Professor Mu-ming Poo obtained his Ph.D in biophysics from Johns Hopkins University in 1974. He did postdoctoral research at Purdue University, and later served on the faculty of University of California at Irvine, Yale University School of Medicine, Columbia University, UCSD, and University of California, Berkeley.

Professor Poo is currently the Scientific Director of Institute of Neuroscience of Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), an institute he had served as the founding director during 1999 to 2019. 

Professor Poo’s research interests center around the development and plasticity of the brain. He has made seminal contributions to our understanding of nerve growth, synapse development and synaptic plasticity.

Professor Poo was awarded Ameritec Prize in 2002, International Science & Technology Cooperation Award of China in 2005, Qiushi Distinguished Scientist Award in 2011, CAS Distinguished Science and Technology Achievement Award in 2013 and Gruber Neuroscience Prize in 2016.

Professor Poo has served on the editorial boards of more than 10 scientific journals, and is currently the executive editor of National Science Review. Professor Poo has served on the scientific advisory board for many institutions, including Brain Science Institute of RIKEN in Japan, Korean National Neuroscience Institute, Academia Sinica’s Institute of Molecular Biology, and institute of Biomedical Sciences,  National Tsing Hua University and Yang Ming University in Taiwan, Queensland Brain Institute in Australia, Neurospin Brain Imaging Center in Paries, Lundbeck Foundation Brain Prize Committee, International Brain Initiative, International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) External Review Committee, and SpatioTemporal Omic Consortium (STOC) Organizing Committee. 
 

1. Postdoctoral Fellow, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, and Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University (1974 – 1976)
2. Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California at Irvine (1976 – 1979)
3. Associate Professor, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California at Irvine (1979 – 1983)
4. Professor, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California at Irvine (1983 – 1985) 
5. Research Professor, Section of Molecular Neurobiology, Yale University Medical School (1985 – 1988)
6. Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Columbia University (1988 - 1995)
7. Stephen W. Kuffler Professor in Neurobiology, University of California at San Diego (1996 – 2000)
8. Professor of Neurobiology, Class of 1933 Chair, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley (2000 – 2005)
9. Head, Division of Neurobiology, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley (2002 – 2007)
10. Paul Licht Distinguished Professor in Biology, U.C. Berkeley (2005 – 2015)
11. Paul Licht Distinguished Professor in Biology Emeritus, U. C. Berkeley (2015 – present)
12. Director, Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai (1999 – 2019)
13. Scienfific Director, Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (2019 – present)

Awards and Honors

1. Javitz Neuroscience Investigator Award of NIH (1998) 
2. Academician, Academia Sinica. Taiwan (2000) 
3. Fellow, American Association for Advancement of Science (2001) 
4. Ameritec Prize for Paralysis Research (2002) 
5. Ray Wu Society Distinguished Scientist Award (2002) 
6. Docteur Honoris Causa, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris (2003) 
7. P.R.China International Science & Technology Cooperation Award (2005) 
8. Member, US National Academy of Sciences (2009), International member (since 2017) 
9. Qiu-shi Distinguished Scientist Award, Hong Kong (2010) 
10. Member, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2011) 
11. Distinguished Research Accomplishment Award, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2012) 
12. Honorary Doctorate in Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2014) 
13. Founding Member, Academy of Science of Hong Kong (2014) 
14. Distinguished Visiting Professor, Institute of Advanced Studies, HKUST (2016-2017) 
15. Gruber Neuroscience Prize (2016)
16. Inaugural Sherrington Lecture Award, Oxford University (2018)
17. 20th Stephen Kuffler Lectures, University of California at San Diego (2018)
18. Docteur Honoris Causa, Claude Bernard University of Lyon, France (2019) 

Professional Titles and Membership

1. Member (academician), Chinese Academy of Sciences
2. International member, US National Academy of Science
3. Member, Society for Neuroscience (US)

Advisory Boards and Committees

1. Developmental Neuroscience Panel, National Science Foundation (1985 - 1988) 
2. Cell Biology and Physiology Study Section, National Institutes of Health (1989 - 1993) 
3. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Preparatory Committee (1989 - 1991) 
4. Long-term Fellowship Review Board, Human Frontier Science Program (1997 -1999) 
5. Brain Research Center, University System of Taiwan (2002 - 2007) 
6. Advisory Board, Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica (2002 - present), Chair (2008 - 2013) 
7. Advisory Council, Brain Science Institute, RIKEN, Tokyo (2002 - 2014) 
8. Neuroscience School Board of lnternational Brain Research Organization (2001- 2007) 
9. Advisory Council of National Yang Ming University, Taiwan (2004 - present) and National Tsinghua University, Taiwan (2005 - present) 
10. Peter Gruber Foundation Neuroscience Selection Advisory Board (2003 - 2004) 
11. Friedrich Miescher Institute, Switzerland (2006 - 2010) 
12. Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica (2007 - 2011) 
13. National Center for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, India (2007- 2010) 
14. Ralph Gerald Neuroscience Award Committee (2008 – 2010) 
15. Scientific Advisory Board, Biotherapeutics & Bioinnovation Center, Pfizer (2008 - 2009) 
16. Scientific Advisory Board, Grand Challenges in Global Mental Health (2009 -  present) 
17. International Brain Research Organization Program Committee (2009 - present) 
18. Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Review Committee (2011 - 2012) 
19. Howard Hughes Medical Institute Collaborative Innovation Award Program Committee (2012) 
20. Scientific Advisory Board, National Institute of Neuroscience, Korea (2012-  present) and Brain Science Institute, Korean Institute of Science and Technology (2012 - present) 
21. Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica (2012 - present) 
22. Queensland Brain Institute (2015 - present) 
23. Neurospin Brain Imaging Center, France (2017 - present) 
24. Brain Prize Committee, Lundbeck Foundation (2017-2024) 
25. International Brain Initiative (2018-)
26. International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) External Review Committee (2018)
27. Strategic Consulting Committee of Shanghai Government on Artificial Intelligence (2020-2023)
28. Hong Kong University Medical School Review Committee (2022)
29. SpatioTemporal Omic Consortium (STOC) Organizing Committee (2023-present) 
30. InnoHK Scientific Committee (2022-present)

Editorial Boards

1. Journal of Cell Biology (1994 - 2001)
2. Neuron (1999 - present)
3. Journal of Neuroscience (1999 - 2004)
4. Journal of Biomedical Sciences (1994 - 1999)
5. NeuroSignals (2001 - present)
6. Editor, Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications (2003 - 2009)
7. Current Opinions in Neurobiology (2004 - 2010) 
8. Network (2005 - 2011) 
9. Progress in Neurobiology (2005 - present)
10. Experimental Neurology (2006 - present)
11. Neural Development (2006 - present)
12. Journal of Physiology (2006 - present)
13. Editor, Developmental Neurobiology (2008 - present)
14. Journal of Biology (2009 - 2010)
15. BMC Biology (2010 - present)
16. Neuroscience Bulletin, Advisory Editor (2011 - present)
17. Faculty 1000 International Scientific Advisory Board (2015 - present)
18. National Science Review, Executive Editor-in-Chief (2013 - present)

Five Major Publications

1. Lohof, A., Ip, N. and Poo, M-m. Potentiation of developing neuromuscular synapses by the neurotrophins NT-3 and BDNF. Nature 363: 350-353 (1993).
2. Bi, Q. and Poo, M-m. Synaptic modifications in cultured hippocampal neurons: dependence on spike timing, synaptic strength, and postsynaptic cell type. J Neurosci. 18: 10464-104 72 (1998).
3. Song, H-j., Ming, G-1., He, Z, Lehmann, M., McKerracher, L., Tessier-Lagvine, M., and Poo, M-m. Conversion of neuronal growth cone responses from repulsion to attraction by cyclic nucleotides. Science, 281: 1515-1518. (1998)
4. Yang Y, Liu D-q, Sun Y-g, Zuo Y, Poo M. Selective synaptic remodeling of amygdalocortical connections associated with fear memory. Nat. Neurosci. 19:1348-55. (2016)
5. Liu Z., Cai Y., Yan W., Nie Y., Zhang C, Xu Y., Zhang X., Lu Y, Wang Z, Poo, M-m., Sun Q. Cloning of Macaque Monkeys by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, Cell 172:881-887. (2018)