{"id":111,"date":"2025-07-18T15:33:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T19:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/molecularmedicine\/?post_type=ud_entry&p=111"},"modified":"2025-11-11T15:02:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T20:02:23","slug":"samuel-m-young-jr-phd","status":"publish","type":"ud_entry","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/molecularmedicine\/people\/samuel-m-young-jr-phd\/","title":{"rendered":"Samuel M. Young, Jr., PhD"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Young completed his initial postdoctoral work at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. This work focused on the mechanisms of synaptic vesicle release and fusion and the development of viral vectors for neuronal transduction. He continued his postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in the Department of Biophysics in Goettingen, Germany.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following his post-doctoral work, Dr. Young became a Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience. Subsequently, he accepted a tenured Associate Professor position at the University of Iowa. There he was appointed Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology in 2021 and promoted to Professor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Young joined the faculty at UNC in 2024. His research focuses on two general areas: 1) Molecular principles of auditory information processing, and 2) Gene Therapy approaches to treat neurological disorders. In regard to his auditory focus, he seeks to understand how the molecular machinery in auditory brainstem synapses enables neuronal computations at some of the fastest speeds in the central nervous system to enable the ability to identify and interpret sound information received by the ears. In regard to his gene therapy approaches, he seeks to develop novel viral vector technology to create novel therapeutic strategies to treat neuronal dysfunction and degeneration to improve the quality of life of individuals who suffer from neurological diseases. To address these research areas, he employs a multi-disciplinary strategy that encompasses, molecular biology, virology, viral vectors, biophysics, light microscopy, electron microscopy, electrophysiology, and transgenic mouse models.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":113,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"ud_division":[5,4],"class_list":["post-111","ud_entry","type-ud_entry","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","ud_division-leadership","ud_division-members","odd"],"acf":[],"ud_entry_custom_fields":{"ud_last_name":"Young, Jr.","ud_first_name":"Samuel M.","ud_gallery_summary":"

Research Interests:<\/strong> Dr. Young is a research scientist specializing in the field of Genetics and Metabolism. His main focus is molecular principles of auditory information processing and Gene Therapy approaches to treat neurological disorders.<\/span><\/p>\n","ud_telephone":[{"ud_location":"Office","ud_number":"9199623285"},{"ud_location":"Fax","ud_number":"9199660907"}],"ud_email":"Samuel_Young@med.unc.edu","ud_positions":[{"ud_title":"Roper Investigator & Professor, Pediatrics - Genetics and Metabolism, Pharmacology, Microbiology & Immunology"},{"ud_title":"Director, Center for Molecular Medicine"}],"ud_options":[],"ud_sort_order":"15"},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/molecularmedicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1462\/2025\/07\/FIMG_GTC_Young-Sam-2.png","featured_image_medium":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/molecularmedicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1462\/2025\/07\/FIMG_GTC_Young-Sam-2-240x300.png","featured_image_medium_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/molecularmedicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1462\/2025\/07\/FIMG_GTC_Young-Sam-2.png","featured_image_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/molecularmedicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1462\/2025\/07\/FIMG_GTC_Young-Sam-2.png","featured_image_thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/molecularmedicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1462\/2025\/07\/FIMG_GTC_Young-Sam-2-150x150.png","yoast_head":"\nSamuel M. Young, Jr., PhD - The Center for Molecular Medicine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/molecularmedicine\/people\/samuel-m-young-jr-phd\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Samuel M. Young, Jr., PhD - The Center for Molecular Medicine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr. Young completed his initial postdoctoral work at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. This work focused on the mechanisms of synaptic vesicle release and fusion and the development of viral vectors for neuronal transduction. 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