Professor Mu-ming Poo obtained his Ph.D in biophysics from Johns Hopkins University in 1974. After conducting postdoctoral research in developmental biology at Purdue University, he later served on the faculty of University of California at Irvine, faculty of Yale University School of Medicine, Columbia University, UCSD, and University of California, Berkeley.

Professor Poo is currently the Director of Institute of Neuroscience of Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), the founding director of Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai and Paul Licht Distinguished Professor at University of California, Berkeley.

Professor Poo’s research interests center around the development and plasticity of the brain. He has made seminal contributions to our understanding of nerve growth, synapse development and synaptic plasticity.

Professor Poo was awarded Ameritec Prize in 2001, International Science & Technology Cooperation Award of China in 2005, Qiushi Distinguished Scientist Award in 2011, and CAS Distinguished Science and Technology Achievement Award in 2013.

Professor Poo has served on the editorial boards of more than 10 scientific journals, and is currently an editor of Developmental Neurobiology and the executive associate editor of National Science Review. Professor Poo is also a member of scientific advisory boards for Brain Science Institute of RIKEN in Japan, Korean National Neuroscience Institute, Academia Sinica’s Institute of Molecular Biology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, and Institute of Biochemistry, National Tsing Hua University and Yang Ming University in Taiwan.