Staff Profiles

Dr. Yun Wang joined the Allen Institute in 2016 and currently serves as a research scientist for the neuroanatomy program.

Dr. Yun Wang received her PhD. degree under Dr. Markram’s supervision in Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel in 2000. She had a postdoctoral training in Dr. Goldman Rakick’s laboratory in Yale University for more than three years. She worked as a principle investigator at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, an affiliated hospital of Tufts University School of Medicine from 2004 to 2015. Her research interest was focusing on the quantitative study of the cortical neuronal microcircuitry in neuronal electrophysiology and synaptology, especially in neuronal morphology and classification. She has contributed to Blue Brain Project (BBP) since 2005 shortly after the project was launched, and later to the Human Brain Project (HBP). Her research approaches, particularly on the 3D-computer reconstruction, the classification and morphometrics of neurons, have been considered as an essential step for the biologically realistic computer simulation of the brain in the HBP. Her substantial achievements are the publications in Cell (2015), PNAS (2012), PLoS One (2010), and Nature Neuroscience (2006). Her expertise on the classification and morphometrics of neurons is also evidenced by an authorship given for the articles, ‘Petilla Terminology: Nomenclature of features of GABAergic interneurons of the cerebral cortex. (Nat Rev Neurosci. 9: 1-13. 2008)’, and ‘GABAergic interneurons of the cerebral cortex: A gardener’s classification and nomenclature approach. (Nat Rev Neurosci. 2013)’.

Research Interests

Dr. Yun Wang as a leading scientist plays a major role for the project on the reconstruction and classification of single neurons at whole-brain-level. She has also made critical connections with Dr. Hanchuan Peng’s team to work together toward improving automated reconstruction methods for large scale reconstruction and analysis of neurons at whole brain level.

Expertise

• Neuroanatomy
• Neuronal electrophysiology
• Synaptology

Research Programs

• Neuroanatomy at whole-brain level