Faculty
Self-introduction
Prof. Shujia ZHU is currently a professor at the School of Life Sciences at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech). She got her bachelor's degree from Zhejiang University of Technology in 2006, a master's degree from East China Normal University in 2009, and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Pierre and Marie Curie University in France in 2013. From 2014 to 2016, she conducted postdoctoral research at the école Normale Supérieure in Paris and the Vollum Institute in the United States. In 2016, she joined the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and was promoted to senior investigator in 2022. In March 2025, she moved to the School of Life Sciences at SUSTech.
She has dedicated her life-time career to the study of the excitatory ion channel NMDA receptors in the brain, elucidating their three-dimensional structures, gating mechanisms, pharmacology, and function. Her group mainly focuses on the native NMDA receptor assemble and function, mechanisms of rapid-acting antidepressants, pathogenic progresses underlying the NMDA receptor dysfunction related neurological disorders, and the development of first-in-class drugs for the treatment of brain diseases. Over the past five years, she has published a series of papers as the last corresponding author in top-tier international journals including Cell (2025), Nature (2021), Neuron (2021, 2025), and Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (2023, 2024). She has been invited to deliver keynote lectures at international conferences and prestigious institutions. She also serves as a program committee member for the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) in the United States (2024-2027).
Research Interests
◆ Structure, Pharmacology, and Function of Neuronal Ion Channels
◆ Molecular Mechanisms of Ion Channels in Brain Disorders
◆ Drug Development Targeting Ion Channels
Professional Experience
◆ Mar 2025 – Present
Professor, School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech)
◆ Jun 2022 – Mar 2025
Senior Investigator, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences
◆ Aug 2016 – May 2022
Investigator, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences
◆ Jun 2014 – Jul 2016
Postdoctoral Fellow, Vollum Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, USA
◆ Nov 2013 – May 2014
Postdoctoral Fellow, école Normale Supérieure (ENS), Paris, France
Educational Background
◆ Sep 2009 – Oct 2013
Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI), France
◆ Sep 2006 – Jun 2009
M.S., East China Normal University, China
◆ Sep 2002 – Jun 2006
B.S., Zhejiang University of Technology, China
Honors & Awards
· Shanghai Rising-Star Program (2016)
· Annual Award for progress in Neuroscience in China (2021)
· CNS-NeuroXess Young Scientist Award (2022)
· Young scientific and technological talents of Shanghai (2022)
· Excellent Supervisor Award of CAS (2022)
· Shanghai Youth May 4th Medal (2023)
· Zhong Nanshan Youth Science and Technology Innovation Award (2023)
· Shanghai May Day Labor Medal (2024)
Selected Publication
· Zhang M, Feng J, Xie C, Song N, Jin C, Wang J, Zhao Q, Zhang L, Wang B, Sun Y, Guo F, Li Y#, Zhu S#. Assembly and architecture of endogenous NMDA receptors in adult cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Cell (2025) Mar 6;188(5):1198-1207.
· Huang X*, Sun X*, Wang Q*, Zhang J, Wen H, Chen W#, Zhu S#. Structural insights into the diverse actions of magnesium on NMDA receptors. Neuron (2025) Feb 19:S0896-6273(25)00047-9.
· Wang H*, Xie C*, Deng B*, Ding J*, Li N*, Kou Z, Jin M, He J, Wang Q, Wen H, Zhang J, Zhou Q, Chen S#, Chen X#, Yuan T#, Zhu S#. Structural basis for antibody-mediated NMDA receptor clustering and endocytosis in autoimmune encephalitis. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. (2024) Dec;31(12):1987-1996.
· Zhang Y*, Ye F*, Zhang T*, Lv S, Zhou L, Du D, Lin H, Guo F, Luo C#, Zhu S#. Structural basis of ketamine action on human NMDA receptors. Nature (2021) Aug;596(7871):301-305.
· Zhang J*, Duan J*, Li W*, Wang X, Ren S, Ye L, Liu F, Tian X, Xie Y, Huang Y, Sun Y, Song N, Li T, Cai X, Liu Z, Zhou H, Huang C, Li Y#, Zhu S#, Guo F#. An antidepressant mechanism underlying the allosteric inhibition of GluN2D-incorporated NMDA receptors at GABAergic interneurons. Sci Adv (2025) Mar 7;11(10):eadq0444.
· Zhang J*, Zhang M*, Wang Q, Wen H, Liu Z, Wang F, Wang Y, Yao F, Song N, Kou Z, Li Y, Guo F, Zhu S#. Distinct structure and gating mechanism in diverse NMDA receptors with GluN2C and GluN2D subunits. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. (2023) May;30(5):629-639.
· Wang H, Lv S, Stroebel D, Zhang J, Pan Y, Huang X, Zhang X, Paoletti P, Zhu S#. Gating mechanism and a modulatory niche of human GluN1-GluN2A NMDA receptors. Neuron (2021) Aug 4;109(15):2443-2456.
· Zhang J*, Chang S*, Xu P*, Miao M, Wu H, Zhang Y, Zhang T, Wang H, Zhang J, Xie C, Song N, Luo C#, Zhang X#, Zhu S#. Structural Basis of the Proton Sensitivity of Human GluN1-GluN2A NMDA Receptors. Cell Rep (2018) Dec 26;25(13):3582-3590.
· Zhu S, Stein RA, Yoshioka C, Lee CH, Goehring A, Mchaourab HS, Gouaux E.. Mechanism of NMDA receptor inhibition and activation. Cell (2016). Apr 21;165(3):704-14.
· Zhu S*, Riou M*, Yao A, Carvalho S, Rodriguez P, Bensaude O, Paoletti P#, Ye S#.. Genetically encoding a light-switch in an ionotropic glutamate receptor reveals subunit-specific interfaces. PNAS (2014). Apr 22;111(16):6081-6.
· Zhu S, Stroebel D, C.Andrea Y, Taly A, Paoletti P. Allosteric signaling and dynamics of the clamshell-like NMDA receptor GluN1 N-terminal domain. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. (2013) Apr;20(4):477-85.