Qiufu Ma received his bachelor's degree from Fudan University in 1987 and his Ph.D. degree from UCLA in 1994. From 1994 to 1998, he completed postdoctoral training，first at Bristol-Myers Spoor and then at Caltech. In early 1999, he became an assistant professor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School. He became a full professor in 2011. Dr. Ma was a CUSBEA student in 1988 and a Pew Scholar in 2000. In the fall of 2022, he joined Westlake University as a Chair Professor and as the director for the Center of Bioelectronic Medicine.

Academic achievements

Dr. Ma has been studying somatosensory circuits critical for pain or itch sensations. His research includes three phases: neural development, spinal circuit mapping, and acupuncture studies.  As a postdoc, he identified the mammalian neuronal determination factor Neurogenin (Neurog1). After genome sequences were published in 2001, he led several labs at Harvard Medical School to compile an expression map for 1,200 transcription factor genes in the developing nervous system. From this map, his lab identified two master regulators (Runx1 and Tlx3) controlling primary and relay nociceptor development. His lab then converted developmental knowledge into new anatomical tools, making pioneering contributions in mapping spinal circuits transmitting and gating pain. In recent years, his lab started to study the scientific basis behind acupuncture practice. Built upon deep developmental and circuit-level knowledges, his lab demonstrated that electroacupuncture can drive specific somatosensory-autonomic neural pathways to control systemic inflammation, providing new ideas to treat complex diseases.

Recent emergence of systems physiology opens a golden opportunity to connect modern science with traditional medicine. Systems physiology emphasizes nerve-immune-target tissue interactions during disease progression, but currently needs tools to modulate such interactions for disease treatment. Meanwhile, traditional medicine such as acupuncture has been practiced for thousand years, but the underlying scientific basis is still poorly understood, making further improvement difficult. Recently, the Ma lab made a breakthrough in making these connections, showing that electroacupuncture at specific body regions (acupoints) can drive unique somatosensory-autonomic pathways and distantly modulate body physiology. Both somatosensory and autonomic neurons represent complex systems, and their crosstalk needs complex integration within the spinal cord and the brain. As such, only a tip of the iceberg has been known. At Westlake University, the Ma lab will systematically map somatosensory-autonomic reflexive pathways, study how neural signals control immune cell activity and target tissue inflammation, and finally optimize acupuncture stimulation parameters to treat various diseases, including chronic pain, colitis and neurological disorders.

1. Ma Q. Somatotopic organization of autonomic reflexes by acupuncture. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 2022; 76:102602

2. Qi L*, Lin SH*, Ma Q. Spinal VGLUT3 lineage neurons transmit visceral mechanical allodynia but not sensitized visceromotor reflexes. Neuron (2022, accepted).

3. Ma Q. A functional subdivision within the somatosensory system and its implications for pain research. Neuron 2022; 110: 749-769.

4. Liu S, Wang ZF, Su YS, Yang W, Fu M, Jing XH, Wang YQ, Ma Q. A neuroanatomical basis for electroacupuncture to drive the vagal-adrenal axis. Nature 2021;598:641-645.

5. Liu S, Wang ZF, Su YS, Ray RS, Jing XH, Wang YQ, Ma Q. Somatotopic organization and intensity dependence in driving distinct NPY-expressing sympathetic pathways by electroacupuncture. Neuron 2020;108:436-450;

6. Huang T*, Lin SH*, Malewicz NM, Zhang Y, Zhang Y, Goulding M, LaMotte RH, Ma Q. Identifying the pathways required for coping behaviours associated with sustained pain. Nature 2019;565:86-90

7. Zhang Y, Liu S, Zhang YQ, Goulding M, Wang YQ^#, Ma, Q^#_. Timing mechanisms underlying gate control by feedforward inhibition. Neuron 2018; 99:941-955

8. Cheng L*, Duan B*, Huang T*, Zhang Y, Chen Y, Britz O, Garcia-Campmany L, Ren Y, Vong L, Lowell, BB, Goulding M, Wang Y^#, Ma Q^#. Identification of spinal circuits involved in touch-evoked dynamic mechanical pain. Nature Neuroscience 2017; 20:804-814.

9. Duan B*, Cheng L*, Bourane S, Britz O, Padilla C, Garcia-Campany L, krashes M, Knowlton, W, Ren Y, Ross S, Lowell BB, Wang Y, Goulding M^#, Ma Q^#. Identification of Spinal Circuits Transmitting and Gating Mechanical Pain. Cell 2014; 159:1417-32.

10. Yang F, Tan T, Huang, T, Christianson J, Abdel Samad O, Liu Y, Roberson D, Davis B, Ma Q. Genetic control of the segregation of pain-related sensory neurons innervating the cutaneous versus deep tissue. Cell Reports 2013;5:1353-64.

11. Liu Y, Abdel Samad O, Duan B, Zhang L, Tong Q, Lopes C, Ji RR, Lowell B, Ma Q. VGLUT2-dependent glutamate release from nociceptors is required to sense pain and suppress itch. Neuron 2010; 68:543-56. PMCID: PMC2991105.

12. Ma, Q. Labeled lines meet and talk: population coding of somatic sensations. Journal of Clinical Investigation 2010; 120:3773-3778

13. Chen, C, Broom D, Liu, Y, de Nooij, J, Li Z, Cen C, Abdel Samad O, Jessell T, Woolf C, Ma Q. Runx1 determines nociceptive sensory neuron phenotype and is required for thermal and neuropathic pain. Neuron 2006; 49, 365-77.

14. Cheng L, Arata A, Karunaratne A, Qian Y, Mizuguchi R, Gray PA, Arata S,  Shirasawa S, Bouchard M, Luo P, Chen C, Busslinger M, Goulding M, Onimaru H, Ma Q. Tlx3 and Tlx1 are post-mitotic selector genes determining glutamatergic over GABAergic cell fates. Nature Neuroscience 2004; 7: 510-7.

15. Gray PA*, Fu H*, Luo P*, Zhao Q, Yu J, Ferrari A, Tenzen T, Yuk DI, Tsung EF, Cai Z, Alberta JA, Cheng LP, Liu Y, Stenman JM, Valerius MT, Billings N, Kim HA, Greenberg ME, McMahon AP, Rowitch DH, Stiles CD^#, Ma Q^#. Mouse brain organization revealed through direct genome-scale TF expression analysis. Science 2004; 306: 2255-7.

16. Ma Q, Kintner C, Anderson DJ. Identification of neurogenin, a vertebrate neuronal determination gene. Cell 1996; 87: 43-52. 

Email: maqiufu@westlake.edu.cn

The Ma lab is recruiting postdocs, research assistants, and assistant or associate investigators.