I was born in Apr, 1978 in Zhangjiagang, a small town sits beside the Yangtze River in the east of China. During my childhood, I was interested in almost everything, drawing, literature, history, fishing and some sports. But it seems that I never developed any neuron for music.

I studied in Shazhou Middle School (1993-1996) before I went to the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 1996. After 4 years of course study in School of Life Science at USTC, I joined Dr Xu Zhang's Lab in Institute of Neuroscience (ION) to do my undergraduate thesis, and participated in the study of delta-opioid receptor mediated neuropeptide secretion. In 2001, I did my thesis defense and obtained my Bachelor of Science Degree from USTC. During those years in college and the year in ION, I found my direction in research, especially in neuroscience. Not only because reseach is interesting and challenging but also because it makes me feel useful to our society. And I believe my work will add new knowledge and improve our health some day.

Therefore, in the fall of 2001, I began my Ph.D. study at the Department of Physiology and Biophysics in University of Southern California (USC), and I joined Dr. Robert H Chow's lab to study the presynaptic mechanism of synaptic transmission, focusing on identifying the role of a small protein called complexin. With this work, I got my Ph.D. in 2007.

After years of study, I confirmed my interest in neuroscience research but I also realized that to understand human mind, it is necessary to study nervous system at another level: the neural circuits. So I joined Dr. David Anderson's lab in Caltech as a postdoc to study how neural circuits control behavior in 2008. You can find more information about my research here.

2007 was the biggest year for my personal life, I got married with Caohui Fang, who works in Shenzhen Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau. Here are some pictures of us.

Click here to view my C.V. (download pdf)

My blog.