About

Kang Shen is the Vincent V.C. Woo Director of the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute and holds the titles of Frank Lee and Carol Hall Professor and Professor of Biology and of Pathology at Stanford University. He earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Cellular Neuroscience from Duke University in 1999 and his MD from Tongji Medical University in China in 1994. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of synapse formation, with primary affiliations in Developmental Biology and Neuroscience. His work aims to elucidate the cellular and molecular processes underlying neural development and connectivity.

Research topics

• Biology
• Cell biology
• Neuroscience
• Genetics
• Biochemistry
• Computational biology
• Nanotechnology
• Materials science
• Chemistry

Selected publications

• The function of the axon initial segment in neuronal polarity

  Developmental Biology · 2022 · 20 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Neuroscience
  • Biology
  • Cell biology

  Neurons are highly polarized cells with extensive axonal and dendritic projections that send and receive signals over long distances. Neuronal polarity requires sorting and maintaining a unique set of proteins to the neuron's distinct axonal and somatodendritic domains. The axon initial segment (AIS) is a specialized subcellular region located between these two domains and is critical for neuronal polarity. The AIS has a complex and elaborately organized molecular structure that enables its functions in neuronal polarity. Disruption of the AIS is associated with neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disease pathologies, thus highlighting the importance of the AIS in neuronal physiology. This review discusses recent progress toward understanding the molecular architecture of the AIS and its importance in neuronal polarity through regulating protein diffusion and vesicular trafficking.

  PublisherDOI

• Endocytosis in the axon initial segment maintains neuronal polarity

  Nature · 2022 · 67 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Cell biology
  • Biology
  • Neuroscience

  . How the AIS maintains polarity between these compartments is not fully understood. Here we find that in Caenorhabditis elegans, mouse, rat and human neurons, dendritically and axonally polarized transmembrane proteins are recognized by endocytic machinery in the AIS, robustly endocytosed and targeted to late endosomes for degradation. Forcing receptor interaction with the AIS master organizer, ankyrinG, antagonizes receptor endocytosis in the AIS, causes receptor accumulation in the AIS, and leads to polarity deficits with subsequent morphological and behavioural defects. Therefore, endocytic removal of polarized receptors that diffuse into the AIS serves as a membrane-clearance mechanism that is likely to work in conjunction with the known AIS diffusion-barrier mechanism to maintain neuronal polarity on the plasma membrane. Our results reveal a conserved endocytic clearance mechanism in the AIS to maintain neuronal polarity by reinforcing axonal and dendritic compartment membrane boundaries.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Proximity labeling reveals non-centrosomal microtubule-organizing center components required for microtubule growth and localization

  Current Biology · 2021 · 59 citations

  • Cell biology
  • Biology
  • Genetics
  DOI

• Growth cone-localized microtubule organizing center establishes microtubule orientation in dendrites

  eLife · 2020 · 63 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Cell biology
  • Biology

  the dendritic growth cone contains a non-centrosomal microtubule organizing center (MTOC), which generates minus-end-out microtubules along outgrowing dendrites and plus-end-out microtubules in the growth cone. RAB-11-positive endosomes accumulate in this region and co-migrate with the microtubule nucleation complex γ-TuRC. The MTOC tracks the extending growth cone by kinesin-1/UNC-116-mediated endosome movements on distal plus-end-out microtubules and dynein clusters this advancing MTOC. Critically, perturbation of the function or localization of the MTOC causes reversed microtubule polarity in dendrites. These findings unveil the endosome-localized dendritic MTOC as a critical organelle for establishing axon-dendrite polarity.

  DOI

• Genetically targeted chemical assembly of functional materials in living cells, tissues, and animals

  Science · 2020 · 199 citations

  • Nanotechnology
  • Biology
  • Neuroscience

  The structural and functional complexity of multicellular biological systems, such as the brain, are beyond the reach of human design or assembly capabilities. Cells in living organisms may be recruited to construct synthetic materials or structures if treated as anatomically defined compartments for specific chemistry, harnessing biology for the assembly of complex functional structures. By integrating engineered-enzyme targeting and polymer chemistry, we genetically instructed specific living neurons to guide chemical synthesis of electrically functional (conductive or insulating) polymers at the plasma membrane. Electrophysiological and behavioral analyses confirmed that rationally designed, genetically targeted assembly of functional polymers not only preserved neuronal viability but also achieved remodeling of membrane properties and modulated cell type-specific behaviors in freely moving animals. This approach may enable the creation of diverse, complex, and functional structures and materials within living systems.

  DOI

Recent grants

• Patterning dendritic branches with environmental and neuronal surface molecules

  NIH · $4.1M · 2013–2029

• Mechanisms of synaptic specificity in C. elegans

  NIH · $2.0M · 2004–2022

• NIH Grant R01NS048392

  NIH · $3.1M · 2015

Frequent coauthors

• Xiangming Wang

  University of Sydney

  52 shared

• Xing Liang

  Chongqing Medical University

  51 shared

• Richard D. Fetter

  50 shared

• Callista Yee

  Stanford University

  49 shared

• Xintong Dong

  The University of Texas at Dallas

  40 shared

• Céline I. Maeder

  BioElectronics (United States)

  39 shared

• Tobias Meyer

  Cornell University

  37 shared

• Wei Zou

  32 shared

Labs

• Shen LabPI

Education

• Ph D, Cell Biology

  Duke University

  1999

• Bachelor of Medicine, Clinical Medicine

  Huazhong University of Science and Technology Tongji Medical College

  1994

Similar researchers at Stanford University

• Yi Cuih-287
• Zhenan Baoh-224
• Karl Deisserothh-218
• Michael Snyderh-215
• Roger Blandfordh-205