SUNY Distinguished Professor
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Ageing; Autism; Behavioral Neuroscience; Brain Research; Epigenetics; Gene Expression; Molecular and Cellular Biology; Molecular Basis of Disease; Neurobiology; Neurodegenerative disorders; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Neuropharmacology; Neuropsychiatric Disorders; Neuroscience; Pathophysiology; Schizophrenia; Signal Transduction; Transcriptomics; Translational Research
Synaptic and Epigenetic Mechanisms of Brain Disorders
Our research goal is to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms that are linked to mental health and brain disorders, including the actions of disease susceptibility genes, stress hormones, and monoamines. Specifically, we try to understand how these neuromodulators regulate glutamatergic and GABAergic synaptic transmission in prefrontal cortex (PFC), which is important for emotional and cognitive control under normal conditions. We also try to understand how the aberrant action of neuromodulators under pathological conditions leads to dysregulation of synaptic transmission in PFC, which is commonly implicated in brain disorders. Recently, we are focusing on investigating how epigenetic abnormality caused by genetic and environmental factors results in pathological gene alterations, leading to synaptic dysfunction and behavioral deficits related to autism, stress-associated psychiatric disorders and Alzheimer's disease.
Multidisciplinary approaches are integrated in our studies, which include:
• whole-cell patch-clamp recordings of synaptic currents in brain slices,
• multichannel recordings of neuronal spikes in free-moving animals,
• viral-based in vivo gene transfer,
• biochemical and immunocytochemical detection of synaptic or nuclear proteins,
• transcriptomic and molecular analysis of genetic and epigenetic alterations,
• chemogenetic and optogenetic manipulation of neuronal circuits,
• behavioral assays of cognitive, social and emotional processes.