胡霁

Dr. Ji Hu (胡霁)上海科技大学生命科学与技术学院 助理教授、研究员

uji@@shanghaitech.edu.cn

Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience
My lab is studying several behavioral neurobiological questions:
1. Mammalian olfaction and innate behavior.
Mammals can detect and discriminate hundreds of thousands of odorants. Some special odorants released by other conspecifics or predators, can be sensed at very low concentrations and effectively produce specific behaviors, such as aggression or mating. A distinct neural pathway from the olfactory bulb to the hypothalamus via amygdale detects these odorants and regulates the innate social behaviors. We will use approaches including neural tract tracing, electrophysiology, optogenetics and behavioral assay to study how the olfactory signals are encoded in this pathway.

2. Opogenetical dissection of neural circuits for mood regulation
Many psychiatric diseases manifest them self as disorders of impairment of mood regulation. Traditional lesion technique and modern imaging approaches have identified several important neuroanatomical substrates of mood regulation. However, important questions remain unanswered about how the brain integrates these substrates to regulate mood at the neuronal circuit level. Recent developments in optogenetic tools have provided an ideal method to demonstrate causal links between neural circuit and specific behaviors. We will genetic target of optogenetic tools to specific neuronal populations by viral-based approaches and Cre-assisted transgenic tools. Electrophysiology and behavioral assay will then be used to analyze the effect of manipulation of specific neural
populations on mood regulation.

Employment
Feb/2013 -            Tengfei Group Leader
(腾飞小组主任) and jointly a deputy director of a lab (实验室副主任),
Center for Neuron and Disease, Frontier Institute of Science and
Technology (FIST), Xi’an Jiaotong University, China
May/2009-Feb/2013    Postdoctoral Associate, Picower Institute for Learning and Memory,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
June/2008-May/2009   Postdoctoral Associate, National Institute of Biological Sciences,
Beijing

Education
Jan/2005-June/2008    Ph.D in Neuroscience
National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing
July/2003-Jan/2005     Ph.D student in Neuroscience
Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Sep/1999-June/2003    BS in Biotechnology
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

Research Interest
Key words: Mammalian olfactory system   Aggressive behavior   Mating behavior
Optogenetics   Anxiety disorder   Major depression

• Specific odorant can be sensed at especially low concentrations and effectively release
specific behaviors. We are studying how these signals are encoded in specific neural circuit.
• Recently developed optogenetic tools are ideal tools to demonstrate causal links between
neural circuit and specific behaviors. We will apply these techniques to study the neural
substrates of mood regulation.

Research Profile (http://www.researcherid.com/rid/H-2293-2011, Total Articles in
Publication List: 4, Articles With Citation Data: 4, Sum of the Times Cited: 107, Average
Citations per Article: 26.75, h-index: 3)

Representative Publications:
Specialized olfactory subsystem detect carbon dioxide
1. Hu J*, Zhong C*, Ding C, Chi Q, Walz A, Mombaerts P, Matsunami H, Luo M (2007)
Detection of near-atmospheric concentrations of CO2 by an olfactory subsystem in the mouse.
Science 317:953-957. (co-first author)

2. Sun L, Wang H, Hu J, Han J, Matsunamic H, Luo M (2009) Guanylyl cyclase-D in the
olfactory CO(2) neurons is activated by bicarbonate. PNAS 106:2041-2046.

Role of GC-C in midbrain dopamine neurons
1. Gong R*, Ding C*, Hu J*, Lu Y, Liu F, Mann E, Xu F, Cohen MB, Luo M (2011) Role
for the Membrane Receptor Guanylyl Cyclase-C in Attention Deficiency and Hyperactive
Behavior. Science 333:1642-1646. (co-first author)

Optogenetics method to restore learning and memory in AD mouse model
1. Hu J, Penagos H, Deisseroth K, Wilson M, Tsai L. Optogenetical stimulation of
septohippocampal cholinergic pathway restores learning and memory in neurodegenerative
diseaseby hippocampal circuitry remodeling. (In preparation)