Research

Dr. Sun’s major focus is on the molecular and cellular mechanism and consequence of regulation of neurotransmitter release in single vesicle, single active zone and single neuron perspectives. His laboratory uses an interdisciplinary approach with combination of biophysics and molecular biology to explore the mechanism for presynaptic secretory machinery to achieve synaptic transmission.
He is particularly interested in:
1).The nature of quantal signal at central synapese and the mechanisms that link the quantalized synaptic transmission to neuronal information encoding.
2).The molecular mechanism that determines the vesicle release probability, releasable vesicle availability at nerve terminal during various neural activities.

Biography

2019- Principal investigator，Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Professor, School of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
2008-2019 Principal investigator，Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Professor, School of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
2002-2008 Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, USA
1999-2002 Research Associate, Dept of Anesthesiology, Washington University, USA
1997-1999 postdoctoral scientist, Max-Planck Institute for Medicine Research, Germany
1995-1997 Associate Professor, Dept. of Biology, East China Normal University
1993-1995 Instructor, Dept. of Biology, East China Normal University, Shanghai
1993 Ph.D degree in Physiology, East China Normal University

Selected publications

1. Dai JY, Chen PH, Sun J-Y*, Spontaneous vesicle release is not coupled to instant VGCC-mediated Ca2+ influx and is triggered by a Ca2+ sensor with low cooperativity at the juvenile mice calyx of Held synapses, JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, 35 (26) 9632-9637, 2015.

2. Qiu XF, Zhu QW, Sun J-Y*, Quantitative analysis of vesicle recycling at the calyx of Held synapse, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 112 (15): 4779-4784, 2015.

3. Sun J-Y*, Pang ZP, Qin D-Q, Fahim A, Adachi R, and Südhof TC*, A dual-Ca2+-sensor model for neurotransmitter release in a central synapse. NATURE (article), 450 (7170): 676-683, 2007.

4. Khvotchev M, Dulubova I, Sun J-Y, Dai H, Rizo J, and Sudhof, Dual Modes of Munc18-1/SNARE Interactions Are Coupled by Functionally Critical Binding to Syntaxin-1 N Terminus, JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, 27(45):12147-55, 2007

5. Sun J-Y*, Bronk P, Liu X, Han W, Südhof TC*. Synapsins regulate use-dependent synaptic plasticity in the calyx of Held by a Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent pathway. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 103 (8): 2885-5, 2006

6. Pang ZP, Sun J-Y, Rizo J, Maximov A and Südhof TC*. Genetic Analysis of Synaptotagmin 2 in Spontaneous and Ca2+-triggered Neurotransmitter Release. The EMBO Journal, 25: 2039-2050, 2006. (co-first author)

7. Wu, X-S, Sun J-Y, Evers AS, Crowder M, Wu L-G, Isoflurane inhibits transmitter release and the presynaptic action potential, ANESTHESIOLOGY, 100(3):663-670, 2004

8. Sun, J-Y, Wu W, Wu X-S, Jin S-X, Dondzillo A, Wu L-G, Capacitance Capacitance measurements at the calyx of Held in the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body, JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE METHOD, 134(2):121-131, 2004

9. Sun J-Y, Wu X-S, Wu L-G, Single and Multiple Vesicle Fusion Induce Different Rates of Endocytosis at a Central Synapse, NATURE, 417 (6888): 555-559, 2002.

10. Sun J-Y and Wu L-G*. Fast Kinetics of Exocytosis Revealed by Simultaneous Measurements of Presynaptic Capacitance and Postsynaptic Currents at a Central Synapse. Neuron, 30: 171-182, 2001.