Bi Guoqiang graduated from the Department of Physics at Peking University with a Bachelor of Science in 1989. He obtained a Master of Science in Physics from New York University in 1991 and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1996. From 1996 to 2000, he conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, San Diego. From 2000 to 2008, he served as an assistant professor and then an associate professor (tenured) in the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He received several academic awards, including the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences and the Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award. In 2007, he returned to China to establish a neurophysics laboratory and was appointed as one of the first new chair professors at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2008.
Professor Bi Guoqiang is an internationally renowned biophysicist and neurobiologist, known for his significant contributions to the biophysical mechanisms of cell membrane repair, computational rules and signaling mechanisms of synaptic plasticity, and the cellular dynamics of neural network reverberation. His discovery of spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) and subsequent research on its molecular and cellular mechanisms and computational rules have advanced the field and had a broad impact on information science and artificial intelligence. He has published over 100 papers in journals such as Science, Nature, Nat Neurosci, Nat Biotech, Natl Sci Rev, PNAS, Ann Rev Neurosci, with more than 16,000 citations, including over 5,000 citations for a single paper. He has been continuously selected as Elsevier’s Highly Cited Chinese Researchers and the top scientist with global career influence in the field of neuroscience.
He is currently Co-Director of the Integrated Imaging Center at the Hefei National Research Center for Microscale Material Science. He also serves as the executive council member of the Chinese Neuroscience Society, a committee member of the Cryo-Electron Microscopy Branch of the Chinese Biophysical Society, a standing committee member of the Biomedical Photonics Professional Committee of the Chinese Optical Society, and a working group member of the International Brain Initiatives (IBI). Additionally, he is the Associate Editor of the international journal Frontiers in Neural Circuits, and an editorial board member of Current Opinion in Neurobiology, Molecular Brain and Neuroscience Bulletin. He leads major research projects, including the National Key Basic Research Development Program, CAS interdisciplinary collaboration projects, CAS Strategic Priority Research Program, NSFC major research programs, and NIH BRAIN Initiative.
Main Research Interest
The brain consists of myriad neurons that connect with one another through heterogeneous and plastic synaptic connections, forming highly ordered circuits with multi-scale complexity. Neuronal activity within and across these circuits shapes their connectivity and underlies perception, emotion, decision and learning in animals and human.
Towards understanding this complex system, Dr. Bi’s group aims at developing and applying cutting-edge light and electron microscopy techniques, as well as AI-based data analysis methods, to explore the organization and activity of the brain across multiple spatiotemporal scales. The ultimate goal is to understand the logic behind the structure and dynamics of brain circuits, to reveal basic mechanisms underlying brain function and dysfunction, and to inspire next generation artificial intelligence.
Current research directions include:
(1) Architecture of synapses and neuronal circuits;
(2) Synaptic plasticity and learning in vitro, in vivo and in silico;
(3) Cross-scale imaging, AI-based big data techniques and their biomedical applications.
Representative Papers
Xue F, Li F, Zhang KM, Ding LF, Wang Y, Zhao X, Xu F, Zhang DK, Sun MZ, Lau PM, Zhu QY, Zhou PC & Bi GQ. (2024) Multi-region calcium imaging in freely behaving mice with ultra-compact head-mounted fluorescence microscopes. National Science Review 11: nwad294.
Li XW, Ren Y, Shi DQ, Qi L, Xu F, Xiao Y, Lau PM & Bi GQ. (2023) Biphasic Cholinergic Modulation of Reverberatory Activity in Neuronal Networks. Neuroscience bulletin 39: 731-744.
Bi GQ & Rodal AA. (2022) Editorial overview: Cellular neuroscience. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 76, 102625-102625.
Liu YT, Zhang H, Wang H, Tao CL, Bi GQ & Zhou ZH. (2022) Isotropic reconstruction for electron tomography with deep learning. Nature Communications 13: 6482.
Xu F, Shen Y, Ding L, Yang CY, Tan H, Wang H, Zhu Q, Xu R, Wu F, Xiao Y, Xu C, Li Q, Su P, Zhang LI, Dong HW, Desimone R, Xu F, Hu X, Lau PM & Bi GQ. (2021) High-throughput mapping of a whole rhesus monkey brain at micrometer resolution. Nature Biotechnology 39, 1521-1528.
Liu Y-T, Tao CL, Zhang XK, Xia WJ, Shi DQ, Qi L, Xu C, Sun R, Li XW, Lau PM, Zhou ZH & Bi GQ. (2020) Mesophasic organization of GABAA receptors in hippocampal inhibitory synapse. Nature Neuroscience 23 (12), 1589-1596.
Xu C, Liu HJ, Qi L, Tao CL, Wang YJ, Shen ZY, Tian CL, Lau PM & Bi GQ. (2020) Structure and plasticity of silent synapses in developing hippocampal neurons visualized by super-resolution imaging. Cell Discovery 6:8.
Wang H, Zhu QY, Ding LF, Shen Y, Yang CY, Xu F, Shu C, Guo YJ, Xiong ZW, Shan QH, Jia F, Su P, Yang QR, Li B, Cheng YX, He XB, Wu F, Zhou JN, Xu FQ, Han H, Lau PM & Bi GQ. (2019) Scalable volumetric imaging for ultrahigh-speed brain mapping at synaptic resolution. National Science Review 6:982-992.
Liu YT, Tao CL, Lau PM, Zhou ZH & Bi GQ (2019) Postsynaptic protein organization revealed by electron microscopy. Current opinion in structural biology 54: 152-160.
Tao CL, Liu YT, Sun R, Zhang B, Qi L, Shivakoti S, Tian CL, Zhang PJ, Lau PM, Zhou ZH & Bi GQ. (2018) Differentiation and Characterization of Excitatory and Inhibitory Synapses by Cryo-electron Tomography and Correlative Microscopy. Journal of Neuroscience 38, 1493-1510.
Fu ZX, Tan X, Fang HQ, Lau PM, Wang XH, Cheng HP & Bi GQ. (2017) Dendritic mitoflash as a putative signal for stabilizing long-term synaptic plasticity. Nature Communications 8, 31.
Shim SH, Xia C, Zhong G, Babcock HP, Vaughan JC, Huang B, Wang X, Xu C, Bi GQ & Zhuang X. (2012) Super-resolution fluorescence imaging of organelles in live cells with photoswitchable membrane probes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. USA 109, 13978-13983.
Zhang JC, Lau PM & Bi GQ. (2009) Gain in sensitivity and loss in temporal contrast of STDP by dopaminergic modulation at hippocampal synapses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. USA 106, 13028-13033.
Wang HX, Gerkin RC, Nauen DW & Bi G-Q. (2005) Coactivation and timing-dependent integration of synaptic potentiation and depression. Nature Neuroscience 8, 187-193.
Lau PM & Bi GQ. (2005) Synaptic mechanisms of persistent reverberatory activity in neuronal networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. USA 102, 10333-10338.
Bi GQ & Rubin J. (2005) Timing in synaptic plasticity: from detection to integration. Trends in Neurosciences 28, 222-228.
Bi GQ & Poo Mm. (2001) Synaptic modification by correlated activity: Hebb's postulate revisited. Annual Review of Neuroscience 24, 139-166.
van Rossum MC, Bi G-Q & Turrigiano GG. (2000) Stable hebbian learning from spike timing-dependent plasticity. Journal of Neuroscience 20, 8812-8821.
Bi G-Q & Poo M-m. (1999) Distributed synaptic modification in neural networks induced by patterned stimulation. Nature 401, 792-796.
Bi G-Q & Poo M-m. (1998) Synaptic modifications in cultured hippocampal neurons: Dependence on spike timing, synaptic strength, and postsynaptic cell type. Journal of Neuroscience 18, 10464-10472.
Bi GQ, Alderton JM & Steinhardt RA. (1995) Calcium-regulated exocytosis is required for cell membrane resealing. Journal of Cell Biology 131, 1747-1758.
Steinhardt RA, Bi G & Alderton JM. (1994) Cell membrane resealing by a vesicular mechanism similar to neurotransmitter release. Science 263, 390-393.
Lab Website
[http://neurophysics.ustc.edu.cn/](http://neurophysics.ustc.edu.cn/)
Contact Information
E-mail: gqbi@ustc.edu.cn
Phone: 0551-63602891