Dr. Lin Mei pioneered our apprehension of the development and function of synapses - nerve cell contacts critical to the communication between neurons. He revealed molecular mechanisms of the formation of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), a special synapse critical to our mobility. He discovered that LRP4, a molecule critical to NMJ formation, serves as the receptor for agrin, solving a decade-old mystery. By solving the crystal structure of an agrin-LRP4 complex, he revealed how signal is transduced from agrin to the downstream kinase MuSK. Dr. Mei also uncovered LRP4 antibodies as a new biomarker for myasthenia gravis that otherwise cannot be diagnosed. He recently revealed rapsyn, a classic “adapter protein”, undergoes phase condensation and is in fact an enzyme whose activity is necessary for NMJ formation, uncovering brand-new mechanisms. Dr. Mei has also discovered an important homeostatic control of brain activity by neuregulin 1 and its receptor ErbB4, both risk genes of major depression and schizophrenia. Dr. Mei’s paradigm-shifting works have been described in neuroscience textbooks and have an enormous impact on clinical practice. For example, a test he invented to detect LRP4 antibodies has been used worldwide in the clinic to diagnose myasthenia gravis. Dr. Mei led a consortium of seventeen clinical centers in the US to study newly identified biomarkers in myasthenia gravis. Many of his trainees including 12 PhD students have become independent scientists.      

Dr. Mei is currently the founding Director, Chinese Institutes for Medical Research, Beijing. In 2017-2023, he was the Chair, Department of Neurosciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio and the founding Director of Cleveland Brain Health Initiative that brings together the collaborative expertise of ~500 scientists and clinicians in Cleveland to improve brain health. Earlier, he was on faculty at the University of Virginia, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Medical College of Georgia where he established a new Department of Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine.