
Lu Sun, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Endowed Title Southwestern Medical Foundation Scholar in Biomedical Research
Department Molecular Biology
Graduate Programs Genetics, Development and Disease, Neuroscience
Biography
Lu Sun is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Tsinghua University and earned his Ph.D. in neuroscience from the Johns Hopkins University. As a graduate student in Dr. Alex Kolodkin’s laboratory, he discovered key molecular mechanisms that wire visual circuits (Sun et al., Science 2013; Riccomagno*, Sun* et al., Neuron 2014; Sun et al., Neuron 2015). As a postdoctoral fellow mentored by Dr. Ben Barres (1954-2017) at Stanford University, he focused on neuron-glia interactions and identified novel mechanisms that govern spatiotemporal specificity of central nervous system myelination (Sun et al., Cell 2018). In 2020, Lu Joined the faculty at UT Southwestern as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology. Lu has been awarded with several fellowships including the Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Fellowship, National Multiple Sclerosis Society Career Transition Award, and NIH Pathway to Independent Award (K99/R00). As an Assistant Professor, Lu received UT System Rising STARs Award, 2020 BBRF Young Investigator Award (NARSAD Award), and 2021 NIH Director's New Innovator Award. Lu is an Endowed Scholar in biomedical research.
Education
- Undergraduate
- Tsinghua University (2006)
- Graduate School
- Johns Hopkins University (2014)
Research Interest
- Neuron-glia interactions
- Oligodendrocyte development and mechanisms of myelination
- Roles of glia in neurological diseases and brain tumors
Publications
Featured Publications
- Autophagy collaborates with apoptosis pathways to control myelination specificity and function.
- Zhang T, Bae HG, Bhambri A, Zhang Y, Barbosa D, Xue J, Wazir S, Mulinyawe SB, Kim JH, Sun LO, bioRxiv 2023 Jan
- Spatiotemporal Control of CNS Myelination by Oligodendrocyte Programmed Cell Death through the TFEB-PUMA Axis.
- Sun LO, Mulinyawe SB, Collins HY, Ibrahim A, Li Q, Simon DJ, Tessier-Lavigne M, Barres BA, Cell 2018 12 175 7 1811-1826.e21
- Functional assembly of accessory optic system circuitry critical for compensatory eye movements.
- Sun LO, Brady CM, Cahill H, Al-Khindi T, Sakuta H, Dhande OS, Noda M, Huberman AD, Nathans J, Kolodkin AL Neuron 2015 May 86 4 971-84
- Cas adaptor proteins organize the retinal ganglion cell layer downstream of integrin signaling.
- Riccomagno MM, Sun LO, Brady CM, Alexandropoulos K, Seo S, Kurokawa M, Kolodkin AL Neuron 2014 Feb 81 4 779-86
- On and off retinal circuit assembly by divergent molecular mechanisms.
- Sun LO, Jiang Z, Rivlin-Etzion M, Hand R, Brady CM, Matsuoka RL, Yau KW, Feller MB, Kolodkin AL Science 2013 Nov 342 6158 1241974
- A luciferase fragment complementation assay to detect focal adhesion kinase (FAK) signaling events.
- Estep JA, Sun LO, Riccomagno MM, Heliyon 2023 Apr 9 4 e15282
- Oligodendrocyte-lineage cell exocytosis and L-type prostaglandin D synthase promote oligodendrocyte development and myelination.
- Pan L, Trimarco A, Zhang AJ, Fujimori K, Urade Y, Sun LO, Taveggia C, Zhang Y, Elife 2023 Feb 12
- Distinct oligodendrocyte populations have spatial preference and different responses to spinal cord injury.
- Floriddia EM, Lourenço T, Zhang S, van Bruggen D, Hilscher MM, Kukanja P, Gonçalves Dos Santos JP, Altinkök M, Yokota C, Llorens-Bobadilla E, Mulinyawe SB, Grãos M, Sun LO, Frisén J, Nilsson M, Castelo-Branco G, Nat Commun 2020 11 11 1 5860
- Developmental Heterogeneity of Microglia and Brain Myeloid Cells Revealed by Deep Single-Cell RNA Sequencing.
- Li Q, Cheng Z, Zhou L, Darmanis S, Neff NF, Okamoto J, Gulati G, Bennett ML, Sun LO, Clarke LE, Marschallinger J, Yu G, Quake SR, Wyss-Coray T, Barres BA Neuron 2019 Jan 101 2 207-223.e10
- Glia Get Neurons in Shape.
- Sun LO, Barres BA Cell 2016 May 165 4 775-6
Honors & Awards
- NIH Director's New Innovator Award (DP2 Award)
(2021) - Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Award (NARSAD Award)
(2020) - UT Southwestern Medical Center Endowed Scholar
(2020) - UT System Rising STARs Award
(2020) - Third Place, Sammy Kuo Award in Neuroscience, Stanford University
(2019) - NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00)
(2018-2023) - The National Multiple Sclerosis Society Career Transition Award
(2018) - Helen Hay Whitney Fellowship Award
(2016-2019) - The Paul Ehrlich Research Award, The Johns Hopkins University
(2014)