NYUEast China Normal UniversityNYU Shanghai
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Shuai Liu

Shuai Liu

Principal Investigator, Institute of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University

Email: sliu@psy.ecnu.edu.cn

Phone: 021-6223-3365

Office: 305 Old Library Building, 3663 North Zhongshan Road, Shanghai

Faculty Website

Research Interests

Reward, Motivation, Feeding, Plasticity

Research Summary

Dr. Liu’s research primarily focuses on how feeding peptides and diet modulate neuroplasticity in the central reward system. His work has demonstrated that insulin in the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) suppresses excitatory synaptic transmission and reduces food cue related behaviours. This effect is disrupted during pathological hyperinsulinemia and may lead to increased feeding. Even a short-term exposure to palatable foods can drive future feeding behaviour by “rewiring” mesolimbic dopamine neurons. Dr. Liu’s research goal is to address one of the most fundamental questions in neuroscience: how does the brain work for hedonic feeding. Using a combination of electrophysiology, optogenetics, fiber photometry, behavioral task approaches, the research is conducted in the following three directions: 1. Feeding peptide effects on neuroplasticity in the reward system and hedonic feeding 2. Dissection of neural circuits for motivation and decision-making in hedonic feeding 3. Neural mechanisms underlying metabolic syndrome induced reward circuitry dysfunction.

Education Background

2011 Ph.D., Neurobiology, Fudan University

Work/Research Experience

2013 – 2017 Postdoctoral Fellow, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary 

2011 – 2013 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British Columbia

Representative Publications
  1. Zhang, Y., Chen, Y., Xin, Y., Peng, B., & Liu, S.* (2023). Norepinephrine system at the interface of attention and rewardProgress in Neuropsychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry. 125, 110751.
  2. Xu, C., Peng, B., and Liu, S.* (2022). Using intra-brain drug infusion to investigate neural mechanisms underlying reward-seeking behavior in miceSTAR Protocols, 3(1): p. 101221.
  3. Peng, B., Xu, Q., Liu, J., Guo, S., Borgland, S. L., & Liu, S. (2021). Corticosterone attenuates reward-seeking behavior and increases anxiety via D2 receptor signaling in ventral tegmental area dopamine neuronsJournal of Neuroscience, 41 (7), 1566-1581.
  4. Liu, S., & Borgland, S. L. (2019). Insulin actions in the mesolimbic dopamine systemExperimental Neurology, 320, 113006.
  5. Liu, S., Globa, A. K., Mills, F., Naef, L., Qiao, M., Bamji, S. X., & Borgland, S. L. (2016). Consumption of palatable food primes food approach behavior by rapidly increasing synaptic density in the VTA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 113(9), 2520-2525.  

    For a full list of publications, click here