On May 15, 2023, Prof. Youming Lu from the Tongji Basic Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, delivered an interesting lecture titled "Molecules and Circuits of Memory" at the Lihu Campus of Shenzhen University. Professor Lu was invited by Prof. Baohua Liu from the School of Basic Medical Science, Shenzhen University Medical School, to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of Shenzhen University. These celebrations included a series of 800 academic activities, with this lecture being the 786th and the 74th lecture of the Shenzhen University Medicine Forum.

In his lecture, Professor Lu first outlined the composition of the human brain, comprising 86 billion nerve cells, each with 10,000 connection points and the connections between these cells known as synapses. The strength of these synaptic connections can be adjusted via a phenomenon known as synaptic plasticity, which is closely related to learning and memory. Next, Professor Lu introduced his team's discovery of different functional neuronal types and related circuits, which they identified through single cell sequencing and by leveraging various transgenic mouse models. His latest research on this topic, published in Neuron, revealed two molecularly and functionally distinct cholinergic D28K+ and D28K- neurons, and provided a molecular and circuitry-based theory for how cholinergic neurons contribute to their diverse behavioral functions. Finally, Professor Lu shared details of his latest research work on memory cells and circuits in the papillary nucleus, which has identified new molecular targets that might help treat brain diseases in the future.

Brief introduction of the Speaker

Professor Youming Lu is the Director of the Wuhan Brain Science Center, and Dean of Tongji School of Basic Medicine, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. He graduated from the University of Toronto, Canada, in 1999 and has been associated with the Tongji School of Medicine at Huazhong University of Science and Technology since 2011. He previously served as a full-time Professor (under the title of Bollinger) at Louisiana State University's New Orleans Medical Center, USA, where he is now a tenured full Professor.

He has long been committed to studying the structure of memory neural circuits and the molecular mechanisms underlying their functional regulation. He created the technology of single cell circuit sequencing and genome editing in the brain, which led to his discovery of several types of memory neurons and key protein molecules that regulate their circuitry. His academic achievements have been published in high-impact journals including Cell, Science, and Nature Neuroscience, of which some have been included in core textbooks compiled by the Nobel Laureate, Professor John O'Keefe. His works have been cited >10,000 times and as such, he was included on the "Elsevier Highly Cited Neuroscientists" list from 2014 to 2021. Professor Lu was awarded the Memory Neurocircuit Innovation Research Group of the Natural Science Foundation of China, the Neurocircuit Structure and Function Innovation Introduction Base of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the first prize of the Hubei Provincial Natural Science Award (2021).