Understanding how sex differences in the brain contribute to distinct neuroethology characteristics, from molecular mechanisms to neural circuits, is a major challenge in neuroscience. Animals have developed distinct natural behaviors, many of which show sexual dimorphism. Moreover, many neuropsychiatric disorders exhibit sex differences in terms of prevalence and clinical features. Our approach combines machine learning-based behavioral analysis with neural circuit tracing and modulation techniques to address three primary goals: 1) developing and advancing data-driven techniques for behavioral genomics analysis, 2) investigating the distinct features of sex-specific neuroethology and their underlying mechanisms; 3) elucidating variations in neuroethology and their neural mechanisms across different brain states.

Differential characteristics of behavioral homeostasis in both sexes and their neuroregulatory mechanisms.

1.Zhang M#, Wu X#, Liu D#, Li HX, Li XL, Yang WQ, Ye JL, Hou LY, Wang SY, Ning N, Zhang HF, Tian YH, Yu L, Wu KC, Wang LP, Plikus M*, Lv C*, Wang F*, Yu ZQ*. Sleep disturbance-sensitive neural circuit controls intestinal stem cell functions. Cell Stem Cell. 2026. Online ahead of print
2.Ye JL, Xu Y, Huang K, Wang XY, Wang LP*, Wang F*. Hierarchical behavioral analysis framework as a platform for standardized quantitative identification of behaviors. Cell Reports. 2025;44(2).115239
3.Li XL#, Zhou Y, Wang F*, Wang LP*. Sex-dimorphic kidney-brain connectivity map of mice. Neurosci Bull. 2024;40(10):1445-1457.
4.Liu JJ#, Ye JL, Ji CY, Ren WT, He YW, Xu FQ*, Wang F*. Mapping the behavioral signatures of Shank3b mice in both sexes. Neurosci Bull. 2024,40(9): 1299−1314.
Huang HR#, Liu X#, Wang LP, Wang F*. Whole-brain connections of glutamatergic neurons in the mouse lateral habenula in both sexes. Biol Sex Differ. 2024 Apr 23;15(1):37. 

1.2026/01-2029/12. Shenzhen Medical Research Fund Multimodal Graded Assessment and Mechanism Analysis of Consciousness Recovery after General Anesthesia (No. B2502030), ¥ 3, 000, 000, Project Leader
2.2024/01-2027/12  National Natural Science Foundation of China Neural mechanism of CB1R-expressing neurons modulating innate fear behavior (No. 32371062), ¥ 650, 000, Project Leader
3.2022/10-2025/12  Shenzhen Key Basic Research Project Neural activity of multi-brain region photoelectric information detection in mice (No. JCYJ20220818100805013), ¥ 2, 000, 000, Project Leader
4.2022/08-2027/07  National Science and Technology Innovation 2030- Major Project of China Sexual characteristics of subcortical circuits in processing fear emotion information (No. 2022ZD0208300), ¥ 5, 000, 000, Project Leader