Lulu Y. Chen

Biography

Lulu Y. Chen, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine. Chen received her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Irvine, where she studied synaptic mechanisms underlying long-term potentiation and memory consolidation. She completed postdoctoral training at Stanford University in the laboratory of Thomas C. Südhof, where she investigated the molecular organization of synapses and the role of synaptic adhesion molecules in neural circuit function.

Chen's research focuses on synaptic mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly autism spectrum disorder and epilepsy. Her laboratory examines how neurexins, a family of synaptic adhesion molecules, regulate neurotransmitter release and synaptic plasticity in hippocampal and striatal circuits. Chen has demonstrated that conditional deletion of neurexin-2 leads to spontaneous recurrent seizures and impairs behavioral flexibility, establishing a direct link between synaptic dysfunction and neuropsychiatric phenotypes. Her work also investigates how early life adversity affects corticostriatal circuits and goal-directed behaviors in a sex-dependent manner.

Chen serves as Associate Course Director for the Histology course in the first-year medical curriculum at UC Irvine and is an Executive Committee Member of the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program. She has mentored over 46 undergraduate students and trained two Ph.D. students who have received multiple fellowships, including NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards. Chen's research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, including an R01 award from NINDS as Multiple Principal Investigator to develop gene therapy for lissencephaly-related epilepsy.

Education

• BS in Biology/Physiology, California State University, Long Beach, 2004
• PhD in Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, 2009

Distinctions