Yuan,Kexin
Me&Science:
Socialcommunicationdisordercharacterizesanumberofneuropsychiatricdisorders,forinstance,autism,whichisaneurodevelopmentaldisorder.Thereliefofthedeficitscanimprovethelifequalityofpatientsconsiderably,however,thetreatmentshavenotbeeneffective.Thesefactsinspiredmetodissecttheneuralcircuitsandmechanismsunderlyingsocialcommunication.Iplantoestablishtheanatomicalconnectomebetweensocialcommunicationrelatedcorticalregionsandsubcorticalnuclei,revealtheirelectrophysiologicalcorrelationandthedirectionofinformationflow,andfinallyverifytheirsufficiencyandnecessityforthebehaviorofsocialcommunication.Ibelievethesestudieswillshednewlightonthetreatmentofsocialcommunicationdisorder.
ResearchInterests:
Neurobiology,NeuralEngineering
ScientificFocus:
Theneuralpathwayslinkingnucleiunderlyingaudition,vocalizationandemotionduringsocialcommunicationNeuralmechanismsunderlyingthestorageofemotionalinformationduringsocialcommunicationRoleofinhibitoryneuralnetworksincontrollingsocialcommunicationResearchKeywords:
invivowhole-cellrecording,neuralcircuits,neuralplasticity,optogenetics,socialcommunicationdisorder
ProfessionalOverview:
- 2012–PresentInvestigator,DepartmentofBiomedicalEngineering,TsinghuaUniversity,Beijing,China
- 2006–2012PostdoctoralFellow,W.M.KeckFoundationCenterforIntegrativeNeuroscience,UniversityofCaliforniaatSanFrancisco,USA
- 2006–2008PostdoctoralFellow,DepartmentofMolecularandCellBiology,UniversityofCaliforniaatBerkeley,USA
- 2001–2006Ph.D.student,InstituteofBiophysics,ChineseAcademyofSciences,Beijing,China
- 1997–2001B.S.student,BiochemistryInstituteofTechnology,YantaiUniversity,China
SelectedPublications:
RobertC.Froemke,AlisonJ.Barker,KexinYuan,BryanSeybold,IoanaCarcea,AnaRaquelO.Martins,NatalyaZaika,HannahBernstein,MeganWachs,PhilipA.Levis,DanielB.Polley,MichaelM.Merzenich,andChristophE.Schreiner.(2012)Long-termmodificationofcorticalsynapsesimprovessensoryperception.NatureNeuroscience.16(1):79-88.KexinYuan*,JonathanShih,JefferyA.Winer,ChristophE.Schreiner.(2011)Functionalnetworksofparvalbumin-immunoreactiveneuronsincatauditorycortex.JournalofNeuroscience.31(37):13333-13342.*Correspondingauthor.KexinYuan,JunxianShen.(2011)Columnarandlayer-specificrepresentationofazimuthsensitivityinmouseprimaryauditorycortex.NeuroReport.22(11):530-534.Dorrn,A.L.*,Yuan,K.*,Barker,A.J.,Schreiner,C.E.,andFroemke,R.C.(2010)Developmentalsensoryexperiencebalancescorticalexcitationandinhibition.Nature.465:932-936.*Equalcontribution.RecommendedbyFacultyof1000Biology,andcommentedinNatureReviewsNeuroscienceandCurrentBiology.KexinYuan,KathrenL.Fink,JefferyA.Winer,ChristophE.Schreiner.(2010)Localconnectionpatternsofparvalbumin-positiveinhibitoryinterneuronsinratprimaryauditorycortex.HearingResearch.274(1-2):121-128.KexinYuan,JunxianShen.(2005)Auditorycorticalneuronsinthemousehavesalientbestazimuths.NeuroReport.16:2007-2010.