Dr. Junshi Wang is an enthusiastic neuroscientist who has been investigating neural mechanisms underlying drug addiction for 14 years. He earned his PhD in Neuroscience from Arizona State University, where he was mentored by Drs. Ron Hammer and Ella Nikulina. While there, he used behavioral models and immunohistochemistry to comprehensively investigate how brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signaling in the brain reward circuit regulates stress-exacerbated addictive behaviors. In his first postdoc training period (2014-2020), in Dr. Yan Dong’s lab at the University of Pittsburgh, he learned electrophysiology. Since then, he has been using electrophysiology to study neuroplasticity in addiction. Currently he is a postdoc in Dr. Paul Kenny’s lab, at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Wang enjoys making modifications to procedures and instruments to gain better control at each experimental step, ultimately leading to better-quality data.

In this webinar, Dr. Wang will:

  • Discuss to quantify nascent silent synapses using electrophysiology
  • Explore how to perform ex vivo calcium imaging on brain slices
  • Share tips & tricks of brain sectioning to help reduce frustration for electrophysiology recordings