Ning Liu

Biography

1997-2002  University of Science and Technology of China, B.S. in Biological Sciences, B.E. in Computer Science and Technology 2004-2007  Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ph.D. in Zoology 2007-2012  National Institute of Mental Health, Postdoctoral Fellow 2012-2016  National Institute of Mental Health, Research Fellow 2016.08 - present Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Principal Investigator

Research Interest

Social cognition is essential for both individual and group survival, especially in socialanimals like humans and non-human primates. In a variety of psychiatric disorders, disruptedsocial cognition represents a common sensitive domain of their pathology. Although socialcognition has been studied for a long time, its brain underpinning remains elusive. Our long-termresearch goal is to understand the neural mechanisms underlying social cognitions, and develop new diagnostictools and treatment strategies for psychiatric diseases. Given the similarities in social cognition and its underlying neural circuitry between humans andnon-human primates, weuse non-human primates (e.g., rhesus macaque) as the model.Sophisticated non-invasive and invasive experimental approaches, including neuroimaging (e.g.,fMRI), interventional physiology (e.g., permanent/reversible lesion of brain circuits,microstimulation) and computational modeling, will be applied jointly toinvestigate these issues at various scales and levels.