Welcome to the Song Lab in the Department of Pharmacology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The overarching goals of our research are: 1) To understand how the healthy adult brain regenerates from endogenous neural stem cells and apply basic learned principles to the degenerated brain to promote regeneration;  2) To investigate how circuit- and behavior-level information-processing properties are remodeled by the integration of new neurons into the existing circuits; 3) To explore the circuit and signaling mechanisms regulating hippocampal-dependent memory and emotion processing in health and Alzheimer’s disease.

Selected Publications

  1. Li YD, Luo YJ, Xie L, Tart DS, Sheehy RN, Zhang L, Chen X, Song J (2023). Activation of hypothalamic-enhanced adult-born neurons restores cognitive and affective function in Alzheimer’s disease. Cell Stem Cell 30 (4), 415-432.[PDF file]
  2. Li YD, Luo YJ, Chen ZK, Quintanilla L, Cherasse Y, Zhang L, Lazarus M, Huang ZL, Song J (2022). Hypothalamic modulation of adult hippocampal neurogenesis in mice confers activity-dependent regulation of memory and anxiety-like behavior. Nature Neuroscience 25(5):630-645[PDF file]
  3. Asrican B, Wooten J, Li Y, Quintanilla L, Zhang F, Bao H, Yeh CY, Wander C, Luo YJ, Olsen RHJ, Lim SA, Jin P, Song J (2020). Neuropeptides modulate local astrocytes to regulate adult hippocampal neural stem cells. Neuron 108(2):349-366.[PDF file]
  4. Li Y, Bao H, Luo Y, Yoan C, Sullivan HA, Quintanilla L, Wickersham IR, Lazarus M, Shin YY, Song J (2020). Supramammillary nucleus synchronizes with dentate gyrus to regulate spatial memory retrieval through glutamate release. eLife doi: 10.7554/eLife.53129.[PDF file]
  5. Yeh CY, Asrican B, Moss J, Quintanilla L, He T, Mao X, Cassé F, Gebara E, Bao H, Lu W, Toni N, Song J (2018). Mossy cells control adult neural stem cell quiescence and maintenance through a dynamic balance between direct and indirect pathways. Neuron 99(3):493-510 [PDF file]
  6. Bao H, Asrican B, Li W, Gu B, Wen ZX, Lim ZA, Haniff I, Ramakrishnan C, Deisseroth K, Philpot B, Song J (2017). Long-range GABAergic inputs regulate neurl stem cell quiescence and control adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Cell Stem Cell 21(5):604-617. [PDF file]
  7. Song J, Sun J, Moss J, Wen Z, Sun G, Hsu D, Zhong C, Davoudi H, Christian K, Toni N, Ming GL, Song H (2013). Parvalbumin interneurons mediate neuronal circuitry-neurogenesis coupling in the adult hippocampus. Nature Neuroscience 16(12):1728-30. [PDF file]
  8. Song J, Zhong C, Bonaguidi MA, Sun G, Hsu D, Gu Y, Meletis K, Huang J, Ge S, Enikolopov G, Deisseroth K, Luscher B, Christian K, Ming GL, Song H (2012). Neuronal circuitry mechanism regulating adult quiescent neural stem-cell fate decision. Nature 489: 150-154 [PDF file]