Hi, I’m Ning

I am currently a Neuroscience Post-Doctoral Fellow in Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), A*STAR. I am excited by inquiry at the level of neural coding & dissecting circuit implementation of cognitive operations that guide goal-directed behaviors, particularly through cortical-subcortical interactions.

During my PhD with the Sur Lab in MIT’s Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, I studied how the rodent thalamic pulvinar (lateral posterior nucleus) can bias perception, attention and decision-making through inputs to the prefrontal cortex. My work combines in vivo 2-photon Ca2+ imaging, electrophysiological recordings (Neuropixels), whole-brain anatomical tracing, and circuit-specific optogenetic manipulations in behaving mice engaged in visual decision-making tasks. I further employ a suite of statistical models and machine learning techniques to resolve neural representations at single cell and population levels. Bridging all of that with parametric models of cognitive processes and behavior, I am able to parse the specific contributions of the pulvinar to the decision-making process.

Prior to graduate school, I was in the BSc Neuroscience program in University College London (UCL). My undergraduate thesis with Frances Edwards examined age-related electrophysiological changes in synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus.

Though perhaps unconventionally specialized for high-school qualification, my Diploma in Molecular Biotechnology was really when the seeds for the love of science were first sown. I specialized in Forensic Medicine during my Diploma.

Both my undergraduate and graduate studies have been supported by the A*STAR National Science Scholarship (BS-PhD).