He Cui
1997-2003 Ph.D., Neuroscience (thesis advisor: Joseph G. Malpeli), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, USA
1994-1997 M.S., Biophysics (advisor: Yun-Jiu Wang), Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
1989-1994 B.S., Physics (with highest honor), Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
2022-present Associate Investigator, Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing (CIBR), Beijing, China
2016-2022 Principal Investigator and Lab Head, Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
2008-2016 Assistant to Associate Professor, Brain and Behavior Discovery Institute and Dept of Psychiatry, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, USA
2003-2008 Postdoctoral Scholar (mentor: Richard A. Andersen), Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
How brain generates appropriate motor commands driving sophisticated skeletomuscular system is a central challenge in neuroscience. Behavioral and computational studies suggest that to rapidly produce flexible movements in response to signals from a complex and dynamic environment relies on the internal prediction of future consequence. Meanwhile, accumulating neurophysiological evidence demonstrates that sensorimotor behavior emerges from collective neural activity in a large brain network, and demands an intimate interplay between sensory inflow and motor outflow, rather than a hierarchical transformation from extrinsic stimuli to intrinsic muscular activity. By combining behavioral, neurophysiological, and computational approaches, our lab has sought to elucidate the neural basis underlying predictive and sequential sensorimotor control, and to develop bio-realistic brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) for neuroprosthetics and neurorehabilitation.
2020 HKSME Best Paper of the Year
2011 Whitehall Foundation Award
2010 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship
2003 Elected member, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, University of Illinois
2002 SfN Chapters/Eli Lilly Graduate Student Travel Award, Society for Neuroscience
1997 Director’s Fellowship, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
1996 Di-Ao Life Science Student Research Award, Chinese Academy of Sciences
1994 Prize for Young Presenters, Biomedical Engineering Society of China
1993 Lin C. C. Scholarship in Applied Mathematics, Tsinghua University, China
1993 Ye Qi-Sun Fellowship, Tsinghua University, China
1992 Guang Hua Scholarship, Tsinghua University, China
Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals:
1. Zheng C.*, Wang Q., and Cui H.*(2025) Continuous sensorimotor transformation enhances robustness of neural dynamics to perturbation in macaque motor cortex, Nature Communication 16, Article number: 3213. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-58421-1
2. Zhang Y#, Chen Y#, Wang T., and Cui H.*(2025) Neural geometry from mixed sensorimotor selectivity for predictive sensorimotor control, eLife, https://elifesciences.org/articles/100064
3. Wang T., Chen Y., Zhang Y., and Cui H.*(2024) Multiplicative joint coding in preparatory activity for reaching sequence in macaque motor cortex, Nature Communication 15, Article number: 3153. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47511-1
4. Wang Y., Wang Q., Zheng R., Xu X., Yang X., Gui Q., Yang X., Wang Y., Cui H.*, Pei W.* (2023) Flexible multi-channel electrodes for acute recording in the non-human primates, Microsystems & Nanoengineering, Article number: 93
5. Tao P., Wang Q., Shi J., Hao X., Liu X., Min B., Zhang Y., Li C., Cui H.*, Chen L.*(2023) Detecting dynamical causality by intersection cardinal concavity, Fundamental Research, DOI:10.1016/j.fmre.2023.01.007.
6. Li Y., Wang Y., and Cui H.* (2022) Posterior parietal cortex predicts upcoming movement in dynamic sensorimotor control, PNAS, 119 (13) e2118903119
7. Wang T., Chen Y., and Cui H.* (2022) From parametric representation to dynamical system: shifting views of motor cortex in motor control, Neuroscience Bulletin 38, 796–808
8. Lan N.*, Hao M., Niu C., Cui H., Wang Y., Zhang T., Fang P., and Chou C. (2021) Next generation prosthetic hand: from biomimetic to biorealistic, Research, 2021, 4675326.
9. Li Y., Wang Y., and Cui H.* (2018) Eye-hand coordination during flexible manual interception of an abruptly appearing, moving target, Journal of Neurophysiology 119, 221-234.
10. Cui H.* (2016) Forward prediction in the posterior parietal cortex and dynamic brain-machine interface, Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience 10, 35.
11. Cui H.* (2014) From intention to action: hierarchical sensorimotor transformation in the posterior parietal cortex, eNeuro 1, e0017-14.2014.
12. Li Y. and Cui H.* (2013) Dorsal parietal area 5 encodes immediate reach in sequential arm movements, Journal of Neuroscience 33, 14455-14465.
13. Ma R., Cui H., Lee S., Anastasio T.J., and Malpeli J.G.* (2013) Predictive encoding of moving target trajectory by neurons in the parabigeminal nucleus. Journal of Neurophysiology 109, 2029-2043.
14. Torres E.B.*, Quian Quiroga R., Cui H., and Buneo C.A. (2013) Neural correlates of learning and trajectory planning in the posterior parietal cortex. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience 7, 39.
15. Cui H.* and Andersen R.A. (2011) Different representations of potential and selected motor plans by distinct parietal areas, Journal of Neuroscience 31, 18130-18136.
16. Andersen R.A.* and Cui H. (2009) Intention, action planning, and decision making in parietal-frontal circuits, Neuron 63, 568-583.
17. Baldauf D.*, Cui H., and Andersen R.A. (2008) Posterior parietal cortex encodes in parallel multiple goals for hand movement sequences. Journal of Neuroscience 28, 10081-10089.
18. Cui H.* and Andersen R.A. (2007) Posterior parietal cortex encodes autonomously selected motor plans, Neuron 56, 552-559.
19. Quian Quiroga R.*, Snyder L.H., Batista A.P., Cui H., and Andersen, R.A. (2006) Movement intention is better predicted than attention in the posterior parietal cortex, Journal of Neuroscience 26, 3615-3620.
20. Gruberg E.*, Dudkin E., Wang Y., Marín G., Salas C., Sentis E., Letelier J., Mpodozis J., Malpeli J.G., Cui H., Ma R., Northmore D., and Udin S. (2006) Influencing and interpreting visual input: the role of a visual feedback system, Journal of Neuroscience 26, 10368 – 10371.
21. Cui H. and Malpeli J.G.* (2003) Activity in the parabigeminal nucleus during eye movements directed at moving and stationary targets, Journal of Neurophysiology 89, 3128-3142.
22. Wang Y.J., Cui H., and Qi X.L. (1996) Initializing receptive field-like weights in BP learning network: (I) Effect on convergence rate, Progress in Natural Science 6, 189-194.
23. Cui H., Qi X.L., and Wang Y.J. (1996) Initializing receptive field-like weights in BP learning network (II) Internal representation, Progress in Natural Science 6, 308-315.
24. Qi X.L., Cui H., and Wang Y.J. (1996) Initializing receptive field-like weights in BP learning network (III) Theoretical analysis, Progress in Natural Science 6, 451-457.
