Rui Lin, Ph.D.

Assistant Investigator, NIBS, Beijing

Email: linrui@nibs.ac.cn

Home page: https://linlab.bio

Education

2018

PhD, Peking University-Tsinghua University-National Institute Biological Sciences (PTN) Joint Graduate Program

2012

B.S., Xiamen University, China

Professional Experience

2022.6-

Assistant Investigator, National Institute Biological Sciences, Beijing

2018.8-2022.5 

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, National Institute Biological Sciences, Beijing

Research Description

As the resident macrophages, microglia account for about 10% of the total cell population in the central nervous system (CNS). Microglia conduct active surveillance, and initiate rapid innate and adaptive immune responses upon encountering immune assaults. Beyond their functions in immunity, microglia have multifaceted roles in controlling neural circuit development and plasticity. Microglial dysfunction is a key factor in CNS ageing and in the progression of CNS diseases including neurodegenerative disorders and brain cancers. Clinical studies have identified risk-associated alterations in genes that are highly expressed in microglia, highlighting the engagement of microglia in CNS disease progression and the potential for targeting microglia for therapeutic interventions. By developing new molecular and genomic tools, our lab studies the microglia population dynamics under normal physiological conditions and in disease models. We are also interested in developing microglia-based therapies and neurotechnologies for broad neuroscience fields.

Publications

(# corresponding author, * co-first author)

Key research papers:

1. Lin, R.*#, Zhou, Y.*, Yan, T.*, Wang, R.*, Li, H., Wu, Z., Zhang, X, Zhou, X, F., Zhang, L., Li, Y., Luo, M.#, (2022). Directed evolution of adeno-associated virus for efficient gene delivery to microglia. Nature Methods, in press.

2. Lin, R.*#, Liang, J.*, Wang, R., Yan, T., Guo, Z., Liu, Y., Feng, Q., Sun, F., Li, Y., Li, A., Gong, H., Luo, M.#, (2020). The raphe dopamine system controls the expression of incentive memory. Neuron 106 (3), 498-514.

3. Lin, R.*, Wang, R.*, Yuan, J.*, Feng, Q., Zhou, Y., Zeng, S., Ren, M., Jiang, S., Ni, H., Zhou, C., Gong, H., Luo, M., (2018). Cell-type-specific and projection-specific brain-wide reconstruction of single neurons. Nature Methods 15, 1033–1036.

4. Lin, R., Feng, Q., Li, P., Zhou, P., Wang, R., Liu, Z., Wang, Z., Qi, X., Tang, N., Shao, F., Luo, M., (2018). A hybridization-chain-reaction-based method for amplifying immunosignals. Nature Methods 15, 275–278.

Review papers:

1. Lin, R.*#, Liang, J.*, Luo, M.#, (2021). The raphe dopamine system: roles in salience encoding, memory expression, and addiction. Trends in Neurosciences 44, 366–377.

2.       Liu, Z., Lin, R., Luo, M., (2020). Reward contributions to serotonergic functions. Annual Review of Neuroscience. 43, 141–162.

3. Lin, R., Yan, T., Luo, M., (2019). The two faces of PVN CRF neurons. Nature Neuroscience 22, 508–510.

4. Lin, R.#, Yi, L., Luo, M., (2018). A neural circuit driving maternal behaviors. Neuron 98 (1), 6-8.

Other research papers:

1.       Feng, Q., An, S., Wang, R., Lin, R., Li, A., Gong, H., Luo, M., (2021). Whole-brain reconstruction of neurons in the ventral pallidum reveals diverse projection patterns. Frontiers in Neuroanatomy 15, 108.

2.       Lu, L., Ren, Y., Yu, T., Liu, Z., Wang, S., Tan, L., Zeng, J., Feng, Q., Lin, R., Liu, Y., Guo, Q., Luo, M., (2020). Control of locomotor speed, arousal, and hippocampal theta rhythms by the nucleus incertus. Nat Commun 11, 262.

3.       Ren, J.*, Isakova, A.*, Friedmann, D.*, Zeng, J.*, Grutzner, S., Pun, A., Zhao, G.Q., Kolluru, S.S., Wang, R., Lin, R., Li, P., Li, A., Raymond, J.L., Luo, Q., Luo, M., Quake, S.R., Luo, L., (2019). Single-cell transcriptomes and whole-brain projections of serotonin neurons in the mouse dorsal and median raphe nuclei. eLife 8, e49424.

4.       Zhao, Z., Wang, L., Gao, W., Hu, F., Zhang, J., Ren, Y., Lin, R., Feng, Q., Cheng, M., Ju, D., Chi, Q., Wang, D., Song, S., Luo, M., Zhan, C., (2017). A central catecholaminergic circuit controls blood glucose levels during stress. Neuron 95 (1), 138-152.

5.       Zhang, J., Tan, L., Ren, Y., Liang, J., Lin, R., Feng, Q., Zhou, J., Hu, F., Ren, J., Wei, C., Yu, T., Zhuang, Y., Bettler, B., Wang, F., Luo, M., (2016). Presynaptic excitation via GABA_B receptors in habenula cholinergic neurons regulates fear memory expression. Cell 166 (3), 716-728.

6.       Ren, J., Zhang, M.-J., Li, T.-M., Zhang, J., Lin, R., Chen, S., Luo, M., and Dong, M.-Q. (2016). Quantitative proteomics of sleep-deprived mouse brains reveals global changes in mitochondrial proteins. PLOS ONE 11(9): e0163500.

7.       Wang, D., He, X., Zhao, Z., Feng, Q., Lin, R., Sun, Y., Ding, T., Xu, F., Luo, M., Zhan, C., (2015). Whole-brain mapping of the direct inputs and axonal projections of POMC and AgRP neurons. Frontiers in Neuroanatomy 9, 40.

8.       Guo, Q., Zhou, J., Feng, Q., Lin, R., Gong, H., Luo, Q., Zeng, S., Luo, M., Fu, L., (2015). Multi-channel fiber photometry for population neuronal activity recording. Biomedical Optics Express 6 (10), 3919-393.

9.       Guo, Q., Wang, D., He, X., Feng, Q., Lin, R., Xu, F., Fu, L., Luo, M., (2015). Whole-brain mapping of inputs to projection neurons and cholinergic interneurons in the dorsal striatum. PLOS ONE 10(4): e0123381.