Source: Interfolio F180
Chen Ran
Research Focus
Our senses of sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing allow us to perceive the external physical world. The internal sensory systems, by contrast, enable the brain to receive signals from within the body to generate our internal senses, such as hunger, satiety, thirst, nausea, hypoxia, and visceral pain. How does the brain differentiate hunger pangs from the feeling of fullness? Or the sense of nausea when toxins are ingested? Why does stomach stretch lead to satiety while bladder stretch produces the urge to urinate?
To understand these questions, we developed a novel in vivo two-photon mouse brainstem calcium imaging platform. This system allowed us, for the first time, to record the activities of thousands of neurons, with single-cell resolution, in the brain’s gateway to the internal organs. We could deliver different types of stimuli in the animal's internal organs, mimicking the stretch of the stomach, ingestion of nutrients, pain in the organs, and many others, and watch how different populations of neurons respond to these stimuli. Our previous work revealed that internal organs are topographically represented in the brainstem, forming a “visceral homunculus”.
Combining in vivo functional imaging, electrophysiological recordings, and mouse genetics, neuronal activity manipulation (optogenetics, chemogenetics), animal behavior, neural circuit tracing, and others, we will unravel how the nervous system detects mechanical, chemical, and thermal stimuli from the periphery to synthesize our internal sensations, such as satiety, hunger, nausea, hypoxia, and visceral pain. Discoveries from our research will reveal basic principles of how the brain encodes and processes information and shed light on the development of novel therapeutics for treating hypertension, obesity, diabetes, indigestion, eating disorders, pulmonary diseases, nausea, visceral pain, infection-induced sickness behaviors, and many others.
Education
Ph.D. (Biology), Stanford University, 2017B.S. (Biology), Peking University, 2011
Professional Experience
2017-2023: Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard Medical SchoolAwards & Professional Activities
2007 Mingde Scholarship2019 Leonard and Isabelle Goldenson Fellowship
2020 American Diabetes Association Postdoctoral Fellowship
2021 Harvard Brain Science Initiative Young Scientist Transitions Award
2022 Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (NARSAD) Young Investigator Award
2022 Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain Transition to Independence Award
2023 NIH K01 Mentored Research Scientist Career Development Award
Selected Publications
Ran, Chen; Boettcher, Ja C.; Kaye, Judith A.; Gallori, Cath E.; Liberles, Stephen D. A brainstem map for visceral sensations. Nature 2022, 609, 320-326.
Ran, Chen; Kamalani, Gabrielle N A; Chen, Xiaoke Modality-Specific Modulation of Temperature Representations in the Spinal Cord after Injury. The Journal of neuroscience 2021, 41, 8210-8219.
Ran, Chen; Chen, Xiaoke Probing the coding logic of thermosensation using spinal cord calcium imaging. 2019, 318, 42-49.
Ren, Jing; Friedmann, Drew; Xiong, Jing; Liu, Cindy; Ferguson, B R.; Weerakkody, Tanya; DeLoach, Kath E.; Ran, Chen; Pun, Albert; Sun, Yanwen; Weissbourd, Brandon; Neve, Rachae L.; Huguenard, John; Horowitz, M A.; Luo, Liqun Anatomically Defined and Functionally Distinct Dorsal Raphe Serotonin Sub-systems. Cell 2018, 175, 472-487.e20.
Ran, Chen; Hoon, M A.; Chen, Xiaoke The coding of cutaneous temperature in the spinal cord. Nature Neuroscience 2016, 19, 1201-9.
Zhu, Jinjin; Palliyil, Sneha; Ran, Chen; Kumar, Justin P. Pax6 promotes development of the entire eye-antennal disc, thereby ensuring proper adult head formation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2017, 114, 5846-5853.
Lammel, Stephan; Lim, Byung K.; Ran, Chen; Huang, Kee W.; Betley, Michael J.; Tye, Kay M.; Deisseroth, Karl; Malenka, Robert C. Input-specific control of reward and aversion in the ventral tegmental area. Nature 2012, 491, 212-7.