Zirong Gu

Assistant Professor

Research Interests: Exploring how basal ganglia outputs interact with other brain regions to select, initiate, and execute motivated behavior in both health and disease.

972-883-2441
BSB 13.331
Curriculum Vitae
ORCID

Currently accepting undergraduate and graduate students

Neuroscience-Faculty

Professional Preparation

Postdoc - Neuroscience
Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University - 2023

PhD - Molecular and Developmental biology
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center; University of Cincinnati - 2015

Research Areas

Exploring how basal ganglia outputs interact with other brain regions to select, initiate, and execute motivated behavior in both health and disease.

Single-cell RNA sequencing, sophisticated viral tracing, machine learning-assisted brain-wide circuitry mapping and reconstruction, unsupervised behavioral clustering, cell-type and action-specific Cal-light tagging, closed-loop optogenetic manipulation, obsessive-compulsive disorder, neurodegenerative disease.

Publications

Dopamine-mediated formation of a memory module in the nucleus accumbens for goal-directed navigation. 2024 - Journal Article

Axon Fasciculation, Mediated by Transmembrane Semaphorins, Is Critical for the Establishment of Segmental Specificity of Corticospinal Circuits 2023 - Journal Article

Semaphorin-Mediated Corticospinal Axon Elimination Depends on the Activity-Induced Bax/Bak-Caspase Pathway 2020 - Journal Article

Olig2-Induced Semaphorin Expression Drives Corticospinal Axon Retraction After Spinal Cord Injury. 2020 - Journal Article

Skilled Movements in Mice Require Inhibition of Corticospinal Axon Collateral Formation in the Spinal Cord by Semaphorin Signaling 2019 - Journal Article

Corticospinal Circuits from the Sensory and Motor Cortices Differentially Regulate Skilled Movements through Distinct Spinal Interneurons. 2018 - Journal Article

Control of species-dependent cortico-motoneuronal connections underlying manual dexterity 2017 - Journal Article

Skilled Movements Require Non-apoptotic Bax/Bak Pathway-Mediated Corticospinal Circuit Reorganization. 2017 - Journal Article

Awards

2023 Sfn Plexon Presenter Award - Plexon Inc [2023]

K99 Pathway to Independence Award - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NINDS [2020]

NARSAD Young Investigator Award - Brain & Behavior Research Foundation [2019]

Presentations

Direct projections from the external globus pallidus to thalamus and brainstem differentially impact behavior

2023/11 SfN`s annual meeting, Washington, DC. Nanosymposium on Basal Ganglia: Structure and Function

Dissecting projection- and function-specific basal ganglia output circuits in health and disease

2024/01 2024 Plexon Data Blitz

Diverse basal ganglia output circuits mediate different behaviors

2023/09 Alfred Benzon Symposium no. 67th, Copenhagen: Bringing Circuit for Movement Together

2023/07 Indiana University

2023/07 UT Southwestern Medical Center

Funding

Action-specific dissecting of basal ganglia: from the classical model to diverse action-specific subcircuits

$997,884 - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke [2020/11–2027/03]

NARSAD Young Investigator Award

$70,000 - Brain & Behavior Research Foundation [2019/09–2022/09]

Basal Ganglia output circuits for habitual and goal-directed action control in healthy and Sapap3 knockout OCD mouse model