Dr. Yang earned his Bachelor’s degree from the Department of Electronic Engineering in Xidian University in 2010 and completed his Ph.D from the Department of Biomedical Photonics at Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2015. During his Ph.D research, he designed and built a Fluorescence Micro-Optical Sectioning Tomography (fMOST) system, achieving unprecedented resolution for mapping neuron connections in the entire mouse brain. He conducted his postdoctoral training at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory from 2016 to 2023. During this period, he developed an advanced deep brain imaging system for single-cell resolution imaging in behaving mice, addressing crucial questions related to deep brain regions in cognitive function. His work uncovered unique functions of the CeA, a structure that has received intense investigation in the last several decades. It helps explain the diverse roles of the CeA, especially its role in reward learning, and also provides in vivo evidence for the long-standing hypothesis that the CeA regulates midbrain DA neurons. His main research work was published in Nature，Cell，Nature Neuroscience，Cell reports and other journals.

The brain is a remarkably intricate organ that serves as the central processing unit in humans and other animals. Despite significant advancements and achievements in neuroscience over the past several decades, fully understanding the functioning of the brain remains a distant goal. From a signals and systems perspective, the brain is a complex system that requires studying from different angles and integrating vast amounts of information to construct a comprehensive model that effectively describes its general working principles. Therefore, my research focuses on three key areas: the neural basis of cognitive functions, the neural mechanisms underlying brain disorder, and the development of computational models for neural circuits involved in cognition and mental diseases. 

In my lab, we're at the forefront of neuroscience, developing advanced imaging methods to address pivotal questions. Simultaneously, we utilize mice as model animals, employing a spectrum of experimental techniques—from behavior training to wide-field and two-photon in vivo single-cell imaging, fiber photometry recording, optogenetics/chemogenetics, single-cell sequencing, and molecular genetic manipulation. Our focus is unraveling the neural circuit mechanisms driving motivational behaviors. The current research directions include, but not limited to: 

1. The neural circuit mechanisms underlying drug addiction behavior;

2. The neural encoding mechanisms in cognitive behavior; 

3. Computational models for motivative (goal-directed) behavior.

* co-first author, # corresponding author.

1. Tao Yang*^#, Kai Yu*, Xian Zhang, Xiong Xiao, Xiaoke Chen, Yu Fu & Bo Li^#. Plastic and stimulus-specific coding of salient events in the central amygdala. Nature 616, 510-519, doi:10.1038/s41586-023-05910-2 (2023).

2. Xian Zhang, Wuqiang Guan, Tao Yang, Alessandro Furlan, Xiong Xiao, Kai Yu, Xu An, William Galbavy, Charu Ramakrishnan, Karl Deisseroth, Kimberly Ritola, Adam Hantman, Miao He, Z. Josh Huang & Bo Li. Genetically identified amygdala-striatal circuits for valence-specific behaviors. Nature Neuroscience 24, 1586-1600, doi:10.1038/s41593-021-00927-0 (2021). 

3. Hanfei Deng*, Xiong Xiao*, Tao Yang, Kimberly Ritola, Adam Hantman, Yulong Li, Z Josh Huang, Bo Li. A genetically defined insula-brainstem circuit selectively controls motivational vigor. Cell 184, 6344-6360 e6318, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.11.019 (2021). 

4. Xiaojun Wang*, Hanqing Xiong*, Yurong Liu*, Tao Yang*, Anan Li, Fei Huang, Fangfang Yin, Lei Su, Ling Liu, Ning Li, Longhui Li, Shenghua Cheng, Xiaoxiang Liu, Xiaohua Lv, Xiuli Liu, Jun Chu, Tonghui Xu, Fuqiang Xu, Hui Gong, Qingming Luo, Jing Yuan, Shaoqun Zeng. Chemical sectioning fluorescence tomography: high-throughput, high-contrast, multicolor, whole-brain imaging at subcellular resolution. Cell Reports 34, 108709, doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.108709 (2021). 

5. Xiong Xiao, Hanfei Deng, Alessandro Furlan, Tao Yang, Xian Zhang, Ga-Ram Hwang, Jason Tucciarone, Priscilla Wu, Miao He, Ramesh Palaniswamy, Charu Ramakrishnan, Kimberly Ritola, Adam Hantman, Karl Deisseroth, Pavel Osten, Z Josh Huang, Bo Li. A Genetically Defined Compartmentalized Striatal Direct Pathway for Negative Reinforcement. Cell 183, 211-227 e220, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.08.032 (2020). 

6. Tao Yang, Ting Zheng, Zhenhua Shang, Xiaojun Wang, Xiaohua Lv, Jing Yuan, and Shaoqun Zeng. Rapid imaging of large tissues using high-resolution stage-scanning microscopy. Biomedical Optics Express 6, 1867-1875, doi:10.1364/BOE.6.001867 (2015). 

7. Min Ai, Hanqing Xiong, Tao Yang, Zhenhua Shang, Muqing Chen, Xiuli Liu, Shaoqun Zeng. Fluorescence imaging of dendritic spines of Golgi-Cox-stained neurons using brightening background. Journal of Biomedical Optics 20, 010501, doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.20.1.010501 (2015).

8. Hanqing Xiong, Zhenqiao Zhou, Mingqiang Zhu, Xiaohua Lv, Anan Li, Shiwei Li, Longhui Li, Tao Yang, Siming Wang, Zhongqin Yang, Tonghui Xu, Qingming Luo, Hui Gong & Shaoqun Zeng. Chemical reactivation of quenched fluorescent protein molecules enables resin-embedded fluorescence microimaging. Nature Communications 5, 3992, doi:10.1038/ncomms4992 (2014). 

Email: tyang@westlake.edu.cn

The lab now has several open positions for postdocs, research assistants and research assistant professors.