Faculty Profile
Jufang He (賀菊方)

Prof. Jufang He (賀菊方)

Head, Department of Neuroscience (NS)

Wong Chun Hong Chair Professor in Translational Neuroscience

Chair Professor of Neuroscience

Director of Research Centre for Treatments of Brain Disorders

DrEng (Tokyo, Japan)

DrMedSci (Tokushima, Japan)

BEng, MEng (Harbin Inst Tech)

Prof. Jufang He is Wong Chun Hong Chair Professor of Translational Neuroscience, Chair Professor of Neuroscience, and Head of the Department of Neuroscience, Director of the Research Centre for Treatments of Brain Disorders at City University of Hong Kong. He was previously Director of the Hong Kong-Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) Joint Laboratory, funded by the Croucher Foundation and the CAS. He was trained in Engineering (Harbin Institute of Technology and The University of Tokyo) and Medical Sciences (University of Tokushima and RIKEN). He combines electrophysiological, anatomical, and engineering approaches to understand hearing, learning, memory, and attention. Prof. He is involved in drug development for brain disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, tinnitus, amblyopia, and depression. The drug development projects are carried out in collaboration with the Hong Kong Institute of Science and Innovation, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

His team discovered an essential chemical for memory encoding and neuroplasticity in the brain. They focus on synthesising small-molecule GPCR agonists/antagonists to help patients with Alzheimer’s disease, amblyopia, tinnitus, motor rehabilitation, depression, and epilepsy. One of their drug candidates (Neu001) for amblyopia was recently funded as an Investigation New Drug (IND). A few more drug candidates are in the pipeline, undergoing IND preparation or aiming for IND nominations.

Prof. He was selected as one of the Distinguished Young Scholars by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Joint Research Fund for Overseas, Hong Kong and Macau Young Scholars (2006) and as a recipient of the Croucher Senior Research Fellowship in 2010 and RGC Senior Research Fellow Award in 2023/2024. He was awarded a President’s Award from CityUHK in 2018 and PolyU in 2003. Prof. He was the inaugural Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Neuroplasticity of Sensory Systems in 2018. He was invited to talk at the 170th Nobel Symposium in 2022. His basic research has been supported by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council with $46 million as the PI (3 CRF, 1 SRF, and 19 GRF). His translational research has been supported by the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF), the Health and Medical Research Fund, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), and Wong Chun Hong Chair Professorship for a total available resource of over $100 million.

Prof. He has served as a panel member for over a dozen grant bodies, such as RGC Biology and Medicine, ITF panel and Enterprise Support Scheme panel of ITC, National Key Projects panel of MOST, and NSFC panel.

Selected Publications

  1. LI H, Feng JY, Chen MY, Xin M, Chen X, Wang KH*, He JF* (2024) Cholecystokinin facilitates motor skill learning by modulating neuroplasticity in the motor cortex. eLIfe https://elifesciences.org/articles/83897
  2. Sun WJ†, Haohao Wu HH†, Peng YJ†, Tang P, Zhao M, Zheng XJ, Feng HM, Li H, Liang Y, Li J, Su JF, Chen X*, Hökfelt T*, He JF* (2024) Heterosynaptic plasticity of the visuo-auditory projection requires cholecystokinin released from entorhinal cortex afferents. eLife https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.83356
  3. Su JF, Huang FW*, Tian Y, Tian R, Gao QQ, Bello ST, Zeng DX, Jendrichovsky P, Lau CG, Xiong WJ, Yu DG, Tortorella M, Chen X*, He JF* (2023) Entorhinohippocampal cholecystokinin modulates spatial learning by facilitating neuroplasticity of hippocampal CA3-CA1 synapses. Cell Reports https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/pdf/S2211-1247(23)01479-1.pdf
  4. Bello ST, Xu SH, Li X, Ren JM, Jiang FX, He JF (2023) Visually or auditorily induced seizures involve the activation of nonhippocampal brain areas and hippocampal removal does not alleviate seizures in a mouse model of temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsia https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/epi.17816
  5. Li HC, Wang X, Wang YR, Li YC, Chen Y, Wong YT, He JF, He ML (2023) Secreted LRPAP1 as a ligand binds and induces IFNAR1 degradation to facilitate virus evasion from cellular innate immunity. Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy 8, 374 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41392-023-01630-1
  6. Asim M, Wang HJ, Chen X, He JF* (2023) Potentiated GABAergic neuronal activities in the basolateral amygdala alleviate stress-induced depressive behaviors. CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics https://doi.org/10.1111/cns.14422
  7. Zhang X, Asim M, Fang W, Md Monir H, Wang HJ, Kim K, Feng HM, Wang SJ, Gao QQ, Lai YY, He JF (2023) Cholecystokinin B Receptor Antagonists for the Treatment of Depression via Blocking Long-term Potentiation in the Basolateral Amygdala. Molecular Psychiatry https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-023-02127-7
  8. He L, SHI H, Zhang G, Peng YJ, Ghosh A, Zhang MF, Hu XF, Liu CH, Shao Y, Wang SJ, Chen LJ, Sun WJ, Su JF, Chen X, Zhang L, Chan YS, Pei DQ, Tortorella M, Guo YP, Yan H*, He JF* (2023) A Novel CCK Receptor GPR173 Mediates the Potentiation of GABAergic Inhibition. The Journal of Neuroscience, 43, 2305-2325 https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2035-22.2023
  9. J Zhang, H Shi, C Huang, L Mei, Q Guo, K Cheng, P Wu, D Su, Q Chen, S Gan, CKW Chan, JH Shi, JL Chen, CHJ Choi, SQ Yao, X-K Chen, BZ Tang, JF He*, HY Sun* (2023) De Novo Designed Self-Assembling Rhodamine Probe for Real-Time, Long-Term and Quantitative Live-Cell Nanoscopy. ACS Nano 17, 3632–3644 De Novo Designed Self-Assembling Rhodamine Probe for Real-Time, Long-Term and Quantitative Live-Cell Nanoscopy | ACS Nano
  10. Sun WJ, Peng T, Liang Y, Li J, Feng JY, Zhang N, Lu DY, He JF*, Chen X* (2022) The anterior cingulate cortex directly enhances auditory cortical responses in air puffing-facilitated flight behavior. Cell Reports https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110506
  11. HM Feng, JF Su, W Fang, X Chen, JF He* The entorhinal cortex modulates trace fear memory formation and neuroplasticity in the mouse lateral amygdala via cholecystokinin. eLife https://elifesciences.org/articles/69333
  12. J Mi, JK Xu, Z Yao, H Yao, Y Li, X He, BY Dai, L Zou, WX Tong, XT Zhang, PJ Hu, YC Ruan, N Tang, X Guo, J Zhao*, JF He*, L Qin* (2021) Implantable Electrical Stimulation at Dorsal Root Ganglions Accelerates Osteoporotic Fracture Healing via Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide. Advanced Science https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202103005
  13. Gao L*, Zhang Y, Li X, He JF* (2020) Enhancement of Neuronal Activity in the Auditory Thalamus After Simulated Slow-Wave Oscillation. Neurosci Bull. 2020 Mar 21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12264-020-00487-6
  14. Zhang ZC, Zheng XJ, Peng YJ, Guo YP, Lu DY, Li X, Sun WJ, Tang P, He L, Li M, Liu Q, Xu FQ, Ng G, Chen X, He JF* (2020) Unconsciously Implanted Visuoauditory Memory in the Presence of Cholecystokinin Retrieved in Behavioral Contexts. The Journal of Neuroscience 40(10):2025-2037.
    https://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2020/01/23/JNEUROSCI.1673-19.2019
  15. Wang HT, Chen J, Xu X, Sun WJ, Chen X, Zhao F, Luo MH, Liu CH, Guo YP, Wen X, Zhong H, Bai TJ, Tian YH, Yu M, Ye CH, Tao WJ, Li J, Farzinpour Z, Li J, Zhou JN, Wang K, He JF, Chen L, Zhang Z(2019) Direct auditory cortical input to the lateral periaqueductal gray controls sound-driven defensive behavior. PLoS Biology 17(8): e3000417. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000417
  16. Chen X, Li X, Wong YT, Zheng XJ, Wang HT, Peng YJ, Feng HM, Feng JY, Baibado JT, Jesky R, Wang ZD, Xie H, Sun WJ, Zhang ZC, Zhang X, He L, Zhang N, Zhang ZJ, Tang P, Su JF, Hu LL, Liu Q, He XB, Tan AL, Sun X, Li M, Wong K, Wang XY, Cheung HY, Shum DKY, Yung KK, Chan YS, Tortorella M, Guo YP, Xu FQ, He JF* (2019) Cholecystokinin release triggered by NMDA receptors produces LTP and sound-sound associative memory, PNAS, 116 (13): 6397-6406. http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1816833116
  17. Zhang YM*, Wang YC, Guo YP, Liao JX, Tu ZC, Lu YZ, Ding K, Tortorella MD, He JF* (2019) Identification and synthesis of low-molecular weight cholecystokinin B receptor (CCKBR) agonists as mediators of long-term synaptic potentiation. Medicinal Chemistry Research (in press) https://rdcu.be/biizi
  18. Zhang GW, Sun WJ, Zingg B, Shen L, He J, Xiong Y, Tao HW, Zhang L (2018) A Non-canonical Reticular-Limbic Central Auditory Pathway via Medial Septum Contributes to Fear Conditioning. Neuron 97:406-417 http://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(17)31133-9
  19. Chan RW, Leong AT, Ho LC, Gao PP, Wong EC, Dong CM, Wang X, He J, Chan YS, Lim LW, Wu EX (2017) Low frequency hippocampal-cortical activity drives brain-wide resting-state functional MRI connectivity, PNAS, 114: E6972-6981. http://www.pnas.org/content/114/33/E6972.full
  20. Wang Y, Lin X, Chen X, Chen X, Xu Z, Zhang W, Liao Q, Duan X, Wang X, Liu M, Wang F, J He , P Shi (2017) Tetherless near-infrared control of brain activity in behaving animals using fully implantable upconversion microdevices, Biomaterials, 142, 136-148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2017.07.017
  21. Lin X, Wang Y, Chen X, Yang R, Wang Z, Feng JY, Wang HT, Lai KWC, He J, Wang F, Shi P (2017) Multiplexed Optogenetic Stimulation of Neurons with Spectrum-Selective Upconversion Nanoparticles, Advanced Healthcare Materials, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adhm.201700446/full
  22. Shen H, Chau DKP, Su J, Zeng LL, Jiang WX, He JF, Fan JT, Hu DW (2016) Brain responses to facial attractiveness induced by facial proportions: evidence from an fMRI study. Scientific Reports, 6:35905, DOI: 10.1038/srep35905, http://www.nature.com/articles/srep35905
  23. Wang HT, Hu LL, Liu CH, Su ZH, Wang LH, Pan GJ*, Guo YP*, He JF* (2016) 5-HT2 receptors mediate functional modulation of GABAa receptors and inhibitory synaptic transmissions in human iPS-derived neurons. Scientific Reports, 6: http://www.nature.com/articles/srep20033
    Highlighted in Neural Cell News http://www.neuralcellnews.com/issue/volume-10-04-feb-3/
  24. Chen X, ZL Liao, Huang YT, Guo YP, He JF* (2014) Time Course of the Dependence of Associative Memory Retrieval on the Entorhinal Cortex. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 116: 155–161, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1074742714001828#
  25. Li Y, Alam, He JF* (2104) “Electronic bypass of spinal lesions promotes recovery” Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 11:107 (1-12) http://www.jneuroengrehab.com/content/11/1/107
  26. Li X, Yu K, Zhang Z, Sun W, Yang Z, Feng J, Chen X, Liu C, Wang H, Guo Y, He J* (2014) Cholecystokinin from the Entorhinal Cortex Enables Neural Plasticity in the Auditory Cortex. Cell Research, 24:307-330. http://www.nature.com/cr/journal/v24/n3/pdf/cr2013164a.pdf
    Media coverage: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1429832/university-team-developing-drugs-could-suppress-and-enhance-memory; http://news.takungpao.com.hk/paper/q/2014/0218/2283432.html
  27. Chen X, Guo Y, Liao Z, Li X, Wang H, Li X, He J* (2013) Encoding and Retrieval of Artificial Visuo-Auditory Memory Traces in Auditory Cortex Needs Entorhinal Cortex. The Journal of Neuroscience 33:9963-9974.
  28. Wang LH, Wang LL, Huang WH, Su HX, Xue YT, Su ZH, Liao BJ, Wang HT, Bao XC, Qin DJ, He JF, Wu WT, So KF, Pan GJ, Pei DQ (2013) Generation of integration-free neural progenitor cells from cells in human urine. Nature Methods, 10:84-89. http://www.nature.com/nmeth/journal/v10/n1/full/nmeth.2283.html
    Highlighted by Nature News “Brain cells made from urine” http://www.nature.com/news/brain-cells-made-from-urine-1.11985
  29. Chan CCH, Wong AWK, Ting KH, Whitefield-Gabrieli S, He JF, Lee TMC (2012) Cross Auditory-Spatial Learning in Early Blind Individuals, Human Brain Mapping 33:2714-2727. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hbm.21395/full.
  30. Yu XJ, Xu XX, He SG*, He JF* (2009) Change detection by thalamic reticular neurons. Nature Neuroscience 12: 1165-1170 (Highlighted by Nature China: Cognitive neuroscience: Neurons for oddballs, http://www.nature.com/nchina/2009/090826/full/nchina.2009.170.html).
  31. Yu XJ, He SG, He JF* (2009) Dorsal Thalamus modulated by Thalamic Reticular Nucleus. Nature Protocols: http://www.natureprotocols.com/2009/10/22/dorsal_thalamus_modulated_by_t.php
  32. Gao L, Meng XK, Ye CQ, Liu CH, Dan Y, Poo MM, He JF*, Zhang XH* (2009) Entrainment of slow oscillations of auditory thalamic neurons by repetitive sound stimuli. The Journal of Neuroscience 29: 6013-6021.
  33. Sun X, Guo YP, Shum DKY, Chan YS, He JF* (2009) Time course of cortically induced fos expression in auditory thalamus and midbrain after bilateral cochlear ablation. Neuroscience 160: 186-197. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2009.02.020
  34. Yu XJ, Xu XX, Chen X, He SG, He JF* (2009) Slow recovery from excitation of thalamic reticular neurons Journal of Neurophysiology, 101: 980-987.
  35. Liu CH, Yu YQ, Xiong Y, Chan YS, He JF*: (2008) Sleep spindles are not generated in the thalamic reticular nucleus. Nature Proceedings, http://precedings.nature.com/documents/2313/version/1
  36. Zhang Z, Liu CH, Yu YQ, Fujimoto K, Chan YS, He JF* (2008) Corticofugal projection inhibits the auditory thalamus through the thalamic reticular nucleus. Journal of Neurophysiology 99: 2938-2945.
  37. Xu M, Liu CH, Xiong Y, He JF* (2007) Corticofugal modulation of the auditory thalamic reticular nucleus of the guinea pigs. The Journal of Physiology (London). 585: 15-28.
  38. Guo YP, Sun X, Li C, Wang NQ, Chan YS, He JF* (2007) c-fos expression in the auditory thalamus is triggered by corticofugal projections. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104:11802-11807.
  39. Sun X, Xia Q, Chan YS, He JF* (2007) Corticofugal Modulation on Acoustically Induced c-fos Expression in the Rat Auditory Pathway. The Journal of Comparative Neurology 501:509-525.
  40. Lansky P, Sanda P, He JF (2006) The parameters of the stochastic leaky integrate-and-fire neuronal model. Journal of Computational Neuroscience 21: 211-223.
  41. Yu YQ, Xiong Y, Chan YS, He JF* (2004) In vivo intracellular responses of the medial geniculate neurones to acoustic stimuli in anaesthetized guinea pigs. The Journal of Physiology (London) 560: 191-205.
  42. Xiong Y, Yu YQ, Chan YS, He JF* (2004) Effects of cortical stimulation on auditory-responsive thalamic neurones in anaesthetized guinea pigs. The Journal of Physiology (London) 560: 207-217.
  43. Yu YQ, Xiong Y, Chan YS, He JF* (2004) Corticofugal gating of auditory information in the thalamus: an in-vivo intracellular recording study. The Journal of Neuroscience 24: 3060-3069.
  44. He J* (2003) Slow oscillation in non-lemniscal auditory thalamus. The Journal of Neuroscience 23 (23): 8281-8290.
  45. He J* (2003) Corticofugal modulation on both ON and OFF responses in the nonlemniscal auditory thalamus of the guinea pigs. Journal of Neurophysiology 89, 367-381.
  46. Xiong Y, Yu YQ, Fujimoto K, YS Chan, *He J (2003) An in-vivo intracellular study of the auditory thalamic neurons, Thalamus and Related Systems 2: 253-260.
  47. He J* (2002) OFF responses in the auditory thalamus of guinea pig. Journal of Neurophysiology 88: 2377-2386.
  48. He J, *Hu B (2002) Differential Distribution of Burst and Single-Spike Responses in Auditory Thalamus. Journal of Neurophysiology 88: 2152-2156.
  49. He J*, Yu YQ, Xiong Y, Hashikawa T, Chan YS (2002) Modulatory effect of cortical activation on the leminiscal auditory thalamus of the guinea pig. Journal of Neurophysiology 88: 1040-105.
  50. He J* (2001) ON and OFF pathways segregated at the auditory thalamus of the guinea pig. The Journal of Neuroscience 21, 8672-8679.
  51. HE J*, Hashikawa T (1998) Connections of the dorsal zone of cat auditory cortex. The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 400, 334-348.
  52. HE J* (1998) Long-latency neurons in auditory cortex involved in temporal integration: theoretical analysis of experimental data. Hearing Research. 121, 147-160.
  53. *HE J (1997) Modulatory effects of regional cortical activation on the onset responses of the cat medial geniculate neurons. Journal of Neurophysiology. vol. 77, pp.896-908, 1997.
  54. *HE J, Hashikawa T, Ojima H, Kinouchi Y (1997) Temporal integration and duration tuning in the dorsal zone of cat auditory cortex. The Journal of Neuroscience. 17, 1615-1625.
  55. Kosaki H, Hashikawa T, HE J, *Jones EG (1997) Tonotopic Organization of auditory cortical fields delineated by parvalbumin immunoreactivity in Macaque monkeys. The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 386, pp.304-316.

Patents Filed

  1. He JF, Li Hao, Therapeutic Potential of CCK B receptor Agonists for Movement Disorder and Rehabilitation. 18/345,430 (US) (filed 30 June 2023)
  2. He JF, Zhou PP, Xiao ZJ, Chen Xi, A CCK-B RECEPTOR AGONIST FOR TREATING TINNITUS, US 63/437,436 (Filed on 6 Jan 2023)
  3. He JF, HE L, YANG YJ, REN JM: BRAIN DISEASE THERAPY ENHANCING INHIBITION OF GABAERGIC NEURONS. US 17/935,686 (Filed on 27 Sep 2022) (This invention has the potential to treat refractory epilepsy that does not respond to current drug treatments)
  4. He JF, HE L, SHI H, YANG YJ, ZHANG G, CHEN X, YOON E, LAU S: RECOMBINANT AAV VECTORS AND GENE THERAPIES FOR TREATING BRAIN DISEASES. US 17/935,698 (Filed on 27 Sep 2022)
  5. He JF, CHAN LLH, MALIK A, ZHENG XJ: Methods for treating amblyopia. US 18/162,927 (filed on 1 Feb 2023) 
  6. He JF, REN JM, ZHANG YJ, XIAO ZJ, YANG YJ, HE L, CHE LJ, YOON E, ZHANG MF, TORTORELLA M, VIDEO-BASED AUTOMATED RECOGNITION OF EPILEPTIC SEIZURE FROM RODENTS IN HOME CAGES. US 18/093,034 (Filed on 04 Jan 2023)
  7. Tortorella MD, He JF (2021) 一种多肽及其作为CCK受体激动剂/拮抗剂的作用(CN202111222161.1) (CAS-CotyU Collaboration) *
  8. Tortorella MD, He JF (2022) Polypeptide and application thereof as cck receptor agonist/antagonist. WO2023065716A1 (WIPO PCT/CN2022/102744, International application published with international search report)
  9. He JF, Zhang X, Feng HM, Zhang G, Xu SH, Hau S (2019) METHOD AND COMPOSITION FOR TREATING MENTAL DISORDER AND PAIN ASSOCIATED WITH NERVE DAMAGE. US 16/395,499; Granted 3/2022, US 11,285,161 B2;
  10. 贺菊方，张绪，冯鹤敏，张鸽，徐声辉，治療神經損傷相關的精神障礙和疼痛的药物组合物和用途，中国发明专利 CN111840300A，2024年1月29日授权
  11. He JF, Li X, Tan AL, Peng YJ, Xu SH, Yang YJ, Zhang Xu, Hossain M (2018) METHOD AND COMPOSITION FOR TREATING EPILEPSY.  Granted 1/2021, US 10,881,667 B2.
  12. He JF, Li X, Tan AL, Peng YJ, Xu SH, Yang YJ, Zhang Xu, Hossain M (2019) 一种治疗癫痫的方法及组合 (2019.10.16) CN113286595A
  13. He JF, GH Pan, J-F He, CCH Chan (2005) An electronic device for helping the vision-impaired to walk and identify obstacles. China Patent: ZL200520109184.1
  14. 张艳梅, 贺菊方 (He JF), 涂正超, 米琦·D·托特雷拉, 廖进喜, 郭宜平, 陆鑫, 关键通, 刘健齐, 覃筱楚, 陆永志, (2014) 苯甲酰胺类化合物及其应用 Benzamide compound and applications thereof (CN 104771386 A)
  15. He JF, Li X, Tan AL, Peng YJ, Xu SH, Yang YJ, Zhang Xu, Hossain M (2018) Cholecystokinin antagonists useful for treating epilepsy. US 16/174,842 (US)

Honours & Others

  1. Silver Award: The 33rd International Exhibition of Inventions, New Techniques and Products of Geneva, April 2005
  2. 自然科学基金委杰出青年基金（海外B类）2006. Joint Research Fund for Hong Kong and Macau Young Scholars, National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars
  3. Croucher Senior Research Fellowship (2009/2010)
  4. Chair, Gordon Research Conference on Neuroplasticity of Sensory Systems (2018) http://www.grc.org/programs.aspx?id=17735
  5. RGC Senior Research Fellow Award (2023/2024), University Grants Committee (UGC)

13 May 2024

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