Home

Jen-Yung Chen

Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind

University of California, San Diego

Research Overview:

I. Biological Intelligence

In the quest to unravel the enduring mind-body problem, both top-down and bottom-up approaches have been employed. According to the top-down approach, philosophers attempt to comprehend the rational nature of the mind and its interaction with the external world. On the other hand, through the bottom-up approach, neuroscientists have devoted their efforts in clarifying the brain functions via detailed biological mechanisms. However, studies reliant solely on either the top-down or bottom-up approach offer only a partial understanding of this problem. At the next step, searching for an appropriate framework that is able to bridge the gap between our understanding of the mind (derived from the top-down approach) and the brain (obtained via the bottom-up approach) is crucial and necessary. Through a combination of theoretical and experimental approaches, a number of my studies are designed to establish such framework and hence contribute to the connection between our understanding of the brain and the mind.

Topics of Research Interst:

Philosophy of mind.
Theory of consciousness.
Cognitive models of concepts and conceptualization.
Cognitive models of knowledge structure and intelligence.
Neurobiology of self-awareness and consciousness.
Neurobiology of spatial cognition and spatial navigation.
Neurobiology of sensory information processing and integration.
Functional connectome.
Neurobiology of learning, memory, and synaptic plasticity.
Neurobiology of decision-making and motor controls (motor adaption).
Neurobiology of predictive processing (Bayesian inference)
Neurobiology of concept learning.
Language (semantic network) and conceptual development.
Computational neuroscience and linguistics.
The connections between biological intelligence and artificial intelligence.

II. Biological Homeostasis

Over the centuries, it is increasingly understood that the operation of biological homeostasis is the central organizing principle for all living organisms to maintain their life. Its successful operation warrants that all biological functions are running under optimal conditions and performance. Distinct from traditional studies of biological homeostasis, which have focused on individual biological functions in specific organs or tissues, our studies seek to understand how different biological functions interact with one another (from the genetic/molecular level to the behavioral level) to achieve/maintain comprehensive biological homeostasis in an organism, as well as how disruptions to this process are linked to diseases.

Topics of Research interest:

Homeostatic interactions among circadian rhythms, metabolism, and immunity.
Bioenergetics, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial homeostasis.
Cellular homeostasis and diseases.
Stress (the threatened states of biological homeostasis).
The roles of the endocrine system in biological homeostasis.
The roles of glial cells in biological homeostasis.
Age-dependent biological homeostasis.
Organ-brain communications.

Publications:

1. Differential mechanisms underlie trace and delay conditioning in Drosophila.

Grover D, Chen JY, Xie J, Li J, Changeux JP, Greenspan RJ

Nature, 2022, 603(7900): 302-308.

1. Valence opponency in peripheral olfactory processing.

Wu ST*, Chen JY*, Martin V, Ng R, Zhang Y, Grover D, Greenspan RJ, Aljadeff J, Su CY

PNAS, 2022, 119(5): e2120134119.

1. Thalamocortical and intracortical laminar connectivity determines sleep spindle properties.

Krishnan GP, Rosen BQ, Chen JY, Muller L, Sejnowski TJ, Cash SS, Halgren E, Bazhenov M

PLoS Computational Biology, 2018, 14(6): e1006171.

1. Adenosine regulates the outcome of synaptic plasticity by modulating heterosynaptic changes.

Bannon NM, Chistiakova M, Chen JY, Bazhenov M, Volgushev M

Journal of Neuroscience, 2017, 37: 1439-1452.

1. Partial break down of input specificity of STDP at individual synapses promotes new learning.

Volgushev M, Chen JY, Ilin V, Goz R, Chistiakova M, Bazhenov M

Journal of Neuroscience, 2016, 36: 8842-8855.

1. Learning modifies odor mixture processing to improve detection of relevant components.

Chen JY*, Marachlian E*, Assisi C, Huerta R, Smith B, Locatelli F, Bazhenov M

Journal of Neuroscience, 2015, 35:179-197.

1. Homeostatic role of heterosynaptic plasticity: models and experiments.

Chisiakova M, Bannon NM, Chen JY, Bazhenov M, Volgushev M

Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, 2015, 9:89. doi:10.3389/fncom.2015.00089.

1. The impact of cortical deafferentation on the neocortical slow oscillation.

Lemieux M, Chen JY, Lonjers P, Bazhenov M, Timofeev I

Journal of Neuroscience, 2014, 34: 5689-5703.

1. Heterosynaptic plasticity prevents runaway synaptic dynamics.

Chen JY, Lonjers P, Lee C, Volgushev M, Bazhenov M

Journal of Neuroscience, 2013, 33: 15915-15929.

1. Interneuron mediated inhibition synchronizes neuronal activity during slow wave sleep oscillation.

Chen JY, Skorheim S, Timofeev I, Bazhenov M

Journal of Physiology, 2012, 590: 3987-4010.

1. Temporal coding of intensity of NaCl and HCl in the nucleus of the solitary tract.

Chen JY, Victor JD, Di Lorenzo PM

Journal of Neurophysiology, 2011, 105: 697-711.

1. A simulation study investigating the impact of dendritic morphology and synaptic topology on neuronal firing patterns.

Chen JY

Neural Computation, 2010, 22: 1086-1111.

1. Quality time: Representation of a multidimensional sensory domain through temporal coding.

Di Lorenzo PM, Chen JY, Victor JD

Journal of Neuroscience, 2009, 29: 9227-9238.

1. Tastants.

Di Lorenzo PM, Chen JY, Rosen AM, Roussin AT

Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. 2009, Springer, 4014-4019.

1. Responses to binary taste mixtures in the nucleus of the solitary tract: neural coding with firing rate.

Chen JY, Di Lorenzo PM

Journal of Neurophysiology, 2008, 99: 2144-2157.

1. Variability in responses and temporal coding of tastants of similar quality in the nucleus of the solitary tract of the rat.

Roussin AT, Victor JD, Chen JY, Di Lorenzo PM

Journal of Neurophysiology, 2008, 99: 644-655.

1. Basic tastes as cognitive concepts and taste coding as more than spatial.

Di Lorenzo PM, Chen JY

Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 2008, 31: 78-79.

Acknowledgements (Funding Support):

Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)
Department of Defense (DOD)

Contact:

Jen-Yung (Jay) Chen

Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind

University of California, San Diego

jec217@ucsd.edu

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse