Research

Mental disorders defined as disruption in neural circuits (NIMH) cause abnormal thoughts, emotions and behavior, such as schizophrenia, depression, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder and others, which are recognized as one of the leading global health challenges. Fear is a basic and highly conserved emotion. Fear circuits and their important implication in understanding human fear and anxiety disorders is an emerging field in emotion and behavior neuroscience research. However, little is known about the cross talk of the neural circuits between the innate fear, learned fear and anxiety. Dissection of functional neural circuits for fear and anxiety will help us to understand the mechanisms of mental disorders at neural circuit level, also, will lead us to search the identification of biomarkers and novel candidate drug targets, as well as the development of novel mechanism-based cognitive or behavioral interventions for mental disorders. Research in this laboratory is to understand the neural circuitry basis of emotion and mental disorders, which is focused on: (1) determining the structure and function of brain specific neuronal subtypes control specific emotional behavior, including innate fear, learned fear and anxiety; (2) elucidating the modified neural circuits properties in mental disorders, such as schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Biography

2014, National natural science fund for distinguished young scholars
2013, Young and middle-aged leading scientists, engineers and innovators
2008-present, Principal investigator at SIAT CAS
2005-2008, Postdoctoral research at the Department of Bioengineering at Stanford University with Prof. Dr. Karl Deisseroth;
2005, PhD degree in medical neuroscience from Charite-University Medicine, Berlin, Germany, with Prof. Dr. Helmut Kettenmann at the Department of Cellular Neurosciences, Max-Delbruck-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC).

Selected publications

1. Chuanliang Han#, Mingrou Guo, Xiaoyin Ke, Lanting Zeng, Meijia Li, Naem Haihambo, Jianping Lu, Liping Wang *& Pengfei Wei*. Oscillatory biomarkers of autism: evidence from the innate visual fear evoking paradigm. Cognitive Neurodynamics. 2022

2. Peilei Shen#; Shuqin Ji; Xulin Li; Qingning Yang; Bingxian Xu; Chris Kong Chu Wong; Liping Wang*; Lei Li*. LPS-Induced Systemic Inflammation Caused mPOA-FSH/LH Disturbance and Impaired Testicular Function. Frontiers in Endocrinology. 2022, 13: 886085

3. Yu-Ting Tseng; Lisha Liang; Binghao Zhao; Jialin Ye; Liping Wang*. Connectivity Map of Subthalamic Corticotropin-releasing Hormone Neurons in the Mouse Brain.Neuroscience Bulletin. 2022.

4. Xue Liu#, Hongren Huang#, Terrance P. Snutch, Peng Cao, Liping Wang* & Feng Wang*.The Superior Colliculus: Cell Types, Connectivity, and Behavior.Neuroscience Bulletin. 2022.

5. Shanping Chen#, Huiying Tan, Zhijie Wang, Yu-ting Tseng, Xiaotao Li & Liping Wang*. Formation of the Looming-evoked Innate Defensive Response during Postnatal Development in Mice.Neuroscience Bulletin. 2022. 

6. Quentin Montardy#, Zheng Zhou#, Lei Li#, Qingning Yang, Zhuogui Lei, Xiaolong Feng, Shanping Chen, Qianqian Shi, Huiqi Zhang, Shuran Chen Zhijian Zhang, Binghao Zhao, Fuqiang Xu, Zhonghua Lu, and Liping Wang*. Dopamine modulates visual threat processing in the superior colliculus via D2 receptors. iScience. 2022,25(6), 104388.

7. Liu, Yunhui#; Zhang, Lu#; Hu, Nan#; Shao, Jie; Yang, Dazhi; Ruan, Changshun; Huang, Shishu; Wang Liping; Lu, W William; Zhang, Xinzhou; Yang, Fan*.An Optogenetic Approach for Regulating Human Parathyroid Hormone Secretion. Nature Communications. 2022,13,1-771

8. Shao, Jie#; Gao, Dashuang#; Liu, Yunhui#; Chen, Shanping; Liu, Nian; Zhang, Lu; Zhou, Xinyi; Xiao, Qian; Wang, Liping; Hu, Hailan; Yang Fan*. Cav3.1-driven bursting firing in ventromedial hypothalamic neurons exerts dual control of anxiety-like behavior and energy expenditure. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience. 2022,10.1038/s41380-022-01513-x

9. Zhibin Xu#1; Ye Tian#; A.-Xiang Li; Jiahang Tang1; Xiao-Yuan Jing; Chunshan Deng; Zhizhun Mo; Jiaxuan Wang; Juan Lai; Xuemei Liu; Xuantong Guo; Tao Li; Shupeng Li; Liping Wang; Zhonghua Lu; Zuxin Chen* and Xin-an Liu *. Menthol Flavor in E-Cigarette Vapor Modulates Social Behavior Correlated With Central and Peripheral Changes of Immunometabolic Signalings. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience. 2022,15:800406

10. Cai, Xue;Li, Lizhu;Liu, Wenhao;Du, Nianzhen;Zhao, Yu;Han, Yaning; Liu, Changbo;Yin, Yan; Fu, Xin;Sheng, Dawid;Yin, Lan; Wang, Liping; Wei, Pengfei*; Sheng, Xing ; A dual channel optogenetic stimulator selectively modulates distinct defensive behaviors. Iscience. 2022,Volume 25, Issue 1

11. Tseng YT#, Zhao BH#, Chen SP#, Ye JL, Liu JJ, Liang LS, Ding H, Schaefke B, Yang Q, Wang LN, Wang F, Wang LP*. The subthalamic corticotropin-releasing hormone neurons mediate adaptive REM-sleep responses to threat. Neuron. 2022, 110, 1-17. 

12. Huang K#, Han YN#, Chen K, Pan HL, Zhao GY, Yi WL, Li XX, Liu SY, Wei PF*, Wang LP*. A hierarchical 3D-motion learning framework for animal spontaneous behavior mapping. Nature Communications . 2021, 7:2784. 

13. Yang F#*, Liu YH#, Chen SP, Dai ZQ, Yang DZ, Gao DS, Shao J, Wang YY, Wang T, Zhang ZJ, Zhang L, Lu WW, Li YH*, Wang LP*. A GABAergic neural circuit in the ventromedial hypothalamus mediates chronic stress-induced bone loss. The Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2020, 130(12): 6539-6554.

14. Xiao Q#, Zhou XY#, Wei PF#, Xie L, Han YN, Wang J, Cai AL, Xu FQ, Tu J*, Wang LP*. A new GABAergic somatostatin projection from the BNST onto accumbal parvalbumin neurons controls anxiety. Molecular Psychiatry. 2020, 26(7).

15. Zhou Z #, Liu XM #, Chen SP, Zhang ZJ, Liu YM, Montardy Q, Tang YQ, Wei PF, Liu N, Lei Li, Song R, Lai J, He XB, Chen C, Bi GQ, Feng GP, Xu FQ *, Wang LP *. A VTA GABAergic neural circuit mediates visually evoked innate defensive responses. Neuron. 2019, 103(3): 473-488.