Welcome to the Song Lab in the Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience Center at the 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 disease, using mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, and obesity.

Selected Publications

  1. Luo YJ, Li L, Chen ZK, Dong P, Xie L, Farmer WT, Yu QS, Jiang LX, Su WK, Liu HS, Wang HZ, Jiao ZL, Melville DJ, Penel E, Sheehy RN, Landry T, Wang J, Jiang H, Xu XH, Chen X, Xu NJ, Xue T, Xu TL, Li YD, Song J (2025). Segregated supramammillary-dentate gyrus circuits modulate cognitive and affective function in healthy and Alzheimer’s disease model mice. Neuron [link]
  2. Landry T, Perrault L, Melville D, Chen Z, Li YD, Dong P, Farmer WT, Asrican B, Lee H, Zhang L, Sheehy RN, Damian C, Collins T, Stewart N, Anton ES, Song J (2025). Targeting glucose-inhibited hippocampal CCK interneurons prevents cognitive impairment in diet-induced obesity. Neuron 113:1–15. [link]
  3. 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]
  4. 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]
  5. 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]
  6. 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]
  7. 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]
  8. 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]
  9. 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]
  10. 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]