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周景峰实验室 | 揭示联合学习和抉择的神经环路机制
请介绍一下您的研究方向
我们实验室使用大鼠和小鼠作为模式动物，研究学习、记忆和抉择的神经环路机制。具体来说，我们训练动物学习复杂的行为学任务，同时使用多通道在体电生理或者钙成像方法，记录大脑中的神经元活动，然后结合光遗传学和化学遗传学等手段操控神经元的活动模式，期望能够建立起某些脑区与特定行为的因果关系，从而揭示学习与记忆等大脑认知功能的神经生物学基础。
短期和长期来看，您最希望解决的科学问题是什么？
总的来说，我们对大脑如何学习事物之间特定的联系，以及如何实现“举一反三、触类旁通”这样抽象和泛化学习的能力非常感兴趣。我们自己和其他人的研究表明，大鼠和小鼠也具有类似的学习现象，这意味着我们可以利用这些动物模型，在神经环路层面对这种学习能力进行更加深入的机制研究。
短期内，我们实验室主要关注前额叶皮层和海马等脑区参与的神经环路如何编码抽象任务结构的信息，希望研究清楚这些信息的编码与价值、情境、注意力以及其它任务变量之间具有怎样的交互关系，以及这些信息的编码对动物的学习和行为会产生什么样的影响。同时我们也在研究中脑多巴胺神经元和五羟色胺神经元在这些过程中起到了怎样的调节作用。
长期来看，我们希望能够理解大脑的不同区域如何相互协作，把具体的经历转化为抽象的知识；以及这些抽象的知识表征是怎样指导我们在不同情境下灵活运用已经学习到的知识，并且实现学习的迁移。
为什么选择加入北京脑所？
北京脑所提供稳定充足的经费和空间支持，拥有高效的行政服务团队和技术辅助平台，并创造了自由探索的科研氛围，对于希望在神经科学领域从事高水平研究的科学家来说非常具有吸引力。此外，脑所的学生、博后和研究助理都非常优秀，这也让我认为加入脑所是非常正确的选择。
关于实验室负责人
周景峰，北京大学和北京生命科学研究所博士、美国国立卫生研究院博士后。他的实验室使用在体多通道电生理、钙成像、光和化学遗传学以及计算建模等方法，研究动物联合学习与抉择行为过程中，前额叶皮层、海马和相关脑区神经元群体活动的运算规律，以及这些神经元参与构成的神经网络的特征和作用原理。在Nature, Neuron, Current Biology, Journal of Neuroscience等国际重要期刊发表论文，曾获得NIH K99/R00等奖项。实验室得到北京脑所、国家自然科学基金、科技创新2030—脑科学与类脑研究重大项目、北京市科技新星等多项基金的支持。
Tell us about the research interests of your lab.
Our lab uses rats and mice as model organisms to investigate the neural circuit mechanisms of learning, memory, and decision-making. Specifically, we train these animals to learn complex behavioral tasks while using multi-channel in vivo electrophysiology or calcium imaging to record neural activity in the brain. We also use optogenetics and chemogenetics to manipulate neuronal activity, establish causal relationships between certain brain regions and behaviors, and reveal the neurobiological basis of cognitive brain functions such as learning and memory.
What scientific problems do you want to solve most in the short and long term?
We are generally interested in our ability to learn specific associations and generalize across experiences. Past research, including ours, has shown that rats and mice share some of these learning phenomena with humans, indicating that animal models can be used to investigate these learning abilities mechanistically.
In the short term, our lab focuses on how neural circuits involving the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus encode information about abstract task structures through associative learning. We want to understand how the encoding of this information interacts with value, context, attention, and other task variables and how such information encoding would affect animal learning and behavior. At the same time, we are also studying the roles of midbrain dopaminergic and serotonergic systems in these processes.
In the long term, we aim to understand how different brain regions work together to turn specific experiences into abstract knowledge and how these representations guide our flexible use of learned knowledge and transfer of learning across different contexts.
Why choose CIBR?
CIBR provides stable and ample funding and space support, efficient administrative teams, state-of-the-art core facilities, and a highly free and exploratory environment for research. It is attractive for scientists eager to conduct top research in neuroscience. Additionally, the students, postdoctoral fellows, and research assistants at CIBR are exceptionally excellent, further reinforcing my belief that joining CIBR was the correct choice.
About Principal Investigator
Jingfeng Zhou received his Ph.D. from Peking University and the National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, and conducted postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health. Using techniques including in vivo electrophysiology, calcium imaging, optogenetics, chemogenetics, and computational modeling, his lab aims to determine how neural activities and networks, especially in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, support computations necessary for associative learning and decision-making in rodents. Research has been published in Nature, Neuron, Current Biology, Journal of Neuroscience, and other journals. He has received many awards, including the NIH K99/R00. The lab has received funding from CIBR, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the China Brain Project, and the Beijing Nova Program.
