Ma Qiufu
Qiufu Ma, Ph.D.
Professor of Neurobiology
We are interested in studying the neural circuits involved with the senses of pain, itch, touch, and temperatures. According to population coding hypothesis, each of these somatic sensory modalities is processed along a specific neural circuit or a labeled line, but the emergency of a specific sensation in response to a particular sensory stimulus is often involved with a cross talk among these labeled lines, due to polymodal nature of most sensory neurons. For example, both pain-related and itch-related sensory neurons respond to capsaicin, the pungent ingredient in "hot" chili peppers, but capsaicin injection in humans evokes only pain, due to a dominant suppression of itch by pain. Our research focuses on two related areas. One is to understand the genetic programs that control the assembly of specific sensory-labeled lines. The other is to characterize the neural circuits underlying cross interaction among distinct sensory-labeled lines by developing new genetic tools to mark and ablate specific neuronal populations in the dorsal spinal cord.
Selected Publications:
Liu, Y. and Ma Q. Generation of somatic sensory neuron diversity and implications of sensory coding. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 2011; 21:52-60
Ma, Q. Labeled lines meet and talk: population coding of somatic sensations. Journal
of Clinical Investigation 2010; 120:3773-8.
Liu Y, Abdel Samad O, Duan B, Zhang L, Tong Q, Lopes C, Ji RR, Lowell B, and
Ma Q. VGLUT2-dependent glutamate release from nociceptors is required to sense pain and suppress itch. Neuron 2010; 68:543-56.
Abdel Samad O, Liu Y, Yang FC, Kramer I, Arber S, and Ma Q. Characterization of two Runx1-dependent nociceptor differentiation programs controlling inflammatory versus neuropathic pain. Molecular Pain 2010; 6:45.
Xu Y, Lopes C, Qian Y, Liu Y, Cheng L, Goulding M, Turner E, Lima D, and Ma Q.
Tlx1 and Tlx3 coordinate specification of dorsal horn pain-modulatory peptidergic neurons. Journal of Neuroscience 2008; 28:4037-46.
Liu Y, Yang F, Okuda T, Dong X, Zylka MJ., Chen C, Kuner R, and Ma Q.
Mechanisms of compartmentalized expression of Mrg class G protein-coupled sensory receptors. Journal of Neuroscience 2008; 28:125-32.
Woolf C. and Ma Q. Nociceptors – noxious stimulus detectors. Neuron 2007; 55:353
Chen, C, Broom D, Liu, Y, de Nooij, J, Li, Z., Cen, C., Abdel Samad, O., Jessell, T,
Woolf, C, and Ma Q. Runx1 determines nociceptive sensory neuron phenotype and is required for thermal and neuropathic pain. Neuron 2006; 49, 365-77.
Cheng L, Samad OA, Xu Y, Mizuguchi R, Luo P, Shirasawa S, Goulding M, and Ma
Q. Lbx1 and Tlx3 are opposing switches in determining GABAergic versus glutamatergic transmitter phenotypes. Nature Neuroscience 2005; 8: 1510-5.
Cheng L, Arata A, Karunaratne A, Qian Y, Mizuguchi R, Gray PA, Arata S,
Shirasawa S, Bouchard M, Luo P, Chen C, Busslinger M, Goulding M, Onimaru H, and Ma Q.Tlx3 and Tlx1 are post-mitotic selector genes determining glutamatergic over GABAergic cell fates. Nature Neuroscience 2004; 7: 510-7.
Gray PA, Fu H, Luo P, Zhao Q, Yu J, Ferrari A, Tenzen T, Yuk DI, Tsung EF, Cai Z,
Alberta JA, Cheng LP, Liu Y, Stenman JM, Valerius MT, Billings N,
Kim HA, Greenberg ME, McMahon AP, Rowitch DH, Stiles CD, and Ma Q. Mouse brain organization revealed through direct genome-scale TF expression analysis. Science 2004; 306: 2255-7.
Cheng L, Chen CL, Luo P, Tan M, Qiu M, Johnson R, and Ma Q. Lmx1b, Pet-1 and
Nkx2.2 coordinately specify serotonergic neurotransmitter phenotype. Journal of Neuroscience 2003; 23(31): 9961-7.
Qian Y, Shirasawa S, Chen C, Cheng L, and Ma Q. Proper Development of Relay Somatic Sensory Neurons and D2/D4 Interneurons Requires Homeobox Genes Rnx/Tlx-3 and Tlx-1. Genes & Development. 2002; 16: 1220-33.
Qian Y, Fritzsch B, Shirasawa S, Chen C, Choi Y, and Ma Q. Formation of brainstem (nor)adrenergic centers and first order relay visceral sensory neurons is dependent on homeodomain protein Rnx/Tlx-3. Genes & Development. 2001; 15, 2533-45.
Ma Q, Fode C, Guillemot F, and Anderson DJ. NEUROGENIN1 and NEUROGENIN2 control two distinct waves of neurogenesis in the developing dorsal root ganglia. Genes & Development. 1999; 13: 1717-28.
Ma Q, Chen Z, Barrantes J, de la Pompa, J, and Anderson DJ. neurogenin1 plays an essential role in the determination of sensory neuron precursors for proximal cranial ganglia. Neuron 1998;20: 469-482.
Ma Q, Kintner C, and Anderson DJ. Identification of neurogenin, a vertebrate neuronal determination gene. Cell 1996;87: 43-52.
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