Education:

B.S. and M.S. from Shaanxi Normal University (1994,1997)

Ph.D. from Sun Yat-sen University (2000)

 

Work experience:

2007-2009     Research Associate

                    Department of Physiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine

 

2009-2011     Assistant Professor (non-tenure track)

                    Department of Physiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine

 

2011-2018      Assistant Professor (tenure track)

                     Department of Physiology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine

 

2018-2020     Associate Professor (with tenure)

                   Department of Physiology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine

 

2022-            Professor

                    Oujiang Laboratory

The research interests of my laboratory mainly centre on comprehending how chronic stress leads to depression and the cellular signalling of fast-acting antidepressants, particularly ketamine and its metabolites. To address this matter, we employ electrophysiological approaches, immunoblotting, immunohistochemistry, behavioural tests and molecular techniques to detect alterations of synaptic plasticity and its underlying mechanisms in the brain regions associated with affective control.

 

We are also intrigued by the role of glial cells in the fast antidepressant actions of ketamine and its metabolites. Glia makes up most of the cells in the brain, it is now becoming increasingly clear that these cells make crucial contributions to the formation, operation and adaptation of neural circuitry. We will use multiple approaches to understand how glial cells impact the excitability and synaptic plasticity of neurons in animal models of depression and during fast antidepressant application.

 

Lastly, we try to understand how emotional disorders impact single neuron information processing. Since the majority of synaptic inputs of a neuron are on the dendrites, my laboratory is particularly concerned with how emotional disorders modify the functions of various types of voltage-gated ion channels that are situated on the dendritic harbour of the neuron and are involved in information flow.

The team has 1 postdoctoral fellow, 3 assistant researchers, 1 research assistant and 14 graduate students.