Wenjie Mao

Senior Scientist at Johnson & Johnson

San Diego, California, United States

About

I have extensive experience in preclinical models of central nervous system diseases, with a solid foundation in cellular biology, electrophysiology, and next-generation sequencing. My research interests focus on neuro-glial interactions and their roles in the pathomechanisms of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders.

Experience

  • Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine ()
    • Senior Scientist II Neuroscience Discovery
      Sep 2024 - Present · 1 yr 11 mos

    • Scientist, Neuroimmunology Discovery
      Oct 2022 - Sep 2024 · 2 yrs

  • Postdoctoral Scholar at Gladstone Institutes
    May 2018 - Oct 2022 · 4 yrs 6 mos

    • Demonstrated the roles of Trem2 hypofunction in neural network abnormalities and cognitive deficits in Alzheimer’s disease-related mouse models • Established protocols for cell and nuclei sorting for single-cell/bulk RNA-seq and ATAC-seq from mouse brain • Designed and executed a preclinical evaluation of antiepileptic drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease-related brain dysfunctions • Implemented novel application of DNA damage in situ ligation followed by proximity ligation assay in postmortem samples to demonstrate accumulation of DNA double-strand breaks in vulnerable neurons early in Alzheimer’s disease

  • PhD in Neuroscience at UMass Medical School
    Sep 2010 - Jan 2018 · 7 yrs 5 mos

    • Combined RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, and electrophysiology approaches to uncover novel functions of epigenetic regulator L3mbtl1 in homeostatic synaptic plasticity • Identified the role of the autism-related gene Shank1 in maintaining excitatory and inhibitory balance by employing patch-clamp and quantitative confocal imaging

  • Undergraduate Research at Zhejiang University
    2006 - 2010 · 4 yrs

  • Research Assistant at UC Davis
    Jul 2009 - Aug 2009 · 2 mos