Cheng Cen, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Principal Investigator

Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University

School of Basic Medical Science, Peking University

Contact Information

Address: 38 Xueyuan Rd, Beijing 100191

Office: B502E, Medical Science and Technology Building

Phone: (010)-82805694 (O), 15201286096 (Mobile)

Email: cheng.cen@pku.edu.cn

Research interest

Neural mechanisms and intervention strategies for chronic pain and its psychiatric comorbidities.

Personal profile

Cheng Cen is an assistant professor in the Department of neurobiology at School of basic medical science, Peking university. Her research primarily focuses on the synaptic and neural circuit mechanisms underlying emotional and cognitive disorders comorbid with chronic pain. Her work has been published in leading scientific journals such as Science Signaling, Nature Communications, and Journal of Neuroscience.

She has been principal investigator of several major research projects, including the General Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (2026-2029, 2019-2022), the Young Scientists Fund of the NSFC (2017-2018), the General Program of the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (2024-2026), and the Peking University “Clinical Medicine + X” Young Scholars Project. Her research has also been supported by the National Key R&D Program of China on “Brain Science and Brain-Like Research” (2021-2026). She has applied for three invention patents, two of which have been granted.

Dr. Cen has been invited to present her work at national academic conferences of the Chinese Society for Neuroscience and the Chinese Association for Physiological Sciences. She also serves as a committee member of the Ion channel and receptor branch of the Chinese society for neuroscience and as a youth committee member of the Beijing society for neuroscience.

Education

2010.9-2015.6, Ph.D. in neurobiology, School of basic medical sciences, Peking University

2006.9-2010.7, Bachelor in bioinformatics, College of life science and technology, Huazhong university of science and technology

Work experience

2022.7 to date, Assistant professor, Neuroscience research institute, Peking university

2017.7-2022.7, Research assistant, Neuroscience research institute, Peking university

2015.7-2017.7, Postdoctoral fellow, School of basic medical science, Peking university

Courses Taught

She has been responsible for the instruction of multiple undergraduate and graduate courses, including “Neurobiology”, “Advanced Neurobiology”, “Interdisciplinary Frontiers in Science, Engineering, and Informatics in Medicine”, “Training in Scientific Research Thinking”, and “Problem-Based Learning (PBL)” at the undergraduate level, as well as “Advanced Neurobiology”, “Progress in Neuroscience”, and “Advanced Neurobiology Laboratory” at the graduate level.

Research Team

The research team currently consists of 3 doctoral students, 1 master's student, 4 undergraduate innovative talent program members, and 1 chief technician. The research group has established close collaborative relationships with institutions such as the Institute of psychology of the Chinese academy of sciences, the Peking university biomedical pioneering innovation center, and clinical departments of affiliated hospitals, facilitating resource sharing and interdisciplinary integration. The team regularly organizes project discussions and literature study sessions each week to keep abreast of academic frontiers and foster a rich academic atmosphere.

The research group highly values and actively supports the personal development of its members. Doctoral student Yitian Lu was awarded the 2024 National natural science foundation of China young student basic research program (for Ph.D. students). Team members actively participate in important domestic and international academic conferences, delivering thematic presentations and presenting poster displays. Two undergraduate students were granted for independent design experiment projects from School of basic medical science of Peking university, and contributed to the publication of one research paper. Our team has gradually developed into a high-level research group in the field of neuroscience with a solid research foundation and innovative capabilities.

Publications

1. Zheng HY^#, Chen YM^#, Xu Y, Cen C^*, Wang Y^*. Excitatory neurons in the lateral parabrachial nucleus mediate the interruptive effect of inflammatory pain on a sustained attention task.  J Transl Med.  2023 Dec 10;21(1):896.

2. Wang F^#, Yin XS^#, Lu J, Cen C^*, Wang Y^*.Phosphorylation-dependent positive feedback on the oxytocin receptor and the kinase PKD1 contributes to long-term social memory.  Sci Signal.  2022 Feb;15(719):eabd0033. Epub 2022 Feb 1.

3. Cen C^#, Luo LD^#, Li WQ, Li G, Tian NX, Zheng G, Yin DM, Yimin Z, Wang Y^*. PKD1 promotes functional synapse formation coordinated with N-cadherin in hippocampus.  J Neurosci.  2018 Jan 3;38(1):183-199. 1640-17.2017. Epub 2017 Nov 13.

4. Wang GQ^#, Cen C^#, Cao S^#, Li C^#, Wang N, Zhou Z, Liu XM, Xu Y, Tian NX, Zhang Y, Wang J, Wang LP^* and Wang Y^*. Deactivation of excitatory neurons in the contralateral prelimbic cortex via Cdk5 promotes pain sensation and anxiety.  Nat Communs  .  2015, Jul 16; 6: 7660.

5. Lyu TJ^#, Ma J^#, Zhang XY^#, Xie GG^#, Liu C^#, Du J^#, Xu YN, Yang DC, Cen C, Wang MY, Lyu NY, Wang Y^*, Zhang HQ^*. Deficiency of FRMD5 results in neurodevelopmental dysfunction and autistic-like behavior in mice.  Mol Psychiatry.  2024 May;29(5):1253-1264.

6. Li WQ^#, Luo LD^*, Hu ZW, Lyu TJ, Cen C, Wang Y^*. PLD1 promotes dendritic spine morphogenesis via activating PKD1.  Mol Cell Neurosci  .  2019 Sep;99:103394. Epub 2019 Jul 26.