Research Summary:
Research in the laboratory of Professor Theodore Ho focuses on discovering new mechanisms of brain aging and neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s disease. How exactly do neural activity dynamics and computation change over time to cause cognitive decline and loss of learning and memory abilities? How might aberrantly altered neural activity be precisely targeted to restore proper neural processing and encoding and cognitive function? And how can we translate these discoveries into new, noninvasive treatments to restore cognitive abilities like learning and memory in elderly and Alzheimer's disease patients?
To address these questions, the Ho lab leverages state of the art, cutting-edge systems neuroscience techniques such as two-photon single-neuron resolution activity imaging during cognitive behaviors in mice, machine-learning approaches for large-scale data analyses, spatially and temporally precise optogenetic neural activity modulation and interventions, and neuron projection tracing with whole-brain 3D tissue-clearing and imaging. The lab aims to discover high-resolution, fundamental insights about aging and neurodegenerative disease—across scales from single-cell activity and molecular mechanisms to brain-wide cellular biology and organism-level behavior and cognitive function—and directly translate them into effective new, innovative, and precise noninvasive treatments in the clinic.
About Professor Ho:
Professor Ho completed a joint A.B./S.M. degree program at Harvard University in Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology/Bioengineering, where he studied stem cell biology and developed a novel nanoparticle drug delivery system. He received his Ph.D. in Biophysics from UCSF working with leading stem cell biologist Dr. Emmanuelle Passegué, where he discovered novel mechanisms of stem cell aging, uncovered new roles of autophagy in controlling cell fate and function, and leveraged longevity paradigms and interventions to uncouple cell-intrinsic stem cell aging from systemic organismal aging.
Professor Ho then conducted his postdoctoral work in systems neuroscience with renowned optogenetics pioneer Dr. Karl Deisseroth at Stanford University, as an HHMI/Jane Coffin Childs and NIH K99 Postdoctoral Fellow, where he discovered new neural mechanisms of cognitive decline during aging and Alzheimer’s disease progression, and developed spatiotemporally precise optogenetic approaches to fully restore neural encoding and learning abilities in Alzheimer’s disease-related model mice. Professor Ho has received many awards, fellowships, and grants, such as Forbes 30 Under 30 selection and a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award. He has published highly-cited work in leading journals such as Nature, Science, Cell Stem Cell, and Nature Cell Biology. He is deeply committed to mentorship and supporting his trainees and students in all aspects of their education and professional development.
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