Jonathan Ting, Ph.D.
Assistant Investigator
Jonathan T. Ting joined the Allen Institute in 2013 to provide electrophysiology expertise for the Human Cell Types program and to develop functional assays on human ex vivo brain slices. Ting has 15 years of experience in patch clamp electrophysiology encompassing both primary neuron cultures and acute brain slices. In his postdoctoral fellowships at Duke University and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, he studied the neural circuitry basis of psychiatric disorders and developed and characterized several transgenic mouse lines now widely employed for optogenetic control of nervous system function. Ting previously earned a Ph.D. in Neurobiology & Behavior and conducted his thesis research in the Department of Physiology & Biophysics at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. He earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences with emphasis in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior from the University of California at Davis.
Research
Research Interests
Research Interests A comprehensive analysis of the architecture and function of the human brain requires a multifaceted strategy for revealing the true complexity and diversity of cell types that reside within. It is the exquisite and complex assembly of these unique cell types into distinct functional circuits that enables us to perform essential tasks such as sensory perception, coordinated movement, cognition, and more. Although much effort has been devoted to anatomical mapping of the human brain using post-mortem tissue in both health and disease, the detailed analysis of functions subserved by individual cells within the living human brain has been more challenging to explore. To achieve this goal, we have established extensive research collaborations with local neurosurgeons in the greater-Seattle area to routinely obtain neurosurgical samples of human cortex for research purposes. The vital human brain tissue is transported to the Allen Institute and sectioned into brain slices for detailed analysis using diverse methodologies including patch clamp electrophysiology, optical imaging, single cell transcriptomic profiling, morphological reconstructions, and array tomography. We hope this effort will culminate in a comprehensive classification of cell types of the human neocortex.
Expertise
- Patch clamp electrophysiology
- Synaptic physiology
- Molecular biology
- Gene targeting and transgene expression strategies
- Viral gene delivery
- Organotypic brain slice culture
- Adult animal brain slice methods
Research Programs
- Human cell types
Project co-lead
- In vitro single cell characterization (IVSCC) project
- Human Epilepsy Translational project
- Human Genetic Tools project
Selected Publications View Publications
Classification of electrophysiological and morphological neuron types in mouse visual cortex
Nature Neuroscience
June 17, 2019
Gouwens NW, Sorensen SA, Berg J, Lee C, Jarsky T, Ting J, Sunkin S, Feng D, Anastassiou C, Barkan E, Bickley K, Blesie N, Braun T, Brouner K, Budzillo A, Caldejon S, Casper T, Castelli D, Chong P, Crichton K, Cuhaciyan C, Daigle T, Dalley R, Dee N, Desta T, Dingman S, Doperalski A, Dotson N, Egdorf T, Fisher M, de Frates RA, Garren E, Garwood M, Gary A, Gaudreault N, Godfrey K, Gorham M, Gu H, Habel C, Hadley K, Harrington J, Harris J, Henry A, Hill D, Josephsen S, Kebede S, Kim L, Kroll M, Lee B, Lemon T, Liu X, Long B, Mann R, McGraw M, Mihalas S, Mukora A, Murphy GJ, Ng L, Ngo K, Nguyen TN, Nicovich PR, Oldre A, Park D, Parry S, Perkins J, Potekhina L, Reid D, Robertson M, Sandman D, Schroedter M, Slaughterbeck C, Soler-Llavina C, Sulc J, Szafer A, Tasic B, Taskin N, Teeter C, Thatra N, Tung H, Wakeman W, Williams G, Young R, Zhou Z, Farrell C, Peng H, Hawrylycz MJ, Lein E, Ng L, Arkhipov A, Bernard A, Phillips J, Zeng H, Koch C
Epigenetic landscape and AAV targeting of human neocortical cell classes
bioRxiv
February 19, 2019
Mich JK, Hess EE, Graybuck LT, Somasundaram S, Miller JA, Ding Y, Shapovalova NV, Fong O, Yao S, Mortrud M, Chong P, Bertagnolli D, Goldy J, Casper T, Kroll M, Hodge RD, Bakken TE, Yao Z, Dee N, Cetin A, Smith KA, Gwinn RP, Cobbs C, Ko AL, Ojemann JG, Keene CD, Silbergeld DL, Gradinaru V, Sunkin SM, Zeng H, Lein ES, Tasic B, Ting JT, Levi BP
Two eARCHT3.0 Lines for Optogenetic Silencing of Dopaminergic and Serotonergic Neurons
Frontiers in Neural Circuits
February 1, 2019
Krol A, Lopez-Huerta VG, Corey TEC, Deisseroth K, Ting JT, Feng G
Distinctive Structural and Molecular Features of Myelinated Inhibitory Axons in Human Neocortex
eNeuro
September 19, 2018
Micheva KD, Chang EF, Nana AL, Seeley WW, Ting JT, Cobbs C, Lein E, Smith SJ, Weinberg RJ, Madison DV
Cell
July 12, 2018
Daigle TL, Madisen L, Hage TA, Valley MT, Knoblich U, Larsen RS, Takeno MM, Huang L, Gu H, Larsen R, Mills M, Bosma-Moody A, Siverts LA, Walker M, Graybuck LT, Yao Z, Fong O, Nguyen TN, Garren E, Lenz GH, Chavarha M, Pendergraft J, Harrington J, Hirokawa KE, Harris JA, Nicovich PR, McGraw MJ, Ollerenshaw DR, Smith KA, Baker CA, Ting JT, Sunkin SM, Lecoq J, Lin MZ2, Boyden ES, Murphy GJ, da Costa NM, Waters J, Li L, Tasic B, Zeng H
Scientific Reports
May 30, 2018
Ting JT, Kalmbach B, Chong P, de Frates R, Keene CD, Gwinn RP, Cobbs C, Ko AL, Ojemann JG, Ellenbogen RG, Koch C, Lein E
The ethics of experimenting with human brain tissue
Nature
April 25, 2018
Farahany NA, Greely HT, Hyman S, Koch C, Grady C, Pașca SP, Sestan N, Arlotta P, Bernat JL, Ting J, Lunshof JE, Iyer EPR, Hyun I, Capestany BH, Church GM, Huang H, Song H
Neuron
November 1, 2018
Kalmbach BE, Buchin A, Long B, Close J, Nandi A, Miller JA, Bakken TE, Hodge RD, Chong P, de Frates R, Dai K, Maltzer Z, Nicovich PR, Keene CD, Silbergeld DL, Gwinn RP, Cobbs C, Ko AL, Ojemann JG, Koch C, Anastassiou CA, Lein ES, Ting JT
Methods in Molecular Biology: Patch Clamp Methods and Protocols
June 2014
Jonathan T. Ting, Tanya L. Daigle, Qian Chen, Guoping Feng
Flow of cortical activity underlying a tactile decision in mice
Neuron
January 2014
Guo ZV, Li N, Huber D, Ophir E, Gutnisky D, Ting JT, Feng G, Svoboda K
Annual Review of Neuroscience
2012
Ting JT, Peça J, & G Feng
Cell-type Specific Optogenetic Mice for Dissecting Neural Circuitry Function
Nature Methods
September 2011
Zhao S, Ting JT, Atallah HE, Qiu L, Tan J, Gloss B, Deisseroth K, Luo M, Graybiel AM, G Feng
Nature Neuroscience
July 2011
Halassa MM, Siegle JH, Ritt J, Ting JT, Feng G, & CI Moore
Shank3 mutant mice display autistic-like behaviours and striatal dysfunction
Nature
April 28, 2011
Peça J, Feliciano C, Ting JT, Wang W, Wells MF, Venkatraman TN, Lascola CD, Fu Z, Feng G
Current Opinion in Neurobiology
December 2011
Ting JT, Feng G
PNAS
January 2, 2007
Ting JT, Kelley BG, Lambert TJ, Cook DG, Sullivan JM
Team
I am fortunate to collaborate extensively with a talented team of Research Associates, Scientists, and Investigators working toward the common goal of multi-modal functional analysis of human neocortical cell types.