Ming Yi    Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University

Contact

Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University

38 Xueyuan Road

Beijing 100191, China

Tel: + 86(0)10 8280 5083

E-mail: mingyi@hsc.pku.edu.cn

Academic experience

Dr. Yi received his medical degree in Peking University Health Science Center, and Ph.D. training in the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology of University College London (UCL). Dr. Yi is currently a principal investigator in Neuroscience Research Institute of Peking University and in Medical Innovation Center (Taizhou) of Peking University.

Research

Decoding, manipulating and reconstructing memory

Learning and memory are crucial cognitive functions for daily life, whereas pathological memories underlie a variety of neuropsychiatric diseases such as post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain. In past decades, cognitive neuroscientists have discovered a number of functionally specific neuronal subpopulations such as place cells, grid cells and engram cells, which substantially promote our understanding of cognition at neuronal and network levels.

Yi lab, with combinative application of in vivo and in vitro electrophysiology, two-photon calcium imaging, opto- and chemo-genetics and molecular biology, focuses on understanding the neurobiology of pathological memories at neuronal and circuitry levels, and aims to develop novel, mechanism-based assessment and intervention tools for relevant neuropsychiatric disorders.

(1) Neuronal and circuitry basis of pain memory

Pain is a common symptom involving perceptual, affective, cognitive and social dimensions, whose complex interactions drive central re-organization. Chronic pain has been described as pathological memories for nociception and suffering. Decoding pain signals is a challenging task, since no brain regions specifically encode pain. Yi lab reported prefrontal neuronal subpopulations and circuits that encode evoked pain (Cell Rep 2022), spontaneous pain (Nat Commun 2024; Cell Rep 2019) and comorbid anxiety (Autophagy 2024) in rodent models of chronic pain, and revealed how limbic system dysfunction promoted pain chronicity (Cell Rep 2023; Pain 2018; J Neurosci 2017). This series of studies demonstrate the presence of pain-specific neuronal subpopulations in the brain, and reveal encoding and interacting mechanisms of various dimensions of pain signals in the brain.

(2) Translational research on pathological memories

Memory traces are encoded and stored by subpopulations of interconnected engram cells widely distributed in the brain. Yi lab combined CRISPR-SaCas9 and cfos-rtTA-TRE systems, and developed gene editing techniques specifically targeting engram cells (Sci Adv 2020). Yi lab further demonstrated that abnormal activity patterns of fear engram cells constituted core neuronal basis of cognitive and affective changes in neuropsychiatric disorders characterized by generalized fear (PLoS Biol 2024), and that post-traumatic stress disorder-like animals exhibited memory extinction and updating (Adv Sci 2025) impairments. Yi lab is currently developing novel medicinal and neuromodulatory techniques to reconstruct memory functions in patients of post-traumatic stress disorder and perioperative neurocognitive disorder (Brain Behav Immun 2024).

(3) Assessment and rehabilitation of brain functions in infants

Accurate assessment of brain injury, development and function in infants directly affects diagnosis, intervention and prognosis of various brain disorders such as cerebral palsy, growth retardation and autism. Yi lab developed a video tracking- and AI-based system for automatic assessment of general movements in infants (Med Image Anal 2024). Currently, Yi lab works on a series of novel clinical tools for accurate assessment of brain functions in infants.

Funding

¨ National Natural Science Foundation 2026 (32571267)

¨ Beijing Natural Science Foundation 2025 (5252007)

¨ National Key Research and Development Program of China (BT & IT) 2024 (2024YFF1206505)

¨ National Natural Science Foundation 2023 (32271053)

¨ Beijing Natural Science Foundation 2023 (L222016)

¨ National Natural Science Foundation 2019 (31872774)

¨ Beijing Natural Science Foundation 2018 (5182013)

Representative publications

¨ Ma L, Yue L, Liu S, Xu S, Tong J, Sun X, Su L, Cui S, Liu FY, Wan Y, Yi M. A distinct neuronal ensemble of prelimbic cortex mediates spontaneous pain in rats with peripheral inflammation.  Nat Commun . 2024;15(1):7922

¨ Wang J, Gao S, Fu S, Li Y, Su L, Li X, Wu G, Jiang J, Zhao Z, Yang C, Wang X, Cui K, Sun X, Qi X, Wang C, Sun H, Shao S, Tian Y, Gong T, Luo J, Zheng J, Cui S, Liao F, Liu F, Wang D, Wong CCL, Yi M, Wan Y. Irisin reprograms microglia through activation of STAT6 and prevents cognitive dysfunction after surgery in mice.  Brain Behav Immun . 2025;125:68-91

¨ Cui K, Qi X, Liu Z, Sun W, Jiao P, Liu C, Tong J, Sun X, Sun H, Fu S, Wang J, Zheng Y, Liu T, Cui S, Liu F, Mao J, Zheng J, Wan Y, Yi M. Dominant activities of fear engram cells in the dorsal dentate gyrus underlies fear generalization.  PLoS Biol . 2024. 22(7):e3002679

¨ Yin W, Chen L, Huang X, Huang C, Wang Z, Bian Y, Wan Y, Zhou Y, Hang T, Yi M. A self-supervised spatio-temporal attention network for video-based 3D infant pose estimation.  Med Image Anal . 2024. 96:103208

¨ Fu S, Sun H, Wang J, Gao S, Zhu L, Cui K, Liu S, Qi X, Guan R, Fan X, Liu Q, Chen W, Su L, Cui S, Liao F, Liu F, Wong CL, Yi M, Wan Y. Impaired neuronal macroautophagy in the prelimbic cortex contributes to comorbid anxiety-like behaviors in rats with chronic neuropathic pain.  Autophagy . 2024. Mar 24:1-18

¨ Shao S, Zheng Y, Fu Z, Wang J, Zhang Y, Wang C, Qi X, Gong T, Ma L, Lin X, Yu H, Wan Y, Zhang H, Yi M. Ventral hippocampal CA1 modulates pain behaviors in mice with peripheral inflammation.  Cell Rep . 2023; 42(1): 112017

¨ Qi X, Cui K, Zhang Y, Wang L, Tong J, Sun W, Shao S, Wang J, Wang C, Sun X, Xiao L, Xi K, Cui S, Liu F, Ma L, Zheng J, Yi M, Wan Y. A nociceptive neuronal ensemble in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex underlies pain chronicity.  Cell Rep . 2022; 41(11):111833

¨ Sun H, Fu S, Yin X, Sun X, Qi X, Cui K, Wang J, Ma L, Liu FY, Cui S, Liao FF, Wang XH, Yi M, Wan Y. Development of CRISPR-SaCas9 system for projection- and function-specific gene editing in the rat brain.  Sci Adv . 2020; 6: eaay6687

¨ Ma L, Yue L, Zhang Y, Wang Y, Han B, Cui S, Liu FY, Wan Y, Yi M. Spontaneous pain disrupts ventral hippocampal CA1-infralimbic cortex connectivity and modulates pain progression in rats with peripheral inflammation.  Cell Rep . 2019;29:1579–1593

¨ Jiang Y, Shao S, Zhang Y, Zheng J, Chen X, Cui S, Liu FY, Wan Y, Yi M. Neural pathways in medial septal cholinergic modulation of chronic pain: distinct contribution of anterior cingulate cortex and ventral hippocampus.  Pain . 2018. 159(8):1550-1561

¨ Zheng J, Jiang YY, Xu LC, Ma LY, Liu FY, Cui S, Cai J, Liao FF, Wan Y, Yi M. Adult hippocampal neurogenesis along the dorsoventral axis contributes differentially to environmental enrichment combined with voluntary exercise in alleviating chronic inflammatory pain in mice.  J Neurosci . 2017; 37(15):4145-4157