Kang Shen – NAS

Biosketch

Kang Shen PhD is Frank Lee and Carol Hall Professor of Biology and Vincent VC. Woo Director for the WuTsai neuroscience institute at Stanford University. He earned his BM from Tongji Medical University at Wuhan China and his PhD in Cell Biology from Duke University. He was a postdoctoral fellow in Department of Anatomy at University of California at San Francisco and joined the Department of Biology at Stanford University as a faculty in 2003. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Awards include the Searle Scholar Award, Human Frontier Science Program Young Investigator Award, the Keck Distinguished Young Investigator Award, the March of Dimes, Basil O’Connor Award, Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow and the Whitehall Fellowship award.

Research Interests

Dr. Shen's research program investigates the cellular mechanisms that govern the development and maintenance of the nervous system. Addressing key questions in dendrite morphogenesis, neuronal polarity, and synapse formation, his work has produced several critical discoveries. These include identifying adhesion molecules that promote synaptogenesis, environmental factors that inhibit it, and the receptor/ligand interactions that guide dendritic arborization. His research has also advanced our understanding of neuronal polarity by defining mechanisms for intracellular protein sorting, organelle distribution, and cytoskeletal organization. This systematic approach to neuronal cell biology is now starting to shed light on neuronal stress responses and their potential implications for diseases.