Rachel Wong is an American neuroscientist who is a professor of Biological Structure at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

. She studies the developmental mechanisms that determine synaptic connectivity in the

central nervous system The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain, spinal cord and retina. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity o ...

. She was elected to the National Vision Research Institute of Australia in 2018 and the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 2021.

Early life and education

Wong attended high school in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

where she first became interested in physics. She would spend her lunch breaks examining living things, collected from a creek near her home, under the school microscope. Growing up, she learned to play musical instruments, much encouraged by her father. She moved to

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

for her undergraduate degree, where she majored in physics and completed a research project in collaboration with the Biochemistry department. Specifically, her research used

x-ray An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...

and

neutron scattering Neutron scattering, the irregular dispersal of free neutrons by matter, can refer to either the naturally occurring physical process itself or to the man-made experimental techniques that use the natural process for investigating materials. Th ...

to better understand

muscular dystrophy Muscular dystrophies (MD) are a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of rare neuromuscular diseases that cause progressive weakness and breakdown of skeletal muscles over time. The disorders differ as to which muscles are primarily affe ...

. Wong earned her doctorate in

vision science Vision science is the scientific study of visual perception. Researchers in vision science can be called vision scientists, especially if their research spans some of the science's many disciplines. Vision science encompasses all studies of vision ...

at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

. Her doctoral research, under the supervision of Professor Abbie Hughes, investigated the cellular organization and

ontogeny Ontogeny (also ontogenesis) is the origination and development of an organism (both physical and psychological, e.g., moral development), usually from the time of fertilization of the ovum, egg to adult. The term can also be used to refer to t ...

of the cat retinal ganglion cell layer. She moved to the National Research Institute of Australia as a research associate, where she worked under Professor Abbie Hughes and Dr. David I. Vaney before moving to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Wong was a C.J. Martin Fellow at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, mentored by Professor Carla J. Shatz. After a few years in the States, Wong returned to the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

as an R.D. Wright Fellow in Dr. Vaney's laboratory at the Vision, Touch and Hearing Research Center led by Professor

Jack Pettigrew John Douglas "Jack" Pettigrew (2 October 1943''Who's Who in Australia 2013'', Crown Content, 2012. - 7 May 2019) was an Australian neuroscientist. He was Emeritus Professor of Physiology and Director of the Vision, Touch and Hearing Research ...

Research and career

Wong joined the faculty of the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at

Washington University School of Medicine Washington University School of Medicine (WashU Medicine) is the medical school of Washington University in St. Louis, located in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1891, the School of Medicine shares a ca ...

in 1994, where she was promoted to Professor in 2004. In 2006, she moved to the

. to join the Department of Biological Structure and became the chair of department in 2017. Wong studies the developmental mechanisms that determine synaptic connectivity in the

. Her research has focussed on identifying the cellular mechanisms underlying the proper assembly of neural circuits in the vertebrate retina of a variety of species, including human, ''

Danio rerio The zebrafish (''Danio rerio'') is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Danionidae of the order Cypriniformes. Native to South Asia, it is a popular aquarium fish, frequently sold under the trade name zebra danio (a ...

'' (

Zebrafish The zebrafish (''Danio rerio'') is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Danionidae of the order Cypriniformes. Native to South Asia, it is a popular aquarium fish, frequently sold under the trade name zebra danio (an ...

) and mice. Wong investigates the development of neural circuitry ''in vivo'' and ''in vitro'' using cellular imaging approaches and molecular genetics. Wong was appointed to the steering committee of the

National Eye Institute The National Eye Institute (NEI) is part of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The mi ...

Audacious Goals Initiative (AGI), a challenge which looks to identify and support the most promising research towards curing blindness. She was a Rothmans Fellow (Sydney University Endowment), an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, an Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fellow, and a Paul G. Allen Distinguished Investigator. Her research achievements in vision science are acknowledged by the Brian B. Boycott Prize (FASEB Retinal Neurobiology and Visual Processing), the Helen Keller Award (Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington and the Lions Club of Multiple District 19), and the Friedenwald Award (the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology). In 2021, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Awards and honors

* 2018 Elected Fellow of the National Vision Research Institute of Australia * 2021 Elected to the

Selected publications

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Rachel Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women American women neuroscientists American neuroscientists Australian National University alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Monash University alumni Stanford University fellows University of Washington faculty Washington University School of Medicine faculty