Lin Tian | |
---|---|
Occupation | Scientific Director |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Northwestern University |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Neuroscience |
Institutions | Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience |
Lin Tian is a Chinese-American neuroscientist and biochemist. She is a Scientific Director of the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience in Jupiter,FL,and was formerly a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at the University of California,Davis. [1] Tian is known for her research in the fields of neuroscience and biochemical engineering. She develops and applies molecular tools to understand brain function and dysfunction at the individual,neuronal level.
Tian received her Ph.D. in biochemistry,Molecular and Cellular Biology at Northwestern University,where she studied the mechanism of protein processing by the proteasome. Her graduate advisor was Andreas Matouschek. [2]
From 2007 to 2009,Tian was a postdoctoral scholar at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's (HHMI) Janelia Research Campus,working with Loren Looger and Karel Svoboda. [3] During this time,Tian began her work on the development of tools for enhanced neuronal imaging and cell-specific labeling. [4] She created protein-based tools,including improved GCaMP indicators,for studying and manipulating the brain and other biological samples. [5]
Tian started her lab at UC Davis in 2012 as an assistant professor,later becoming a Professor and Vice Chair. [6] [7] In October 2023,she became a Scientific Director at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience. [1] [8]
Tian is best known for creating a new classes of genetically encoded indicators for detecting neurotransmitters and neuromodulators,such as serotonin and dopamine. [9] [10] She and her team use molecular scaffolds and computational modeling to create the biosensors,which can dynamically map neurotransmitter flow in the brain. [11] These tools are distributed through UNC NeuroTools [12] and Addgene. [13] Her work has implications for drug discovery,aiding in the identification of new therapeutic targets. [14]
She also worked with David E. Olson and developed a method to identify the hallucinogenic potential of psychedelic compounds. [15] [16] They engineered psychLight5,a “sensor that glows in the presence of a hallucinogenic compound when it interacts with a serotonin receptor." [15] In 2024,her lab released a new series of opioid sensors. [17]
Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic hallucinogens or serotonergic hallucinogens,the term psychedelic is sometimes used more broadly to include various types of hallucinogens,such as those which are atypical or adjacent to psychedelia like salvia and MDMA,respectively.
Tryptamine is an indolamine metabolite of the essential amino acid tryptophan. The chemical structure is defined by an indole—a fused benzene and pyrrole ring,and a 2-aminoethyl group at the second carbon. The structure of tryptamine is a shared feature of certain aminergic neuromodulators including melatonin,serotonin,bufotenin and psychedelic derivatives such as dimethyltryptamine (DMT),psilocybin,psilocin and others.
The mushroom bodies or corpora pedunculata are a pair of structures in the brain of arthropods,including insects and crustaceans,and some annelids. They are known to play a role in olfactory learning and memory. In most insects,the mushroom bodies and the lateral horn are the two higher brain regions that receive olfactory information from the antennal lobe via projection neurons. They were first identified and described by French biologist Félix Dujardin in 1850.
Neuromodulation is the physiological process by which a given neuron uses one or more chemicals to regulate diverse populations of neurons. Neuromodulators typically bind to metabotropic,G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) to initiate a second messenger signaling cascade that induces a broad,long-lasting signal. This modulation can last for hundreds of milliseconds to several minutes. Some of the effects of neuromodulators include altering intrinsic firing activity,increasing or decreasing voltage-dependent currents,altering synaptic efficacy,increasing bursting activity and reconfiguring synaptic connectivity.
Neurotransmitter transporters are a class of membrane transport proteins that span the cellular membranes of neurons. Their primary function is to carry neurotransmitters across these membranes and to direct their further transport to specific intracellular locations. There are more than twenty types of neurotransmitter transporters.
Pendleton Read Montague,Jr. is an American neuroscientist and popular science author. He is the director of the Human Neuroimaging Lab and Computational Psychiatry Unit at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC in Roanoke,Virginia,where he also holds the title of the inaugural Virginia Tech Carilion Vernon Mountcastle Research Professor. Montague is also a professor in the department of physics at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg,Virginia and professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine.
GCaMP is a genetically encoded calcium indicator (GECI) initially developed in 2001 by Junichi Nakai. It is a synthetic fusion of green fluorescent protein (GFP),calmodulin (CaM),and M13,a peptide sequence from myosin light-chain kinase. When bound to Ca2+,GCaMP fluoresces green with a peak excitation wavelength of 480 nm and a peak emission wavelength of 510 nm. It is used in biological research to measure intracellular Ca2+ levels both in vitro and in vivo using virally transfected or transgenic cell and animal lines. The genetic sequence encoding GCaMP can be inserted under the control of promoters exclusive to certain cell types,allowing for cell-type specific expression of GCaMP. Since Ca2+ is a second messenger that contributes to many cellular mechanisms and signaling pathways,GCaMP allows researchers to quantify the activity of Ca2+-based mechanisms and study the role of Ca2+ ions in biological processes of interest.
The Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (MPFI),is a research facility located in Jupiter,Florida. Its research focuses on brain function and neural circuits,using techniques to visualize microscopic molecular processes. It is the first institute established by the Max Planck Society in North America,and one of few institutes outside Germany.
A genetically engineered fluorescent protein that changes its fluorescence when bound to the neurotransmitter glutamate. Glutamate-sensitive fluorescent reporters are used to monitor the activity of presynaptic terminals by fluorescence microscopy. GluSnFRs are a class of optogenetic sensors used in neuroscience research. In brain tissue,two-photon microscopy is typically used to monitor GluSnFR fluorescence.
Anne M. Andrews is an American academic,the Richard Metzner Endowed Chair in Clinical Neuropharmacology,Professor of Chemistry &Biochemistry,and Professor of Psychiatry &Behavioral Sciences at the University of California,Los Angeles. Andrews is known for her work on the study of the serotonin system with a special focus on how the serotonin transporter modulates complex behaviors including anxiety,mood,stress responsiveness,and learning and memory.
Kate Wassum is an American neuroscientist and professor of behavioral neuroscience at the University of California,Los Angeles. Wassum probes the neural circuits underlying appetitive associative learning the circuit dynamics that give rise to diverse motivated behaviors.
Diane Lipscombe is a British neuroscientist who is a professor of neuroscience and the Reliance Dhirubhai Ambani Director of Brown University’s Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Institute for Brain Science. She served as the president of the Society for Neuroscience in 2019,the world’s largest organization for the study of the brain and nervous system.
Dayu Lin is a neuroscientist and Professor of Psychiatry,Neuroscience and Physiology at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine in New York City. Lin discovered the neural circuits in the hypothalamus that give rise to aggression in mice. Her lab at NYU now probes the neural circuits underlying innate social behaviors,with a focus on aggressive and defensive behaviors.
Parastoo ("Parry") Hashemi is an Iranian-British neural engineer at Imperial College London.
AAZ-A-154,also known as DLX-001 or as (R)-5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyl-α-methylisotryptamine,is a novel isotryptamine derivative which acts as a serotonin 5-HT2A receptor agonist discovered and synthesized by the lab of Professor David E. Olson at the University of California,Davis. It is being developed for the treatment of major depressive disorder and other central nervous system disorders.
David E. Olson is an American chemist and neuroscientist. He is an associate professor of chemistry,biochemistry and molecular medicine at the University of California,Davis,and is the founding director of the UC Davis Institute for Psychedelics and Neurotherapeutics.
Fiber photometry is a calcium imaging technique that captures 'bulk' or population-level calcium (Ca2+) activity from specific cell-types within a brain region or functional network in order to study neural circuits Population-level calcium activity can be correlated with behavioral tasks,such as spatial learning,memory recall and goal-directed behaviors. The technique involves the surgical implantation of fiber optics into the brains of living animals. The benefits to researchers are that optical fibers are simpler to implant,less invasive and less expensive than other calcium methods,and there is less weight and stress on the animal,as compared to miniscopes. It also allows for imaging of multiple interacting brain regions and integration with other neuroscience techniques. The limitations of fiber photometry are low cellular and spatial resolution,and the fact that animals must be securely tethered to a rigid fiber bundle,which may impact the naturalistic behavior of smaller mammals such as mice.
Optogenetics began with methods to alter neuronal activity with light,using e.g. channelrhodopsins. In a broader sense,optogenetic approaches also include the use of genetically encoded biosensors to monitor the activity of neurons or other cell types by measuring fluorescence or bioluminescence. Genetically encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) are used frequently to monitor neuronal activity,but other cellular parameters such as membrane voltage or second messenger activity can also be recorded optically. The use of optogenetic sensors is not restricted to neuroscience,but plays increasingly important roles in immunology,cardiology and cancer research.
Nako Nakatsuka is a Japanese researcher and Assistant Professor of Neurotechnology at EPFL. Her research is focused on pioneering translational technologies that directly impact human health. Her research group,the Laboratory of Chemical Nanotechnology (CHEMINA) works at the intersection of chemistry,engineering,and neuroscience to develop innovative strategies to support patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. She was awarded the 2023 Prix Zonta.