Weizhe Hong aims to uncover the fundamental neural mechanisms underlying social behavior, with a specific focus on empathy and prosociality. While it is evolutionarily advantageous for individuals to act in ways that promote their own survival and reproductive success, humans and other animals frequently display empathy and compassion through behaviors that benefit others. Dr Hong’s research explores various forms of empathic and prosocial behaviors and investigates the neural mechanisms underlying these behaviors. Specifically, his lab establishes behavioral paradigms in mice to study prosocial comforting and helping behaviors. By integrating these paradigms with genetic, circuit-based, and computational methodologies, he reveals distinct neural pathways within the amygdala and prefrontal cortex that specifically encode and regulate these prosocial behaviors. Additionally, his research extends beyond mechanisms within a single brain, aiming to understand how inter-brain neural dynamics emerge through social interactions between individuals. 

Weizhe Hong is a Professor of Neurobiology, Biological Chemistry, and Bioengineering at the University of California Los Angeles. After earning his PhD degree in 2012 from Stanford University and completing his postdoctoral training at California Institute of Technology, he started his lab at UCLA as an Assistant Professor in 2016. Dr Hong was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2020 and to Full Professor in 2023. His work has been recognized by many honors and awards, including a Young Investigator Award from the Society for Neuroscience, an Early Career Award from the Society for Social Neuroscience, a Mallinckrodt Scholar Award, a Vallee Scholar Award, a Searle Scholar Award, a Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering, a McKnight Scholar Award, a Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship, and a Sloan Research Fellowship.