General

Dr. Min Xu is the Head of the Laboratory of Modulation of Neural Circuits & Behavior. He received his B.S. degree in Biotechnology from East China University of Science and Technology (2003) and his Ph.D. degree in Neurobiology from the Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2010. After completing his Ph.D., Dr. Xu conducted postdoctoral research with Dr. Yang Dan at the University of California, Berkeley /Howard Hughes Medical Institute (2010-2016). Dr. Xu joined ION as a Principal Investigator in September 2016. His research focuses on understanding neural circuit mechanisms underlying sleep-wake cycle.

Research Areas

An essential function of the central nervous system is to initiate animal’s behavior in response to dynamic changesin the environment. A complete understanding of this process requires acomprehensive analysis of the local and long-range neural circuits involved in specific behaviors.Our current research focuses on the neural circuits modulating the sleep-wake behavior.

Sleep-wake cycle is a universal phenomenon observed throughout mammals. Mutiple brain regions, including the hypothalamus, have been shown to play critical roles in the sleep-wake cycle. However, the exact underlying mechanism is not entirely clear.

Recent technical advances in the study of mouse behaviors provide an invaluable opportunity to address this question at multiple levels, including in vivo optrode recording or calcium imaging of the natural firing patterns of different neuronal types during sleep-wake cycle, optogenetic or pharmacogenetic manipulations ofthe activity of each cell type, and mapping the local and long-range synaptic connectivity using slice recording or virus-mediated tracing. Such strategy has been successfully applied to the analysis of basal forebrain circuits controlling the sleep-wake behavior (Xu, et. al. 2015). We will apply the same strategy to study the role of hypothalamus neuronal circuits on the modulation of the sleep-wake cycle. The ultimate goal of this study is to help us to understand a fundamental question in the sleep research: What makes us sleep?


Publications

   
Papers
1.Kai-Siang Chen*, Min Xu*, Zhe Zhang, Wei-Cheng Chang, Thomas Gaj, David V. Schaffer, YangDan (2018) A Hypothalamic Switch for REM and Non-REM Sleep. Neuron, 97(5), 1168-1176 (*indicates equal contribution)
2.Siyu Zhang*, Min Xu*, Wei-Cheng Chang, Johnny Hoang Do, Tiffany Lei, DanielJeong, Jiang Lan Fan, Yang Dan (2016) Frontal Cortex for Top-Down Control: Organization of Long-Range Inputs and Outputs.  Nature Neuroscience. doi:10.1038/nn.4417 (*indicates equal contribution)
3.Johnny Hoang Do*, Min Xu*, Seung-Hee Lee*, Wei-Cheng Chang, Siyu Zhang, Shinjae Chung, Tyler J. Yung, Jiang Lan Fan, KazunariMiyamichi, Liqun Luo, and Yang Dan (2016)Cell Type-Specific Long-Range Connections of Basal Forebrain Circuit. eLife.5:e13214
4.Min Xu*, Shinjae Chung*, Siyu Zhang, Peng Zhong, Chenyan Ma, Wei-Cheng Chang, Brandon Weissbourd, Noriaki Sakai, Liqun Luo, Seiji Nishino, and Yang Dan (2015) Basal Forebrain Circuit for Sleep-Wake Control.Nature Neuroscience doi:10.1038/nn.4143
5.Franz Weber, Shinjae Chung, Kevin T. Beier, Min Xu, Liqun Luo, and Yang Dan (2015) Control of REM sleep by ventral medulla GABAergic neurons. Nature doi:10.1038/nature14979
6.Siyu Zhang, Min Xu, Tsukasa Kamigaki, Johnny Hoang Do, Wei-Cheng Chang, Sean Jenvay, Kazunari Miyamichi, Liqun Luo, and Yang Dan (2014) Long-Range and local circuits for top-down modulation of visual cortical processing.Science 345(6197):660-5.
7.Min Xu, Si-yu Zhang, Yang Dan, and Mu-ming Poo (2014) Reply to Namboodiri and Hussain Shuler: Analysis of scaling of neuronal activities in medial prefrontal cortex during interval timing. PNAS111 (22), E2240-E2240.
8.Min Xu, Si-yu Zhang, Yang Dan, and Mu-ming Poo (2014) Representation of interval timing by temporally scalable firing patterns in rat prefrontal cortex. PNAS 111(1): 480 - 485.
9.Lucas Pinto, Michael J Goard, Daniel Estandian, Min Xu, Alex C Kwan, Seung-Hee Lee, Thomas C Harrison, Guoping Feng, and Yang Dan (2013) Fast modulation of visual perception by basal forebrain cholinergic neurons.Nature Neuroscience 16, 1857 - 1863
10.Si-yu Zhang*, Min Xu*, Qing-long Miao, Mu-ming Poo, and Xiao-hui Zhang (2009) Endocannabinoid-Dependent Homeostatic Regulation of Inhibitory Synapses by Miniature Excitatory Synaptic Activities. Journal of Neuroscience 29(42), 13222-13231.
11.Min Xu, Chun-hua Liu, Ying Xiong and Ju-fang He. (2007) Corticofugal modulation of the auditory thalamic reticular nucleus of the guinea pig. Journal of Physiology (London) 585, 15-28.