Biography

Wuhan University, BS, 2009-2013

Peking University & NIBS, PhD, 2013-2018

NYU Langone Health, Postdoc, 2018-2024

Wuhan University, Investigator, 2024-present

Research

Social behaviors, including parental, infanticide, sexual, and aggressive behaviors, play a crucial role in the reproductive success of individuals and the survival of species. Our research goal is to understand how social behaviors are generated and modulated in the brain, and how an individual's social behaviors contagiously affect the others to change their behavior decision. We are tackling these questions using combinatorial techniques including virus tracing, fiber photometry imaging, freely moving two-photon imaging, optogenetic, chemogenetic, electrophysiology, and molecular genetics. We hope these studies will help us better understand how individual behaviors, as well as population-level behaviors, are generated and modulated in the brain, how malfunctions in the control of these behaviors may lead to certain forms of mental disorders.

Representative  Publications

1) Mei L., Osakada T., Lin, D. Hypothalamic control of innate social behaviors. Science, 2023, dio: 10.1126/science.adh8489.

2) Mei L.*, Yan, R., Yin, L., Sullivan, R., Lin, D*. Antagonistic Circuits Mediating Infanticide and Maternal Care in Females. Nature, 2023, dio: 10.1038/s41586-023-06147-9. (*Co-corresponding authors). { Featured by Editor in Nature Research Briefings, and reported by Nature Podcast}

3) Qian, T., Wang, H., Wang, P., Geng, L., Mei, L., Osakada, T., Wang, L., Tang, Y., Kania, A., Grinevich, V., Stoop, R., Lin, D., Luo, M., Li, Y. A genetically encoded sensor measures temporal oxytocin release from different neuronal compartments. Nature Biotechnology, 2023, doi: 10.1038/s41587-022-01561-2.

4) Wang, H., Qian, T., Zhao, Y., Zhuo, Y., Wu, C., Osakada, T., Chen, P., Ren, H., Yan, Y., Geng, L., Fu, S., Mei, L., Li, G., Wu, L., Jiang, Y., Qian, W., Peng, W., Xu, M., Hu, J., Chen, L., Tang, C., Lin, D., Zhou, J., Li, Y.A toolkit of highly selective and sensitive genetically encoded neuropeptide sensors. Science, 2023, dio: 10.1126/science.abq8173

5) Ju D. #, Zhang W. #, Yan J., Zhao H., Li W., Wang J., Liao M., Xu Z., Wang Z., Zhou G., Mei L., Hou N., Ying S., Cai T., Chen S., Xie X., Lai L., Tang C., Park N., Takahashi J.S., Huang N., Qi X. *, and Zhang E.E. * Chemical Perturbations Reveal That RUVBL2 Regulates the Circadian Phase in Mammals. Science Translational Medicine, 2020, doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aba0769. {Featured by Editor in the issue: “Shifting clock gears”; and by Nature Reviews Drug Discovery: “Shortening jet-lag recovery”; Highlighted by Faculty of 1000 (Very Good)}

6) Han K.#, Mei L.#, Zhong R., Pang Y., Zhang E.E.*, and Huang Y.* A Microfluidic Approach for Experimentally Modelling the Intercellular Coupling System of a Mammalian Circadian Clock at Single-cell Level. Lab Chip, 2020, doi: 10.1039/D0LC00140F. (#Co-first authors)

7) Mei L., Fan Y., Lv X., Welsh DK., Zhan CH.* & Zhang E.E.* Long-term in vivo recording of circadian rhythms in brains of freely moving mice. PNAS, 2018. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1717735115. {Highlighted by Faculty of 1000 (Very Good)}