Who I am

I defended my Ph.D. in Neuroscience in November 2025 at the Institute of Neuroscience (ION), Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), under the supervision of Dr. Yangang Sun. My doctoral research focused on how internal emotional states modulate sensory processing.

What I study

During my PhD, I combined single-cell calcium imaging (miniscope), circuit tracing, and opto-/chemogenetic manipulations to explore how stress modulates pain at the cellular and circuit level. I characterized how distinct neuronal subtypes in the central amygdala (CeA)—a hub for affective and nociceptive processing—represent nociceptive information. I revealed how acute stress modulates these representations, identified the specific neuronal populations involved, and mapped key upstream brain regions and signaling pathways that convey stress-related signals. This work provides new insights into the cellular basis of stress-induced analgesia and illustrates how internal states dynamically shape sensory processing.

Skills & Approach

My Ph.D. training has provided me with deep technical expertise in calcium imaging, behavioral paradigm design, circuit manipulation, and quantitative analysis. More importantly, it has trained me to think independently, fomulate scientific questions, design rigorous experiments, and drive projects from conception to successful publication.

Looking ahead

I am broadly interested in how the brain builds internal models of the world. My long-term goal is to combine experimental and computational approaches to understand how the brain represents the external environment and how internal states dynamically modulate these representations.