Se Young Lee
Neuroscientist in Won-Suk Chung's group at KAIST and the Institute for Basic Science who studies how neurons, astrocytes and immune cells interact in Alzheimer's disease, and first author of the 2026 Nature study on ERBB4 in excitatory neurons
Senior researcher, Center for Vascular Research, Institute for Basic Science (2026) · Department of Biological Sciences, KAIST (Won-Suk Chung group, papers 2024–2026)
In Alzheimer's disease, brain circuits become unbalanced long before memory fails. In the Atlas study LEE2026, Lee and colleagues in Won-Suk Chung's group found that the receptor protein ERBB4 turns up in a group of excitatory (signal-sending) neurons very early in Alzheimer's model mice. Removing ERBB4 from these neurons reduced synapse loss, inflammation from support cells called glia, amyloid plaques and memory problems. Putting ERBB4 into the excitatory neurons of healthy mice was enough to cause synapse loss, glial inflammation and memory problems, though not plaques. These effects needed mTOR signalling downstream of ERBB4.
For the Atlas, the study adds a new route into mTOR in the brain: a receptor that appears in the wrong cell type and drives damage through mTOR. The causal experiments were done in mice. The team also reported higher ERBB4 in excitatory neurons in human brain tissue from people with Alzheimer's disease, which is an association, not proof of cause.
On PubMed, Lee has worked with Chung at the Department of Biological Sciences, KAIST, including a 2024 review on how astrocytes, the star-shaped support cells of the brain, talk to neurons, blood vessels and immune cells, and a 2025 study with collaborators in Bonn on the receptor Tyro3 and brain inflammation in Alzheimer's models. Korean press coverage of the Nature paper describes Lee as a senior researcher who led the study at the Institute for Basic Science Center for Vascular Research, where Chung is deputy director.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | A | Aberrant excitatory neuronal ERBB4 promotes Alzheimer's disease pathology LEE2026 First author: showed in mice that ERBB4 switched on in excitatory neurons drives Alzheimer's-like synapse loss, inflammation and memory decline through mTOR signalling. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 3
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Se Young Lee.
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- Eunjoon Kim Neuroscientist who directs the IBS Center for Synaptic Brain Dysfunctions and studies synaptic scaffold proteins linked to autism; he contributed to work linking neuronal ERBB4 and mTOR signalling to Alzheimer's pathology
- Seongbin Kim Contributed to a 2026 study showing that abnormal ERBB4 in excitatory neurons drives Alzheimer's pathology through mTOR signalling
- Won-Suk Chung Neuroscientist who studies how glial cells (astrocytes and microglia) shape synapses, and senior author of the 2026 study linking neuronal ERBB4 and mTOR signaling to early Alzheimer's disease changes in mice
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