Hongkui Zeng, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Structured Science
Hongkui Zeng joined the Allen Institute for Brain Science in 2006. She currently leads the Structured Science Division to develop and operate high-throughput pipelines to generate large-scale, open-access datasets and tools to accelerate neuroscience discovery. Since joining the Allen Institute, she has also led several research programs, including the Transgenic Technology program, the Human Cortex Gene Survey project, the Allen Mouse Brain Connectivity Atlas project, and the Mouse Cell Types and Connectivity program. Zeng received her Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from Brandeis University, where she studied the molecular mechanisms of the circadian clock in fruit flies. Then as a postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she studied the molecular and synaptic mechanisms underlying hippocampus-dependent plasticity and learning. Her current research interests are in understanding neuronal diversity and connectivity in the mouse visual cortical circuit and how different neuronal types work together to process and transform visual information. She has broad scientific experience and a keen interest in using a combined molecular, anatomical and physiological approach to unravel mechanisms of brain circuitry and potential means for treating brain diseases.
Research
Research Interests
The brain circuit is an intricately interconnected network of a vast number of neurons with diverse molecular, anatomical and physiological properties. To understand the principles of information processing in the brain circuit, it is essential to have a systematic understanding of the common and unique properties for each of its components - the neuronal cell types, to monitor their activities while the brain is processing information, and to have the ability to manipulate these neurons to investigate their functions in the brain circuit. Combining genetic tools with large-scale imaging and single-cell analysis technologies presents us with the opportunity to gain systematic understanding of the properties, interconnections and functions of these cell types. My team at the Allen Institute for Brain Science has been building multiple platforms, including single-cell transcriptomics, single and multi-patching electrophysiology, 3D reconstruction of neuronal morphology, high throughput brain-wide connectivity mapping, neuronal activity imaging, and cell type-targeted transgenic and viral to characterize the transcriptomic, physiological, morphological, and connectional properties of different types of neurons in a standardized way, towards a taxonomy of cell types and a description of their connectivity matrix for mouse brain circuits such as the visual cortico-thalamic system. Building such knowledge base lays the foundation towards the understanding of the computational mechanisms of brain circuit function.
Expertise
- Molecular neuroscience
- Genetics
- Neuroanatomy
- Behavior
Research Programs
- Cell Types
- Connectivity
- Atlasing
Selected Publications View on PUBMED
Flexible Learning-Free Segmentation and Reconstruction of Neural Volumes
Scientific Reports
September 28, 2018
Shahbazi A, Kinnison J, Vescovi R, Du M, Hill R, Joesch M, Takeno M, Zeng H, da Costa NM, Grutzendler J, Kasthuri N, Scheirer WJ
Sparse recurrent excitatory connectivity in the microcircuit of the adult mouse and human cortex
eLife
September 26, 2018
Seeman SC, Campagnola L, Davoudian PA, Hoggarth A, Hage TA, Bosma-Moody A, Baker CA, Lee, JH, Mihalas S, Teeter C, Ko AL, Ojemann JG, Gwinn RP, Silbergeld DL, Cobbs C, Phillips J, Lein E, Murphy G, Koch C, Zeng H, Jarsky T
Enteroendocrine cells switch hormone expression along the crypt-to-villus BMP signalling gradient
Nature Cell Biology
July 23, 2018
Beumer J, Artegiani B, Post Y, Reimann F, Fiona Gribble, Nguyen TN, Zeng H, den Born MV, Van Es JH, Clevers H
Classification of electrophysiological and morphological types in mouse visual cortex
bioRxiv
July 17, 2018
Gouwens NW, Sorensen SA, Berg J, Lee C, Jarsky T, Ting J, Sunkin S, Feng D, Anastassiou C, Barkan E, Bickley K, Blesie N, Braun T, Brouner K, Budzillo A, Caldejon S, Casper T, Castelli D, Chong P, Crichton K, Cuhaciyan C, Daigle T, Dalley R, Dee N, Desta T, Dingman S, Doperalski A, Dotson N, Egdorf T, Fisher M, de Frates RA, Garren E, Garwood M, Gary A, Gaudreault N, Godfrey K, Gorham M, Gu H, Habel C, Hadley K, Harrington J, Harris J, Henry A, Hill D, Josephsen S, Kebede S, Kim L, Kroll M, Lee B, Lemon T, Liu X, Long B, Mann R, McGraw M, Mihalas S, Mukora A, Murphy GJ, Ng L, Ngo K, Nguyen TN, Nicovich PR, Oldre A, Park D, Parry S, Perkins J, Potekhina L, Reid D, Robertson M, Sandman D, Schroedter M, Slaughterbeck C, Soler-Llavina C, Sulc J, Szafer A, Tasic B, Taskin N, Teeter C, Thatra N, Tung H, Wakeman W, Williams G, Young R, Zhou Z, Farrell C, Peng H, Hawrylycz MJ, Lein E, Ng L, Arkhipov A, Bernard A, Phillips J, Zeng H, Koch C
Cell
July 12, 2018
Daigle TL, Madisen L, Hage TA, Valley MT, Knoblich U, Larsen RS, Takeno MM, Huang L, Gu H, Larsen R, Mills M, Bosma-Moody A, Siverts LA, Walker M, Graybuck LT, Yao Z, Fong O, Nguyen TN, Garren E, Lenz GH, Chavarha M, Pendergraft J, Harrington J, Hirokawa KE, Harris JA, Nicovich PR, McGraw MJ, Ollerenshaw DR, Smith KA, Baker CA, Ting JT, Sunkin SM, Lecoq J, Lin MZ2, Boyden ES, Murphy GJ, da Costa NM, Waters J, Li L, Tasic B, Zeng H
bioRxiv
June 29, 2018
de Vries S, Lecoq J, Buice MA, Groblewski PA, Ocker GK, Oliver M, Feng F, Cain N, Ledochowitsch P, Millman D, Roll K, Garrett M, Keenan T, Kuan L, Mihalas S, Olsen S, Thompson C, Wakeman W, Waters J, Williams D, Barber C, Berbesque N, Blanchard B, Bowles N, Caldejon S, Casal L, Cho A, Cross S, Dang C, Dolbeare T, Edwards M, Galbraith J, Gaudreault N, Griffin F, Hargrave P, Howard R, Huang L, Jewell S, Keller N, Knoblich U, Larkin J, Larsen R, Lau C, Lee E, Lee F, Leon A, Li L, Long F, Luviano J, Mace K, Nguyen T, Perkins J, Robertson M, Seid S, Shea-Brown E, Shi J, Sjoquist N, Slaughterbeck C, Sullivan D, Valenza R, White C, Williford A, Witten D, Zhuang J, Zeng H, Farrell C, Ng L, Bernard A, Phillips JW, R Reid C, Koch C
PLOS | Biology
June 26, 2018
Roselló-Díez A , Madisen L, Bastide S, Zeng H, Joyner AL
The organization of intracortical connections by layer and cell class in the mouse brain
bioRxiv
April 18, 2018
Harris JA, Mihalas S, Hirokawa KE, Whitesell JD, Knox J, Bernard A, Bohn P, Caldejon S, Casal L, Cho A, Feng D, Gaudreault N, Gerfen C, Graddis N, Groblewski PA, Henry A, Ho A, Howard R, Kuan L, Lecoq J, Luviano J, McConoughey S, Mortrud M, Naeemi M, Ng L, Oh SW, Ouellette B, Sorensen SA, Wakeman W, Wang Q, Williford A, Phillips J, Jones A, Koch C, Zeng H
High resolution data-driven model of the mouse connectome
bioRxiv
April 1, 2018
Knox J, Harris KD, Graddis N, Whitesell JD, Zeng H, Harris JA, Shea-Brown E, Mihalas S
Nontoxic, double-deletion-mutant rabies viral vectors for retrograde targeting of projection neurons
Nature Neuroscience
March 5, 2018
Chatterjee S, Sullivan H, MacLennan BJ, Xu R, Hou Y, Lavin TK, Lea N, Michalski J, Babcock K, Dietrich S, Matthews GA, Beyeler A, Calhoon GG, Glober G, Whitesell J, Yao S, Cetin A, Harris J, Zeng H, Tye K, Reid RC, Wickersham IR
Systematic generation of biophysically detailed models for diverse cortical neuron types
Nature Communications
February 19, 2018
Gouwens NW, Berg J, Feng D, Sorensen SA, Zeng H, Hawrylycz MJ, Koch C, and Arkhipov A
Distinct descending motor cortex pathways and their roles in movement
Nature
October 31, 2018
Economo MN, Viswanathan S, Tasic B, Bas E, Winnubst J, Menon V, Graybuck LT, Nguyen TN, Smith KA, Yao Z, Wang L, Gerfen CR, Chandrashekar J, Zeng H, Looger LL, Svoboda K
Shared and distinct transcriptomic cell types across neocortical areas
Nature
October 31, 2018
Tasic B, Yao Z, Graybuck LT, Smith KA, Nguyen TN, Bertagnolli D, Goldy J, Garren E, Economo MN, Viswanathan S, Penn O, Bakken T, Menon V, Miller J, Fong O, Hirokawa KE, Lathia K, Rimorin C, Tieu M, Larsen R, Casper T, Barkan E, Kroll M, Parry S, Shapovalova NV, Hirschstein D, Pendergraft J, Sullivan HA, Kim TK, Szafer A, Dee N, Groblewski P, Wickersham I, Cetin A, Harris JA, Levi BP, Sunkin SM, Madisen L, Daigle TL, Looger L, Bernard A, Phillips J, Lein E, Hawrylycz M, Svoboda K, Jones AR, Koch C, Zeng H
The Markov link method: a nonparametric approach to combine observations from multiple experiments
bioRxiv
October 30, 2018
Loper J, Bakken T, Sumbul U, Murphy G, Zeng H, Bleib D, Paninski L
Neuronal cell-type classification: challenges, opportunities and the path forward
Nature Reviews Neuroscience
September 2017
Zeng H, Sanes JR
Neuron
November 1, 2017
Ecker JR, Geschwind DH, Kriegstein AR, Ngai J, Osten P, Polioudakis D, Regev A, Sestan N, Wickersham IR, Zeng H
Adult mouse cortical cell taxonomy revealed by single cell transcriptomics
Nature Neuroscience
January 4, 2016
Tasic B, Menon V, Nguyen TN, Kim TK, Jarsky T, Yao Z, Levi B1, Gray LT, Sorensen SA, Dolbeare T, Bertagnolli D, Goldy J, Shapovalova N, Parry S, Lee C, Smith K, Bernard A, Madisen L, Sunkin SM, Hawrylycz M, Koch C, Zeng H
Connectional architecture of a mouse hypothalamic circuit node controlling social behavior
bioRxiv
October 16, 2016
Lo L, Kim D, Yao S, Cetin A, Harris JA, Zeng H, Anderson DJ, Weissbourd B
Neuron
March 4, 2015
Madisen L, Garner AR, Shimaoka D, Chuong AS, Klapoetke NC, Li L, van der Bourg A, Niino Y, Egolf L, Monetti C, Gu H, Mills M, Cheng A, Tasic B, Nguyen TN, Sunkin SM, Benucci A, Nagy A, Miyawaki A, Helmchen F, Empson RM, Knöpfel T, Boyden ES, Reid RC, Carandini M, Zeng H
A mesoscale connectome of the mouse brain
Nature
April 2, 2014
Oh SW, Harris JA, Ng L, Winslow B, Cain N, Mihalas S, Wang Q, Lau C, Kuan L, Henry AM, Mortrud MT, Ouellette B, Nguyen TN, Sorensen SA, Slaughterbeck CR, Wakeman W, Li Y, Feng D, Ho A, Nicholas E, Hirokawa KE, Bohn P, Joines KM, Peng H, Hawrylycz MJ, Phillips JW, Hohmann JG, Wohnoutka P, Gerfen CR, Koch C, Bernard A, Dang C, Jones AR, Zeng H
Genetic approaches to neural circuits in the mouse
Annual Review of Neuroscience
May 17, 2013
Huang JZ & Zeng H
Cell
April 13, 2012
Zeng H, Shen EH, Hohmann JG, Oh SW, Bernard A, Royall JJ, Glattfelder KJ, Sunkin SM, Morris JA, Guillozet-Bongaarts AL, Smith KA, Ebbert AJ, Swanson B, Kuan L, Page DT, Overly CC, Lein ES, Hawrylycz MJ, Hof PR, Hyde TM, Kleinman JE, Jones AR
A toolbox of Cre-dependent optogenetic transgenic mice for light-induced activation and silencing
Nature Neuroscience
March 25, 2012
Madisen L, Mao T, Koch H, Zhuo J, Berenyi A, Fujisawa S, Hsu YW, Garcia AJ, Gu X, Zanella S, Kidney J, Gu H, Mao Y, Hooks BM, Boyden ES, Buzsáki G, Ramirez JM, Jones AR, Svoboda K, Han X, Turner EE, Zeng H
A robust and high-throughput Cre reporting and characterization system for the whole mouse brain
Nature Neuroscience
December 20, 2010
Madisen L, Zwingman TA, Sunkin SM, Oh SW, Zariwala HA, Gu H, Ng LL, Palmiter RD, Hawrylycz MJ, Jones AR, Lein ES, Zeng H