Sooyeon Lee, Ph.D.

Assistant professor, division of general surgery

Education

  • Bachelor of science degree: Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY
  • Master of science degree: Neuroscience and Physiology, New York University, Sackler Institute of Biomedical Sciences, New York, NY
  • Doctorate degree: Neuroscience and Physiology, New York University, Sackler Institute of Biomedical Sciences, New York, NY. Advisor: Dr. Ralph Nixon. Dissertation: AD-related lysosomal proteolysis inhibition selectively disrupts axonal transport of autophagic vacuoles and lysosomes causing axonal dystrophy

Academic and Professional Honors

  • National Honors Society (1995-1998)
  • National Merit Scholar (1997)
  • Columbia University, Dean’s List (2001, 2002)
  • Columbia University, Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (2002)
  • New York University Sackler Institute travel award (2009, 2010)
  • American Society for Neurochemistry, Young Investigator Educational Enhancement Award (2011)
  • Society for Neuroscience, Julius Axelrod Lecture Poster Award (2012)
  • North Central Florida Chapter, Society for Neuroscience Conference, Best Poster Award (2013, 2014)
  • McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Young Investigator Travel Award (2013)
  • Experimental Gerontology, Outstanding Paper Prize (2013)
  • Basic Science Young Investigator Award, American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (2015)
  • Department of Surgery Research Career Development Award (2016)

Recent Publications

  1. Boland B, Kumar A, Lee S, Platt FM, Wegiel J, Yu WH, Nixon RA. Autophagy induction and autophagosome clearance in neurons: relationship to autophagic pathology in Alzheimer’s disease. J Neurosci. 2008 Jul 2;28(27):6926-37. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0800-08.2008. PMID: 18596167; PMCID: PMC2676733.
  1. Gaisler-Salomon I, Miller GM, Chuhma N, Lee S, Zhang H, Ghoddoussi F, Lewandowski N, Fairhurst S, Wang Y, Conjard-Duplany A, Masson J, Balsam P, Hen R, Arancio O, Galloway MP, Moore HM, Small SA, Rayport S. Glutaminase-deficient mice display hippocampal hypoactivity, insensitivity to pro-psychotic drugs and potentiated latent inhibition: relevance to schizophrenia. 2009 Sep;34(10):2305-22. doi: 10.1038/npp.2009.58. Epub 2009 Jun 10. PMID: 19516252; PMCID: PMC2811085.
  1. Lee JH, Yu WH, Kumar A, Lee S, Mohan PS, Peterhoff CM, Wolfe DM, Martinez-Vicente M, Massey AC, Sovak G, Uchiyama Y, Westaway D, Cuervo AM, Nixon RA. Lysosomal proteolysis and autophagy require presenilin 1 and are disrupted by Alzheimer-related PS1 mutations. 2010 Jun 25;141(7):1146-58. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2010.05.008. Epub 2010 Jun 10. PMID: 20541250; PMCID: PMC3647462.
  1. Lee S, Sato Y, Nixon RA. Lysosomal proteolysis inhibition selectively disrupts axonal transport of degradative organelles and causes an Alzheimer’s-like axonal dystrophy. J Neurosci. 2011 May 25;31(21):7817-30. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.6412-10.2011. PMID: 21613495; PMCID: PMC3351137.
  1. Lee S, Sato Y, Nixon RA. Primary lysosomal dysfunction causes cargo-specific deficits of axonal transport leading to Alzheimer-like neuritic dystrophy. 2011 Dec;7(12):1562-3. PMID: 22024748; PMCID: PMC3327621