards, including a Young Investigator Award from the Society for Neuroscience, an Early Career Award from the Society for Social Neuroscience, a Mallinckrodt Scholar Award, a Vallee Scholar Award, a Searle Scholar Award, a Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering, a McKnight Scholar Award, a Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship, and a Sloan Research Fellowship.
Positions:
2023–now Professor, Departments of Biological Chemistry / Neurobiology / Bioengineering, UCLA
2020–2023 Associate Professor, Departments of Biological Chemistry / Neurobiology, UCLA
2016–2020 Assistant Professor, Departments of Biological Chemistry / Neurobiology, UCLA
Education/training:
2012–2015 Postdoc California Institute of Technology
2006–2012 Ph.D. Stanford University
2002–2006 B.S. Tsinghua University
Recent awards:
2023 H. W. Magoun Distinguished Lectureship, UCLA
2021 John H. Walsh Young Investigator Research Prize, UCLA
2021 W. M. Keck Foundation Junior Faculty Award
2020 Young Investigator Award, Society for Neuroscience
2020 Vallee Scholar Award, The Vallee Foundation
2020 Mallinckrodt Scholar Award (the 69th Mallinckrodt Scholar), The Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation
2019 Early Career Award, Society for Social Neuroscience
2019 McKnight Scholar Award, McKnight Foundation
2018 Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
2018 Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship Award
2017 Searle Scholar Award, Searle Scholars Program
2017 Sloan Research Fellowship, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
2016 NARSAD Young Investigator Award, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation
2016 Whitehall Foundation Grant
2013 Helen Hay Whitney Fellowship
2013 Category Winner in Developmental Biology, Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientist
2013 Larry Sandler Memorial Award, Genetics Society of America
2012 Larry Katz Memorial Lecture, Cold Spring Harbor Meeting in Neural Circuits