| | Principal Investigators
| Kuan Hong Wang, Ph.D. |
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Dr. Wang is chief of the Unit on Neural Circuits and Adaptive Behaviors in the Genes, Cognition and Psychosis program at the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Wang received his B.A. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College and his Ph.D. from the University of California at San Francisco, where he studied the molecular regulators of sensory axon growth and branching during development with Marc Tessier-Lavigne. Dr. Wang obtained postdoctoral training with Susumu Tonegawa at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he examined the ways in which cortical neurons respond to an animal's experience by directly visualizing the molecular activity of a given set of neurons over several days in the live animal. With this approach, he revealed a physiological function of neural activity regulated gene Arc in sharpening stimulus-specific responses in visual cortex.
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| Research Interests |
| The main focus of Dr. Wang’s laboratory is to use an integrated systems approach to understand the logic of experience-dependent cortical information processing at the molecular, cellular, circuitry and behavioral levels. A variety of cutting-edge technologies in molecular and cellular biology, mouse genetics, in vivo multi-photon imaging, and electrophysiology as well as sophisticated behavioral analyses will be combined to investigate the ability of the brain to change in response to behavioral experiences during normal adaptive cognition such as perceptual discrimination and social recognition and in the context of maladaptive psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, depression and drug addiction. Dr. Wang has genetically engineered a mouse line that enables direct visualization and tracking of experience-dependent and stimulus-specific molecular changes in the brain of live animals with single-cell resolution. With the aid of this line of mice, as well as new lines being developed that will provide more exquisite spatial and temporal controls of optical labeling and allow for functional manipulations of selected neurons, Dr. Wang’s laboratory will identify and characterize the molecular and cellular changes in the primary sensory and higher association cortices that are regulated by the internal drives, environmental exposures, and social interactions of an animal. Furthermore, Dr. Wang’s group will examine the neurophysiological correlates of these molecular and cellular changes and investigate the mechanisms by which these changes are integrated in the cortical circuits to control behavioral decisions during perceptual discrimination and social recognition. Dr. Wang’s group will also combine the optical-genetic systems that they are developing with mouse models of mental disorders to monitor the development of brain dysfunctions in real time, and test the effects of genetic risk factors as well as pharmacological and behavioral treatments. |
| Representative Selected Recent Publications: |
- Wang, K.H., Majewska, A., Schummers, J., Farley, B., Hu, C., Sur, M. and Tonegawa, S:
In vivo two-photon imaging reveals a role of Arc in enhancing orientation specificity in visual cortex.
Cell 126, 389-402, 2006.
- Kawai, J, et al., Wang, K.H., et al., Hayashizaki, Y.:
The RIKEN Genome Exploration Research Group Phase II Team and the FANTOM Consortium (2001) Functional annotation of a full-length mouse cDNA collection
Nature, 409, 685-690, 2001.
- Nguyen-Ba-Charvet, K.T., Brose, K., Ma, L., Wang, K.H., Marillat, V., Sotelo, C., Tessier-Lavigne, M. and Ch�dotal, A:
Diversity and specificity of actions of Slit2 proteolytic fragments in axon guidance.
Journal of Neuroscience, 21, 4281-4289, 2001.
- Brose, K., Bland, K.S., Wang, K.H., Arnott, D., Henzel, W., Goodman, C.S., Tessier-Lavigne, M. and Kidd, T:
Slit proteins bind Robo receptors and have an evolutionarily conserved role in repulsive axon guidance.
Cell, 96, 785-794, 2001.
- Wang, K.H., Brose, K., Arnott, D., Kidd, T., Goodman, C.S., Henzel, W. and Tessier-Lavigne, M:
Biochemical purification of a mammalian Slit protein as a positive regulator of sensory axon elongation and branching.
Cell, 96, 771-784, 1999.
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Address:
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Dr. Kuan Hong Wang
National Institute of Mental Health
35 Convent Drive, Room 2C1008, MSC3732
Bethesda, MD 20892-3732 |
| Phone |
(301) 594-3692 |
| Email Dr. Wang |
| Fax: |
(301) 480-2176 |
| Lab Web Site: |
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