Journal of Neonatal Biology

Hsing-Chen Tsai

Biography

She completed my PhD under the supervision of Dr. Karl Deisseroth at Stanford University where she developed new optogenetic tools to identify and map the neural networks underlying brain cognition. She applied this optogenetic approach to investigate the role of midbrain dopaminergic neuronal activity in reward processing and in a rodent model of depression. Her thesis work provided the first direct evidence to demonstrate the sufficiency of phasic dopaminergic neuron firing in shaping reward related behaviors. She is  currently working in the Translational Cellular and Circuit Plasticity Laboratory (TCCPL) lead by Dr. Michael Ehlers at the Neuroscience Research Unit at Pfizer. One of her projects is to study the effects of dopaminergic neuronal activity on electrical, synaptic, and structural properties of prefrontal cortical neurons that may contribute to specific brain function(s) and behavior(s) in the normal and diseased (e.g. schizophrenic) brain.

Research Interest

 Pediatrics Brain, Neonatal brain malformation, CNS