Prof. Miao He

Principal Investigator

Research Direction
Genetic dissection of neural circuit and neurological disorders

Contact Information
Address: 138 Yixueyuan Road, Institutes of Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai China 200032
Tel: 021-54237869  Email: hem@fudan.edu.cn

Dr. Miao He received her Ph.D. degree in genetics from State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2011.  From 2011 to 2013, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neuroscience in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. She joined the institute of brain science in Fudan University at 2013.

Enrollment Major
Neurobiology

Research Work
The mammalian brain contains an enormous variety of cell types.  Different types of neurons and glia are highly intermingled and interconnected. My group is aiming for developing genetic tools and strategies that engage the intrinsic gene regulatory mechanisms to target and manipulate distinct cell types. In the past, we have designed multiple transgenic mouse drivers, reporters and viral tools that target restricted cortical GABAergic interneurons defined by one or more cellular features including molecular marker, developmental origin, and axonal projection. We have also developed cell-type specific miRNA purification strategy miRAP and reversible conditional gene regulation strategy SGIRT. Currently, we continue to expand the genetic tool kit to target diverse projection neuron and glia subtypes. We are also utilizing these tools to investigate the molecular and cellular mechanism underlying neural circuit assembly, organization, plasticity, and pathology in neurological disorders, from the angle of distinct cell types. We mainly focus on GABAergic inhibitory circuit and hypothalamic mammillary circuit. 

Selected Publications

1. Gong L, Liu X, Wu JY, He M*(2022). Emerging strategies for the genetic dissection of gene functions, cell types, and neural circuits in the mammalian brain. Mol Psychiatr. 27(1): 422-435 

2. Hou Y, Zhang Q, Liu H, Wu J, Shi Y, Qi Y, Shao M, Yang Z, Lu J, Wu Z, Gong L*, He M*(2021) Topographical organization of mammillary neurogenesis and efferent projections in the mouse brain. Cell Rep. 34(6):108712

3. Liu X, Ma L, Liu H, Gan J, Xu Y, Zhang T, Mu P, Wu J, Shi Y, Zhang Y, Gong L, He M*(2020). Cell-type-specific gene inactivation and in situ restoration via recombinase-based flipping of targeted genomic region. J Neurosci. 40(37):7169-7186 (Research Spotlight)

4. He M, Tucciarone J, Lee S, Nigro M. J, Kim Y, Levine J. M, Kelly S. M, Krugikov I, Wu P, Chen Y, Gong L, Hou Y, Osten P, Rudy B, Huang ZJ*(2016). Strategies and tools for combinatorial targeting of GABAergic neurons in mouse cerebral cortex.Neuron. 91(6): 1228-1243

5. He M, Liu Y, Wang X, Zhang M. Q, Hannon GJ, Huang ZJ(2012)*. Cell-type-based analysis of microRNA profiles in the mouse brain. Neuron. 73(1): 35-48