Zheng Wang
Investigator
Ph.D. Tutor
Correspondence address: Room 306, 320 Yue Yang Road Shanghai, 200031 P.R.China
E-mail: zheng.wang@ion.ac.cn
Research Areas
Neural and physiological basis of brain structural and functional networks;
Neuropsychiatric mechanisms of mood disorders in primates;
Large-scale network computation for diagnosis and prognosis in brain disorders.
Education
09/2003 - 08/2008 Ph.D.
Dept. Medical Biophysics, UWO, Ontario, Canada
09/2000 - 08/2003 M.Sc.
Dept. Biomedical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan, China
09/1994 - 07/1998 B.Sc.
Dept. Polymer Science & Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
Experience
Work Experience
09/2011-now Principal Investigator Director
Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
09/2011-now Director
Functional Brain Imaging Platform, Shanghai Regional Center of Biology Science Instrument, CAS, China
01/2011 - 08/2011 Adjunct professor
Dept. Psychology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN
08/2009 – 08/2011 Research Associate
Dept. Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
09/2008 – 07/2009 Postdoc Fellow
Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario (UWO), London, Ontario, Canada
Publications
Papers
(1) Dynamic network communication in the human functional connectome predicts perceptual variability in visual illusion, Cerebral Cortex, 2016, corresponding author.
(2) Dissociable Changes of Frontal and Parietal Cortices in Inherent Functional Flexibility across the Human Lifespan, The Journal of Neuroscience, 2016, corresponding author.
(3) Representation of illusory and physical rotations in human MST: A cortical site for the pinna illusion, Hum Brain Mapp, 2016, corresponding author.
(4) Large-scale Persistent Network Reconfiguration Induced by Ketamine in Anesthetized Monkeys: Relevance to Mood Disorders., Biol Psychiatry, 2015, corresponding author.
(5) Discriminative Structured Feature Engineering for Macroscale Brain Connectomes., IEEE Trans Med Imaging, 2015, corresponding author.
(6) Functional signature of recovering cortex: dissociation of local field potentials and spiking activity in somatosensory cortices of spinal cord injured monkeys, Experimental Neurology, 2013, first author.
(7) The relationship of anatomical and functional connectivity to resting state connectivity in primate somatosensory cortex, Neuron, 2013, first author.
(8) Clinical fMRI: a pre-surgical test in patients with medically intractable epilepsy (invited editorial), Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, 2012, first author.
(9) Spontaneous EEG-functional MRI in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy: implication for the neural correlates of consciousness, Epilepsy Research and Treatment, 2012, first author.
(10) Columnar specificity of microvascular oxygenation and blood flow responses in primary visual cortex: evaluation by local field potential and spiking activity, Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 2012, first author.
(11) Trial-to-trial noise cancellation of cortical field potentials in awake monkeys by autoregession model with exogenous input (ARX), Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 2011, first author.
(12) In vivo mapping brain microcirculation by laser speckle contrast imaging: a magnetic resonance perspective of theoretical framework, Journal of Innovative Optical Health Sciences, 2008, first author.
(13) Theoretical and experimental optimization of laser speckle contrast imaging for high specificity to assess brain microcirculation, Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 2007, first author.
(14) Linear aspects of transformation from interictal epileptic discharges to BOLD fMRI signals in an animal model of occipital epilepsy, NeuroImage, 2006, second author.
(15) Blood flow activation in rat somatosensory cortex under sciatic nerve stimulation revealed by laser speckle imaging, Progress in Natural Science, 2003, first author.
(16) Efficient characterization of regional mesenteric blood flow using laser speckle imaging, Applied Optics, 2003, third author.
Patents
1. Central control system for nonhuman primate fMRI, Software Copyright (China), No. 0649074
2. Cloud computation and storage system for functional brain imaging, Patent Pending (China), No. 201410301490.9
3. Unified nonhuman primate head coil on 3T MRI, Patent Pending (China), No. 201410306478.7
4. Synchronized monitoring and triggering systems for nonhuman primate fMRI, Patent Pending (China), No. 201410205450.4
Research Interests
Recent progress on MRI-based brain connectivity study such as the Human Connectome Project (HCP) and BRAIN Initiative in the United States has generated a surge of interests for understanding basic mechanisms of the working brain and potential applications in the diseased brain. The long-term scientific pursuit of our lab is to establish nonhuman primate disease models with using a molecular genetic method, and to investigate the primate brain networks in combination with MRI, electrophysiology and neuroanatomy techniques.
Diffusion MRI (MRI)
Diffusion-weighted
magnetic resonance imaging is an emerging magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
method ever since the mid-1980s, which allows the detecting of the diffusion
process of water molecules in biological tissues, in vivo and non-invasively. By
calculating the biophysical trajectory of water diffusion to infer the
architecture of the white matter, Diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging
and its derivative methods have become one of the most valuable MRI techniques
of pursuing the working mechanism of brain architecture. Furthermore, assessment
of the microstructural integrity of the axonal fibers using a variety of
diffusion indices has absorbed an increasing attention in the study of
neurological diseases or psychiatric disorders.
In essence, diffusion MRI measures the dephasing of spins of protons in the presence of a spatially-varying magnetic field (‘gradient’), which changes their Larmor frequency. The intuitive mechanism here is the phase change resulting from components of incoherent displacement of spins along the axis of the applied field gradient. We are interested in the sampling scheme in diffusion-encoding space (namely q-space) and algorithms that enable fiber tractography in the whole brain scale, with the use of our specialized gradient-insert system (AC88, 80mT/m gradient strength; 880mT/m/s, slew rate). Our aim is to probe the structural foundation of the brain reward circuitry through network-level comparison of monkey model and human patients. Diffusion image-based prognostic indicators of disease course and response to therapy would be extremely valuable to assess the responsiveness of patients to specific therapeutic interventions.
Neural and physiological basis of brain structural and
functional networks
There are multiple parallel functional areas
(neural networks) existing in the mammalian brain that are coordinated to
process diversified sensory inputs. Although the existence of interaction
(communication) across many areas has been implicated by the correlation of fMRI
signals, the neural and physiological correlates are not entirely clear and
controversial. During the past few years, the concept of resting-state brain
networks has stimulated a flurry of fMRI publications because it appears to
generate a revolutionizing view of brain working mode and functional imaging per
se. It has also stirred hot debates on the interpretation and significance of
the functional connectivity inferred by fMRI. We are planning to combine fMRI
with multi-channel extracellular recording to investigate neural and
physiological interaction in the monkey brain. With using the network-level
analysis methods, we will place an emphasis on unveiling the modulatory effects
of external interventions including pharmaceutical and surgical treatments on
the brain.
Neuropsychiatric mechanisms of mood disorders in
primates
Mood disorders including major depressive disorder (MDD),
generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), eating
disorders (ED), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorder
are likely accompanied by distributed system-level disturbances in brain reward
circuitry. We plan to apply molecular neurobiology and gene therapy to various
monkey disease models (depression-like, drug-addiction etc.), and investigate
the structural and functional networks with MRI and neurophysiological
recordings. In parallel, we conduct various kinds of MR studies (MRI-based
morphometry, diffusion MRI, functional MRI, and MR spectroscopy etc.) on human
patients. Such multi-dimensional methodogical integration could provide more
insights into the relationship between neural circuit activity and genetic
manipulation, and how abnormalities in neural network may contribute to the
pathogenesis of psychiatric illnesses.
Large-scale network computation for diagnosis and
prognosis in brain disorders
One research objective of structural
and functional neuroimaging in primates is to undertake outreach work aimed at
potential aid in diagnosis and prognosis in a variety of brain disorders.
High-resolution mapping of the whole brain in nonhuman and human primates allows
us to apply and develop a wide range of simulation and prediction algorithms to
statistically identify the core features of certain brain disease, which can
further help to evaluate therapeutic outcomes of clinical interventional
treatments. We are dedicated to collect a large sample of comparable
human-monkey imaging datasets, develop specialized machine learning algorithms
that are applicable to brain research for improved understanding of the diseases
and guidance to new treatment means.
Conferences
Society for Neuroscience 2016 Annual Meeting Nov.12-Nov.17
Conference Report Title:
Increased gamma band activity in transgenic monkeys overexpressing MeCP2 associated with autism-like behaviors
Students
已指导学生
吕骞 博士研究生 071006-神经生物学
现指导学生
王志伟 博士研究生 071006-神经生物学
吕启明 博士研究生 071006-神经生物学
薄婷婷 博士研究生 071006-神经生物学
鄢明超 博士研究生 071006-神经生物学
陈潇宇 博士研究生 071006-神经生物学
高乐 硕士研究生 071006-神经生物学
詹亚峰 博士研究生 071006-神经生物学
刘忆霖 博士研究生 071006-神经生物学
鄢盛尧 博士研究生 071006-神经生物学
Honors & Distinctions
10/2013 06/2011 04/2007 | Fellowship of Hundred Talent Program of CAS Postdoctoral Fellowship of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad |
05/2006 | Ontario Graduate Scholarship (International Student, top 50) |
05/2005 | Western Graduate Research Scholarship, UWO |
09/2004 | Strategic Training Fellowship in Vascular Research, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) |
09/2003 | Special University Scholarship, UWO |
04/2003 | Research Scholarship, Graduate Programme in Bioengineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore (declined) |
09/2002 | Graduate Assistantship, Dept. Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, USA (Visa rejected) |
10/2001 | Visiting Scholarship, Medical Diagnostics Research Foundation, University of Pennsylvania, USA, invited by Dr. Britton Chance (Visa rejected) |