Jun Ding, PhD, Principal Investigator

Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and, by courtesy, of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

Bio

Jun Ding, PhD, is a scientist in the field of striatal neurobiology and basal ganglia research. His work employs a unque combination of novel microscopy techniques, electrophysiology and genetic tools. He performed his PhD dissertation research with Dr. D. James Surmeier at Northwestern University. For his postdoctoral training, he joined the laboratory of Dr. Bernardo Sabatini at Harvard Medical School. As an independent researcher, he investigates the functional organization of cortico-thalamobasal ganglia circuits.

Email: dingjun@stanford.edu

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Richard Roth, PhD

Post-doctoral Fellow

Bio

Richard received his PhD in Neuroscience from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he used in vivo imaging approaches to study synaptic plasticity during motor learning. As a postdoc in the Ding lab, Richard is focused on understanding how different brain circuits involved in motor control interact with each other to generate skilled motor movements. Originally from Germany, Richard enjoys traveling and skiing in his spare time.

Email: rhroth@stanford.edu

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Mengjun Sheng, PhD

Post-doctoral Fellow

Bio

Mengjun obtained his PhD from the Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His thesis work was focused on the neuronal activity changes in striatum during motor learning. Currently in Ding lab he is interested in the role of cortical basal ganglia circuits in motor learning. Outside the lab he likes running and bodybuilding.

Email: mjsheng@stanford.edu

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Di Lu, PhD

Post-doctoral Fellow

Bio

I obtained my PhD from the Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences. My thesis work dissected the role of D1R and D2R neurons in the dorsolateral striatum during mouse motor learning. Currently I am interested in the function of cortico - basal ganglia circuits during motor learning. Outside the lab I like traveling and reading.

Email: ludi89@stanford.edu

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Yue Sun, PhD

Post-doctoral Fellow

Bio

Yue Sun was born in Hangzhou, China. She earned her Ph.D. in 2017 at Fudan University. Her main thesis work was to study RNA splicing and its contribution to complex diseases when mis-regulated. In Stanford University, as a joint postdoctoral researcher in Jun Ding lab and Sui Wang lab (Ophthalmology Department), she focuses on two directions. One direction is to develope AAV tools for labeling gene expression profile or circuit-specific neurons in retina and brain. The other direction is to use activity-dependent labeling system to dissect neuronal subpopulations underlying different aspects of motor learning and use RNA-seq to identify genes critical for these processes.

Email: sunyue@stanford.edu

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Xiaobai Ren

Technician

Bio

Xiaobai obtained her PhD from Peking University, China. Prior to joining Dr. Ding’s Lab, she worked at MIT for several years. Her expertise includes virus packaging, cell biology, molecular biology and lab management. She is also an 8-year dragon boat veteran and enjoys baking and fishing in her time off.

Email: xiaobai@stanford.edu

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Fuu-Jiun Hwang, PhD

Post-doctoral Fellow

Bio

Fuu-Jiun was born in Taipei, Taiwan. He got his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology graduate program (MCB) from UMass Amherst, studying Multivesicular Release (MRV) in hair cell ribbon synapses using patch clamp electrophysiology and Ca2+ imaging. After joining Ding lab, he is focusing on understanding how motor learning modulates synaptic plasticity. Outside the lab, he likes to play basketball and watch NBA.

Email: fuujiun@stanford.edu

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Charles Huang

Undergraduate

Bio

Charles is a 4^th year undergraduate student studying Biomedical Computation. He is interested in the motor thalamus and its role in motor learning. In his free time, Charles enjoys rowing dragon boat and playing volleyball..

Email: c5huang@stanford.edu

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