Congratulations to Jintao Gu on the successful defense of his PhD Thesis this past week! Working closely under faculty advisor, Associate Professor of Neural Science at NYU Shanghai Sukbin Lim, Gu’s current research in memory and plasticity focuses specifically on dynamical system modeling of working memory and decision-making. A key finding from his study helps researchers better understand how multiple unsupervised synaptic plasticities may work synergically to make neural networks maintain continuous information in working memory. Additionally, his findings shed light on the ways in which working memory representation and dynamics, as well as decision-making mechanisms can vary, even under identical stimuli.
After graduating from the School of Life Sciences at Fudan University in 2017, Gu spent a gap year as a Research Assistant with Professor Lim before joining the Neural Science PhD Program in 2018. Gu Comments, “Though I have experienced some ups and downs during my research journey, Professor Lim has provided me with both a high level of one-on-one support and high standards.” Looking back on the past 6 and a half years, Gu reflects, “I am encouraged by the success of my work and look forward to exploring and contributing more in the field…potentially in combination with experiments, statistical modeling, and theory." Following graduation, Jintao Gu plans to continue his research path in a postdoctoral fellowship.