Prof. Yu Gu

Principal Investigator

Research Direction
Sensory Modulation of Voluntary Behavioral Decision-Making and Development of Amblyopia Treatments

Contact Information
Address: 131 Dong An Road, Research Building B, Room CB1-047, Fudan University, Shanghai China 200032 

Tel: 021-54237183  Email: guyu_@fudan.edu.cn

Dr. Yu Gu, graduated from Tsinghua University with B.S. degree in 2007, graduated from University of Maryland with PhD degree in 2014, conducted postdoctoral research in the Department of Neurobiology at Northwestern University from 2014 to 2017, and joined the Institutes of Brain Science at Fudan University as a group leader in 2018. His research results have been published in several leading neuroscience journals, including Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, Cell Reports, eLife, Journal of Neuroscience, etc. He has also received support from several National Natural Science Foundation of China programs and the titles of Shanghai Rising-Star and Young Oriental Scholar. He is currently a member of the Sensory and Motor Division of the Chinese Society of Neuroscience, a member of the Neurodegenerative Diseases Committee of the Chinese Society for the Promotion of Human Health Science and Technology, and a member of the Young Editorial Board of Neuroscience Bulletin, the journal of the Chinese Society of Neuroscience.

Enrollment Major
Neurobiology

Research Work
Voluntary behavior can be defined as an organism's active and targeted behavior in response to environmental changes and encompasses two main features: 1) active decision-making and strategy selection rather than passive adaptation to the environment, and 2) a high degree of dependence on the integrated processing of information from the external environment. A variety of neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., amblyopia) exhibit abnormalities in volunary behavioral decision-making, but the mechanisms are unclear. Using in vivo electrophysiology, wide-field calcium imaging, circuit manipulation and other techniques, the group study the regulatory role played by sensory information inputs and the circuital basis during the initiation and transition of voluntary behaviors such as abandonment, predation, and avoidance, and provide guidance for the mechanisms and clinical treatments of related neurological disorders.

Selected Publications

1. Hu G#, Chen A#, Ye J, Liu Q, Wang J, Fan C, Wang X, Huang M, Dai M, Shi X*, Gu Y*(2024). A developmental critical period for ocular dominance plasticity of binocular neurons in mouse superior colliculus. Cell Rep. 43(1):113667

2. Li CQ#, Sun TP#, Zhang YM#, Gao Y, Sun Z, Li W, Cheng HP, Gu Y*, Abumaria N*(2023). A neural circuit for regulating a behavioral switch in response to prolonged uncontrollability in mice. Neuron. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.05.023 

3. Hao X#, Liu Q#, Chan J#, Li N, Shi X*, Gu Y*(2022). Binocular visual experience drives the maturation of response variability and reliability in the visual cortex. iScience. 25(9):104984 

4. Gu Y, Cang JH*(2016). Binocular matching of thalamocortical and intracortical circuits in the mouse visual cortex. eLife. 5:e22032 

5. Gu Y#, Huang S#, Chang MC, Worley P, Kirkwood A*, Quinlan EM*(2013). Obligatory role for the immediate early gene NARP in critical period plasticity. Neuron. 79(2):335-346