Dr. Yong-Chun Yu received his Ph.D. degree in neurobiology at the Fudan University in 2006. From 2006 to 2009, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the University of Texas Health Science Center and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Then he joined the Institute of Neurobiology and Institutes of Brain Science of Fudan University. Dr. Yu has authored papers in prominent international journals, such as Nature, Neuron, Nature Communications and PNAS. Dr. Yu is currently the vice director of the Frontiers Center for Brain Science and the vice director of the State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology.

Enrollment Major
Neurobiology

Research  Direction
The research goal of the lab is to reveal how the cerebral cortex forms synaptic circuits, the developmental characteristics and molecular mechanisms of synaptic circuits formed between different neurons, and try to clarify the mechanism of information processing by these neural circuits. In addition, we study the molecular mechanism of malformation of cortical development through the whole genome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis.

Selected Publications 

1. Zong N, Wang M, Fu YH, Shen D, Yu YC*(2022). Cell-cycle length of medial ganglionic eminence progenitors contributes to interneuron fate. Protein Cell. 13(2):141-147
2. Su X,Chen JJ, Liu LY, Huang Q, Zhang LZ, Li XY, He XN, Lu WL, Sun Shan, Li HW, Yu YC*(2017). Neonatal CX26 removal impairs neocortical development and leads to elevated anxiety. P Natl Acad Sci USA. 114(12): 3228-3233
3. Yang WZ, Liu TT, Cao JW, Chen XF, Liu X, Wang M, Su X, Zhang SQ, Qiu BL, Hu WX, Liu LY, Ma L, Yu YC*(2016). Fear erasure facilitated by immature inhibitory neuron transplantation. Neuron. 92(6):1352-1367
4. Yao XH, Wang M, He XN, He F, Zhang SQ, Lu WL, Qiu ZL, Yu YC*(2016). Electrical coupling regulates layer 1 interneuron microcircuit formation in the neocortex. Nat Commun. 7: 12229
5. Yu YC*, He SJ*, Chen S, Fu YH, Brown KN, Yao XH, Ma J, Gao KP, Sosinsky GE, Huang K, Shi SH*(2012). Preferential electrical coupling regulates neocortical lineage-dependent microcircuit assembly. Nature. 486(7401): 113-117