Ling Bai
09/2009 – 11/2016 Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University (Neuroscience Program), USA Mentor: Dr. David Ginty.
09/2005 – 09/2009 B.S. Tsinghua University (Biology Major), China
02/2017 – present University of California San Francisco, Department of Physiology, USA
Postdoctoral fellow of Dr. Zachary Knight’s Lab
11/2016 – 01/2017 Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology, USA
Postdoctoral fellow of Dr. David Ginty’s Lab
Interoception provides continuous mapping of the body’s internal landscape and is crucial for shaping our physiology, behavior, and emotional experience. However, we know remarkably little about the sensory systems which connect the body to the brain, comparing to the external senses such as vision and olfaction.
My lab seeks to understand the mechanisms underlying the sense of body’s internal states.
We have generated molecular atlases and genetic tool sets to study key sensory cell types in the internal organs of mice. Building upon it, our research program combines molecular genetics, anatomical tracing, circuits mapping, in vivo imaging, physiological measurements, behavioral analysis, and computational modeling, to understand the sensory systems underlying the internal sensation. Specifically:
1. How are the internal bodily signals encoded across diverse sensory cell types?
2. How do the internal sensory cells regulate organ’s physiology and animal’s behaviors?
3. Do the internal sensory systems modulate animal’s emotional states?
4. How are the internal sensory signals processed and represented in the brain, to regulate animal’s behavior and emotional states?
2021 – present NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00)
2017 – 2020 Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellowship Award
2016 Young Investigators Award, Johns Hopkins University, MD
1. Choi S, Hachisuka J, Brett MA, Omori Y, Iqbal N, DeLisle MM, Wolfson RL, Bai L, Gong S, Goulding M, Heintz N, Koerber RH, Ross SE, Ginty DD. Parallel ascending spinal pathways for affective touch and pain. Nature. 2020 Oct 28. PMID: 33116307
2. Chen Y, Jang H, Spratt PWE, Kosar S, Taylor DE, Essner RA, Bai L, Leib DE, Kuo TW, Lin YC, Patel M, Subkhangulova A, Kato S, Feinberg EH, Bender KJ, Knight ZA, Garrison JL. Soma-Targeted Imaging of Neural Circuits by Ribosome Tethering. Neuron. 2020 Aug 5. PMID: 32574560
3. Bai L, Mesgarzadeh S, Ramesh KS, Huey EL, Liu Y, Gray LA, Aitken TJ, Chen Y, Beutler LR, Ahn JS, Madisen L, Zeng H, Krasnow MA, Knight ZA. Genetic Identification of Vagal Sensory Neurons That Control Feeding. Cell. 2019 Nov 14. PMID: 31730854
4. Zheng Y, Liu P, Bai L, Trimmer JS, Bean BP, Ginty DD. Deep Sequencing of Somatosensory Neurons Reveals Molecular Determinants of Intrinsic Physiological Properties. Neuron. 2019 Aug 21. PMID: 31248728
5. Zimmerman CA, Huey EL, Ahn JS, Beutler LR, Tan CL, Kosar S, Bai L, Chen Y, Corpuz TV, Madisen L, Zeng H, Knight ZA. A gut-to-brain signal of fluid osmolarity controls thirst satiation. Nature. 2019 Apr. PMID: 30918408
6. Severson KS, Xu D, Van de Loo M, Bai L, Ginty DD, O'Connor DH. Active Touch and Self-Motion Encoding by Merkel Cell-Associated Afferents. Neuron. 2017 May 3. PMID: 28434802
7. Abraira VE*, Kuehn ED*, Chirila AM, Springel MW, Toliver AA, Zimmerman AL, Orefice LL, Boyle KA, Bai L, Song BJ, Bashista KA, O'Neill TG, Zhuo J, Tsan C, Hoynoski J, Rutlin M, Kus L, Niederkofler V, Watanabe M, Dymecki SM, Nelson SB, Heintz N, Hughes DI, Ginty DD. The Cellular and Synaptic Architecture of the Mechanosensory Dorsal Horn. Cell. 2017 Jan 12. PMID: 28041852
8. Bai L*, Lehnert BP*, Liu J, Neubarth NL, Dickendesher TL, Nwe PH, Cassidy C, Woodbury CJ, Ginty DD. Genetic Identification of an Expansive Mechanoreceptor Sensitive to Skin Stroking. Cell. 2015 Dec 17. PMID: 26687362
9. Rutlin M*, Ho CY*, Abraira VE*, Cassidy C, Bai L, Woodbury CJ, Ginty DD. The cellular and molecular basis of direction selectivity of Aδ-LTMRs. Cell. 2014 Dec. PMID: 25525881
10. Zimmerman A, Bai L, Ginty DD. The gentle touch receptors of mammalian skin. Science. 2014 Nov 21. PMID: 25414303
