Awarded in 2023
Home Department: Biology
Faculty Advisors: Liqun Luo (Biology) and Scott Linderman (Statistics)

Research Title: Deconstructing the Serotonin System: Projectomes, Transcriptomes, and Animal Behavior

Research Description: Serotonin neurons in the brainstem widely innervate the brain and modulate diverse physiological and behavioral functions. While many previous studies assumed that serotonin neurons form a homogenous population, it has become apparent that they harbor considerable molecular, anatomical, and functional diversity. Here, Jun Ho aims to reveal how subpopulations of serotonin neurons—defined by their axonal projection targets and molecular identity—differentially modulate brain functions using brain-wide imaging, spatial transcriptomics, and machine-learning-based behavior analysis pipelines. This study will provide a comprehensive anatomical and molecular atlas of the serotonin system, enabling a further understanding of how serotonin orchestrates brain functions.