Weifeng Xu
Principal Investigator Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Office: 46-4239A
Phone: 617-715-5392
Email: weifeng@mit.edu
Connect: LinkedIn / ResearchGate
Short Biography
Weifeng Xu went to Peking University for her undergraduate education, major in Biophysics and Physiology in the College of Life Sciences. Weifeng Xu did her Ph.D study with Dr. Diane Lipscombe in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at Brown University. Weifeng did her postdoctoral training with Dr. Robert Malenka at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Learn more »
Yan Liu
Laboratory Manager / Technical Assistant
M.S. Cell Biology, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2007
B.S. Biotechnology, Sichuan University 2004
Office: 46-4239
Phone: 617-452-2695 / 617-715-5413
Email / LinkedIn / Research Gate
Short Biography
I worked as a research associate in Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and cell biology for two years before I joined the Xu lab in 2010. As a lab manager I manage and control laboratory operations and provide technical support as well. Such as tissue culture, virus preparation and maintenance mouse colonies.
Xiaobai Ren
Technical Assistant/Lab Manager
Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry, Peking University 2011
B.S. in Chemistry, Nankai University 2005
Office: 46-4239
Phone : 617-452-2695
Email / LinkedIn / Research Gate
Short Biography
I am the technical assistant/lab manager helping manage and maintain an efficient workflow in the lab on a daily basis, and providing technical support. I joined Xu’s lab in 2014. I was in structural biology research field, and got my Ph.D. from Beijing NMR Center.
Kendrick Jones
Postdoctoral Associate
Ph.D. Yale University, Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, 2007
B.S. Brown University, Biology 2000
Office: 46-4267
Phone: 617-715-5413
Email
Short Biography
As a postdoc in the Xu lab I study in the regulation of a protein, Neurogranin, which plays an important role in regulating calcium signaling events in neurons. Specifically I am interested in how rapid changes in the concentration of Neurogranin within neurons can regulate memory formation in the hippocampus. I use a variety of biochemical, cell biological, and behavioral assays to address questions about the role of new protein synthesis in learning and memory.
Kyung Seok Han
Postdoctoral Associate
Ph.D. UST/KIST, Neuroscience, 2013
B.S. Yonsei University, Biology, 2007
Office: 46-4267
Phone: 617-715-5413
Email / LinkedIn / ResearchGate
Short Biography
During my first two years of the doctoral program, I researched the inhibition of the invasion of glioblastoma by caffeine using electrophysiology, biochemistry, and Ca2+ imaging techniques. After that, I became interested in the role of gliotransmitters from astrocyte in brain function. My previous study was neuron-glia interaction in opioid addiction and was the focus of my Ph.D thesis.
Sebastian Templet
Graduate Student
M.S. Applied Cognition and Neuroscience
B.S. Biochemistry
B.S. Neuroscience
Office: 46-4267
Phone: 617-715-5413
Email / LinkedIn / ResearchGate
Short Biography
I developed an early interested in Neuroscience and earned my degrees from the University of Texas at Dallas where I studied hippocampal function in a rat model of tinnitus while also learning how to construct recording electrodes for in vivo recordings in freely-behaving rats. At MIT, I became interested in how small molecular changes can alter network level interactions in hippocampal circuitry and lead to plasticity.
Hongik Hwang
Graduate Student
Ph.D. Candidate
B.S. Chemistry, POSTECH, South Korea
Office: 46-4267
Phone: 617-715-5413
Email / LinkedIn / ResearchGate
Short Biography
Hongik is interested in the molecular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity underlying memory formation in the Xu lab. In particular, he aims to decipher how calcium signaling in postsynaptic compartments plays a role in the induction of long-term potentiation in the hippocampus. A current focus of his study is a small neuron-specific protein, neurogranin, which is thought to regulate the availability of calmodulin for calcium binding in neurons.
Fancisco Pena
Undergraduate Student
Candidate for BS in Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Office: 46-4267
Phone: 617-715-5413
Email / LinkedIn / ResearchGate
Short Biography
As a researcher, I’m interested in memory formation at the cellular level. When the hippocampus first begins to encode a memory many, but not all, cells will be activated as part of a memory trace. Why do some neurons take part in the memory trace and some don’t? How do intracellular signals determine the likelihood of a neuron to become part of a memory trace? I’m developing an independent project to work on this line of investigation and that is one of the greatest parts of working in Weifeng’s lab.
Rebecca Shi
Undergraduate Student
Candidate for B.S. in Biology and Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Office: 46-4267
Phone: 617-715-5413
Email / LinkedIn / ResearchGate
Short Biography
Rebecca is an undergraduate working as a UROP in the Xu Lab. She uses primarily biochemistry and electrophysiology to study the Shank proteins at synapses in the hippocampus, and is interested in how the Shank proteins regulate synaptic transmission. Outside the lab, she participates in MIT’s fencing team and enjoys bird watching when she can.
Lei Ding
Undergraduate Student
Undergraduate in Course 6/7, Computational Biology
Office: 46-4267
Phone: 617-715-5413
Email
Short Biography
I have been fascinated by the mechanisms of the mind for many years. Throughout high school, I explored biology of all types, but neuroscience still held a special attraction for me. At MIT, I am integrating both my dreams by studying to earn a degree in computational biology while doing research on neuroprotection from exicotoxicity in Professor’s Xu’s lab.
Raymond Liu
Undergraduate in Course 20, Bioengineering
Office: 46-4267
Phone: 617-715-5413
Email / LinkedIn / ResearchGate
Short Biography
Raymond Liu is an undergraduate from Northern California who joined the Xu lab in the fall of 2013. Raymond’s current research explores the phosphorylation states of various proteins under different levels of Neurogranin in dissociated neuron culture. Raymond is excited to be in a lab that looks at the phenomena of learning of memory from both biochemical and behavioral levels.