ChangHui Pak
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
2011-2018 Postdoctoral training, Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology
8/2005-6/2011 Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA Ph.D., Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Program in Genetics and Molecular Biology
8/2001-5/2005 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Urbana-Champaign, IL B.A., Molecular and Cellular Biology, Minor in Chemistry
Research Interests
We aim to understand the molecular and cellular basis of human brain development using cutting-edge techniques such as induced neuronal cells and brain organoids derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which mimic human brain cells in vitro. Using these strategies, we seek to untangle the complexity of the developmental neuronal program and synaptic connectivity underlying both normal and diseased human brain functions. We are actively researching to uncover pathophysiological mechanisms in various neurodevelopmental disorders, i.e. ASDs, schizophrenia, and intellectual disability. We employ a variety of neurobiological techniques including genome engineering, viral strategies, single cell RNA-seq, live imaging and electrophysiological recordings.
Publications
Peer-reviewed Publications:
Bienkowski R, Rha J, Banerjee A, Rounds JC, Gross C, Pak C, Morris KJ, Jones SK, Santoro MR, Warren ST, Bassell GJ, Corbett AH, Moberg KH. “The conserved, disease-assciated RNA-binding protein dNab2 interacts with the Fragile-X protein ortholog in Drosophila neurons.” Cell Reports 2017, 20(6)1372-1384 PMID: 28793261
Lee SJ, Wei M, Zhang C, Maxeiner S, Pak C, Botelho SC, Trotter J, Sterky FH, Südhof TC. “Presynaptic neuronal pentraxin receptor organizes excitatory and inhibitory synapses.” Journal of Neuroscience. 2016, 2768-16 PMID: 27986928
Fei Y, Danko, Botelho SB, Patzke, Pak C, Wernig M, Südhof TC, “Autism-Associated SHANK3 Haploinsufficiency Causes Ih-Channelopathy in Human Neurons.” Science 2016 352 (6286): aaf2669 PMID: 26966193
Pak C, Danko T, Zhang Y, Aoto J, Anderson G, Maxeiner S, Yi F, Wernig M, Südhof TC, “Human neuropsychiatric disease modeling using conditional deletion reveals synaptic transmission defects caused by heterozygous mutations in NRXN1.” Cell Stem Cell 2015 17 (3) 316-328 PMID: 26279266 (This article was previewed by Dr. Steven Hyman in the same issue: “Enlisting hESCs to interrogate genetic variants associated with neuropsychiatric disorders.” Cell Stem Cell 2015 17 (3) 3 253-254)
Chanda S, Ang CE, Davila J, Pak C, Mall M, Lee QY, Ahlenius H, Jung SW, Südhof TC, Wernig M “Generation of induced neuronal cells by the single reprogramming factor ASCL1.” Stem Cell Reports 2014 3 (2) 282-296 PMID: 25254342
Kelly SM, Leung SW, Pak C, Banerjee A, Moberg KH, and Corbett AH, “A conserved role for the zinc finger polyadenosine RNA binding protein, ZC3H14, in control of poly(A) tail length.” RNA 2014 20 1-9 PMID: 24671764
Zhang Y, Pak C, Han Y, Ahlenius H, Zhang Z, Chanda S, Marro S, Patzke C, Acuna C, Covy J, Xu W, Yang N, Danko T, Chen L, Wernig M, Südhof TC “Rapid single-step induction of functional neurons from human pluripotent stem cells.” Neuron 2013 78 (5) 785-798 PMID: 23764284
Pak C, Garshasbi M, Kahrizi M, Gross C, Apponi LH, Noto JJ, Kelly SM, Leung SW, Tzschach A, Behjatie F, Abedinie SS, Mohsenie M, Jensen LR, Hu H, Huang B, Stahley SN, Liu G, Williams KR, Burdick SK, Feng Y, Sanyal S, Bassell GJ, Ropers HH, Najmabadi H, Corbett AH, Moberg KH, Kuss AW. “Mutation of the conserved polyadenosine RNA-binding protein ZC3H14/dNab2 impairs neural function in Drosophila and humans.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2011 108 (30) 12390-12395 PMID:21734151
Allan AM, Liang X, Luo Y, Pak C, Li X, Szulwach KE, Chen D, Jin P, Zhao X. “The loss of methyl-CpG binding protein 1 leads to autism-like behavioral deficits.” Human Molecular Genetics 2008 17 (13) 2047-57 PMID:18385101
Duan R, Pak C, Jin P. “Single nucleotide polymorphism associated with mature miR-125a alters the processing of primiRNA.” Human Molecular Genetics 2007 16 (9) 1124-31 PMID:17400653