Dr. Hongjie Yuan
Dr. Hongjie Yuan is an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA, and Deputy Director of the Center for Functional Evaluation of Rare Variants (CFERV). His current research is focused on genetic variations in human glutamate receptors associated with neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders including intractable seizures, epileptic encephalopathy, autism, intellectual disability, movement disorders, and schizophrenia.
Dr. Yuan utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to translate basic research involving human glutamate receptor genetic variations toward understanding the functional consequences of the mutations in glutamate receptor genes in healthy individuals and pediatric neurological patients. Dr. Yuan’s research program has provided not only new insights into receptor function and genetic risk but also catalyzed the development of mechanistic hypotheses underlying a subset of neurological diseases (e.g. the genetic epilepsies). These efforts help to build new diagnostic criteria that incorporate function and expand our understanding of the range of functional variation in the healthy population, allow patient stratification, enable classification of variants of unknown significance, and lead to better understanding of the effectiveness of existing medications with potentially improved clinical care. Dr. Yuan’s research program also explores novel approaches to clinical treatment of a subset of neurodevelopmental disorders.
Dr. Yuan received a medical degree and a master’s degree in neuroscience in China, and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Akita University. He completed his postdoctoral training with Dr. Stephen Traynelis at Emory University. Dr. Yuan was promoted to Instructor in 2012 and Assistant Professor in 2015. He was awarded a Young Investigator Award of American Epilepsy Society (AES) in 2013, and was selected for the Millipub Club (awarded to faculty with papers having >1000 citations) in 2017. He is a co-author on over 60 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and invited commentaries and, over 80 abstract presentations at national and international conferences. His research is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD/NIH) and SAGE Therapeutics.