Guoping Feng

Guoping Feng (Chinese: 冯国平) is a Chinese-American neuroscientist. He is the Poitras Professor of Neuroscience at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT[5][6] and member of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at Broad Institute. He is most notable for studying the synaptic mechanisms underlying psychiatric disease.[7] In addition to developing many genetic-based imaging tools for the study of molecular mechanisms in the brain,[8] he has generated and characterized rodent models of obsessive-compulsive disorder,[7][9] autism spectrum disorders,[10] and schizophrenia.[11] Feng has also shown that some autism-like behaviors can be corrected in adult mice by manipulating the expression of the SHANK3 gene.[12]

The native form of this personal name is Feng Guoping. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.
Guoping Feng
Born
Zhejiang, China
Alma mater
  • Zhejiang University (B.M.S. 1982)
  • Shanghai Second Medical University (M.S. 1985)
  • State University of New York at Buffalo (Ph.D. 1994)
Known forAnimal models of psychiatric disease
Awards
  • Beckman Young Investigator Award (2002)[1]
  • McKnight Technological Innovations in Neuroscience Award (2011–2012)[2]
  • Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award (2008–2011)[3]
  • Gill Young Investigator Award (2012)[4]
Scientific career
FieldsNeurobiology
Institutions
Doctoral advisorLinda Hall

Education

Feng received his PhD from SUNY Buffalo. He conducted his postdoctoral work at Washington University School of Medicine.[13] Prior to joining the McGovern Institute in 2010, Feng was a faculty member at Duke University.[5] He is currently the Poitras Professor of Neuroscience and the Director of Model Systems and Neurobiology in the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at Broad Institute.[5]

Research

Feng studies mutations of the postsynaptic density (PSD), the protein scaffold which stabilizes neurotransmitter receptors, permits normal function of the synapse, and participates in synaptic plasticity.[5] He has demonstrated that mutations in SAPAP3, a gene primarily expressed in the striatum, are associated with repetitive grooming behaviors in mice, resembling repetitive behaviors observed in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and autism. SAPAP3's role in the Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease. He has also shown that mutations in SHANK3, associated with Phelan McDermid syndrome (PMS), lead to autism-like symptoms such as repetitive behaviors, sensory hyper-sensitivity, and social deficits in mice. In 2016, Feng showed that gene therapy to restore normal SHANK3 function in adult mice could reverse some behavioral symptoms.[12]

Feng also studies rare neurodevelopmental disorders such as Rett syndrome and Williams syndrome. In 2018, Feng and colleague Robert Desimone received a grant of over $2.3 million USD to correct MECP2 mutations, which are the cause of Rett syndrome.[14] In 2019, Feng and Zhigang He demonstrated that increasing myelination with the drug clemastine fumarate could reverse myelin deficits and hypersociability symptoms in mice lacking GTF2I, which may be translatable to human patients.[15]

Awards and honors

Selected publications
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References
  1. "Guoping Feng". Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  2. "Awardees". McKnight Foundation. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  3. "Inaugural Biomedical Research Collaboration Award". Hartwell Foundation. 18 August 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  4. "IU's Gill Center honors Hugo J. Bellen and Guoping Feng for achievements in neuroscience". Indiana University.
  5. "Guoping Feng". McGovern Institute. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  6. "Feng, Guoping". MIT BCS. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  7. "Guoping Feng". Nature. 448 (7156): xiii. 1 August 2007. doi:10.1038/7156xiiia.
  8. "Calcium reveals connections between neurons".
  9. "Gene Triggers Obsessive Compulsive Disorder-Like Syndrome in Mice". 14 October 2015.
  10. Wolf, Lauren K. (5 March 2012). "The Inner Workings Of Autism". Chemical & Engineering News. ACS. 90 (10).
  11. "How one gene contributes to two diseases".
  12. Osborne, Hannah (18 February 2016). "Autism behaviours reversed in mice by switching Shank3 gene on in adulthood". International Business Times. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  13. "Guoping Feng". Broad Institute. June 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  14. Rett Syndrome Research Trust (23 January 2019). "Rett Syndrome Research Trust Awards $10 Million to Preeminent Researchers in Pursuit of Curing Devastating Neurological Disorder". NBC 2. PRNewswire-PRWeb. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  15. Trafton, Anne (22 April 2019). "Neuroscientists reverse some behavioral symptoms of Williams Syndrome". McGovern Institute. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  16. "Previous Gill Center awardees". Gill Center, Indiana University. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  17. "Guoping Feng elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences for 2019". McGovern Institute. 17 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
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