Ma-Li Wong

Ma-Li Wong is a Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Professor of Neuroscience and Physiology at Upstate Medical University. Her research focuses on biological psychiatry, molecular psychiatry, and the neurobiology of stress, with particular emphasis on the pathophysiology of depression and affective disorders. Her recent work employs single-cell transcriptomics to map microglial heterogeneity in Alzheimer’s disease models and to identify Sox6-positive interneurons associated with stress vulnerability in the prefrontal cortex. She has also investigated microbiota-driven microglial reprogramming and IL-15 receptor alpha signaling in depressive-like behaviors, alongside natural killer cell dysfunction in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder. Her publications appear in Molecular Psychiatry, Translational Psychiatry, and the Journal of Neuroinflammation.