Guoping Feng, PhD
Investigator, Poitras Chair Professor of Neuroscience
McGovern Institute for Brain Research
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT
Director of Model Systems and Neurobiology
Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research
Institute Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Email: fengg@mit.edu
Lab Website: https://fenglaboratory.org/guoping-feng/

Located at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the Feng laboratory focuses on the development of synapses and circuitry and their disruption in brain disorders. Using molecular genetics combined with behavioral and electrophysiological methods, the lab seeks to understand how disruptions in these components can contribute to psychiatric disorders. We hope that understanding the molecular, cellular, and circuitry underpinnings of behaviors and psychiatric disorders will eventually lead to the development of novel, effective treatments.

For the Research Core of the Conte grant, he will generate and provide both mouse and marmoset ASD models as well as cell type-specific genetic tools for studying neurobiological mechanisms of ASD. He will also facilitate the neurophysiological and behavioral characterization of these models.

About Professor Feng
Dr. Feng is the Poitras Chair Professor of Neuroscience in the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also an Institute Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the Director of Model Systems and Neurobiology at the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at Broad Institute. Dr. Feng’s research is devoted to understanding the mechanisms regulating the development and function of synapses in the brain and how synaptic dysfunction may contribute to psychiatric disorders.  Using genetically engineered animal models, Dr. Feng’s laboratory combines cutting-edge technologies and multidisciplinary approaches to unravel the neurobiological mechanisms of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders.

Dr. Feng studied medicine at Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou, China.  He did his Ph.D. training with Linda Hall at the State University of New York at Buffalo and postdoctoral training with Joshua Sanes at Washington University in St. Louis.  Prior to joining the faculty at MIT, he was a faculty member in the Department of Neurobiology, Duke University School of Medicine.  

Recent Publications

Efficient embryonic homozygous gene conversion via RAD51-enhanced interhomolog repair.
Wilde JJ, Aida T, Del Rosario RCH, Kaiser T, Qi P, Wienisch M, Zhang Q, Colvin S, Feng G.
Cell. 2021 Jun 10;184(12):3267-3280.e18. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.04.035. Epub 2021 May 26.

The dawn of non-human primate models for neurodevelopmental disorders.
Aida T, Feng G.
Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2020 Dec;65:160-168. doi: 10.1016/j.gde.2020.05.040. Epub 2020 Jul 18.

An Ultra-Sensitive Step-Function Opsin for Minimally Invasive Optogenetic Stimulation in Mice and Macaques.
Gong X, Mendoza-Halliday D, Ting JT, Kaiser T, Sun X, Bastos AM, Wimmer RD, Guo B, Chen Q, Zhou Y, Pruner M, Wu CW, Park D, Deisseroth K, Barak B, Boyden ES, Miller EK, Halassa MM, Fu Z, Bi G, Desimone R, Feng G.
Neuron. 2020 Jul 8;107(1):38-51.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.03.032.

Opportunities and limitations of genetically modified nonhuman primate models for neuroscience research.
Feng G, Jensen FE, Greely HT, Okano H, Treue S, Roberts AC, Fox JG, Caddick S, Poo MM, Newsome WT, Morrison JH.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Sep 29;117(39):24022-24031. doi: 10.1073/pnas.200651511

Dysfunction of cortical GABAergic neurons leads to sensory hyper-reactivity in a Shank3 mouse model of ASD.
Chen Q, Deister CA, Gao X, Guo B, Lynn-Jones T, Chen N, Wells MF, Liu R, Goard MJ, Dimidschstein J, Feng S, Shi Y, Liao W, Lu Z, Fishell G, Moore CI, Feng G.
Nat Neurosci. 2020 Apr;23(4):520-532. doi: 10.1038/s41593-020-0598-6.

Distinct subnetworks of the thalamic reticular nucleus.
Li Y, Lopez-Huerta VG, Adiconis X, Levandowski K, Choi S, Simmons SK, Arias-Garcia MA, Guo B, Yao AY, Blosser TR, Wimmer RD, Aida T, Atamian A, Naik T, Sun X, Bi D, Malhotra D, Hession CC, Shema R, Gomes M, Li T, Hwang E, Krol A, Kowalczyk M, Peça J, Pan G, Halassa MM, Levin JZ, Fu Z, Feng G.
Nature. 2020 Jul;583(7818):819-824. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2504-5.

Innovations present in the primate interneuron repertoire.
Krienen FM, Goldman M, Zhang Q, C H Del Rosario R, Florio M, Machold R, Saunders A, Levandowski K, Zaniewski H, Schuman B, Wu C, Lutservitz A, Mullally CD, Reed N, Bien E, Bortolin L, Fernandez-Otero M, Lin JD, Wysoker A, Nemesh J, Kulp D, Burns M, Tkachev V, Smith R, Walsh CA, Dimidschstein J, Rudy B, S Kean L, Berretta S, Fishell G, Feng G, McCarroll SA.
Nature. 2020 Oct;586(7828):262-269. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2781-z.

Targeting Peripheral Somatosensory Neurons to Improve Tactile-Related Phenotypes in ASD Models.
Orefice LL, Mosko JR, Morency DT, Wells MF, Tasnim A, Mozeika SM, Ye M, Chirila AM, Emanuel AJ, Rankin G, Fame RM, Lehtinen MK, Feng G, Ginty DD.
Cell. 2019 Aug 8;178(4):867-886.e24. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.07.024.

Anterior cingulate cortex dysfunction underlies social deficits in Shank3 mutant mice.
Guo B, Chen J, Chen Q, Ren K, Feng D, Mao H, Yao H, Yang J, Liu H, Liu Y, Jia F, Qi C, Lynn-Jones T, Hu H, Fu Z, Feng G, Wang W, Wu S.
Nat Neurosci. 2019 Aug;22(8):1223-1234. doi: 10.1038/s41593-019-0445-9.

Striatopallidal dysfunction underlies repetitive behavior in Shank3-deficient model of autism
Wang W, Li C, Chen Q, van der Goes MS, Hawrot J, Yao AY, Gao X, Lu C, Zang Y, Zhang Q, Lyman K, Wang D, Guo B, Wu S, Gerfen CR, Fu Z and Feng G. 
The Journal of clinical investigation. May 2017, 127(5):1978-1990, doi: 10.1172/JCI87997.

SHANK proteins: roles at the synapse and in autism spectrum disorder
Monteiro P and Feng G. 
Nature Reviews Neuroscience. Mar 2017, 18(3):147-157, doi: 10.1038/nrn.2016.183.

Chd8 mutation leads to autistic-like behaviors and impaired striatal circuits
Platt RJ, Zhou Y, Slaymaker IM, Shetty AS, Weisbach NR, Kim JA, Sharma J, Desai M, Sood S, Kempton HR, Crabtree GR, Feng G and Zhang F. 
Cell Reports. Apr 2017, 19(2):335-350, doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.03.052.

Animal models for neuropsychiatric disorders: prospects for circuit intervention
Kaiser T, Zhou Y and Feng G. 
Current Opinion in Neurobiology. Apr 2017, 45:59-65, doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2017.03.010. 

A viral strategy for targeting and manipulating interneurons across vertebrate species
Dimidschstein J, Chen Q, Tremblay R, Rogers SL, Saldi GA, Guo L, Xu Q, Liu R, Lu C, Chu J, Grimley JS, Krostag AR, Kaykas A, Avery MC, Rashid MS, Baek M, Jacob AL, Smith GB, Wilson DE, Kosche G, Kruglikov I, Rusielewicz T, Kotak VC, Mowery TM, Anderson SA, Callaway EM, Dasen JS, Fitzpatrick D, Fossati V, Long MA, Noggle S, Reynolds JH, Sanes DH, Rudy B, Feng G, Fishell G. 
Nature Neuroscience. Dec 2016, 19(12):1743-1749, doi: 10.1038/nn.4430

Decreased Anxiety-Related Behaviour but Apparently Unperturbed NUMB Function in Ligand of NUMB Protein-X (LNX) 1/2 Double Knockout Mice
Lenihan JA, Saha O, Heimer-McGinn V, Cryan JF, Feng G and Young PW. 
Molecular Neurobiology. Nov 2016, doi: 10.1007/s12035-016-0261-0.

Direct modulation of GFAP-expressing glia in the arcuate nucleus bi-directionally regulates feeding
Chen N, Sugihara H, Kim J, Fu Z, Barak B, Sur M, Feng G and Han W. 
Molecular Neurobiology. Oct 2016;5. pii: e18716, doi: 10.7554/eLife.18716.

Opportunities and challenges in modeling human brain disorders in transgenic primates
Jennings CG, Landman R, Zhou Y, Sharma J, Hyman J, Movshon JA, Qiu Z, Roberts AC, Roe AW, Wang X, Zhou H, Wang L, Zhang F, Desimone R and Feng G. 
Nature Neuroscience. Aug 2016, 19(9):1123-30, doi: 10.1038/nn.4362.

Central Mechanisms Mediating Thrombospondin-4-induced Pain StatesAdult restoration of Shank3 expression rescues selective autistic-like phenotypes
Park J, Yu YP, Zhou CY, Li KW, Wang D, Chang E, Kim DS, Vo B, Zhang X, Gong N, Sharp K, Steward O, Vitko I, Perez-Reyes E, Eroglu C, Barres B, Zaucke F, Feng G and Luo ZD. 
The Journal of Biological Chemistry. Jun 2016, 291(25):13335-48, doi: 10.1074/jbc.M116.723478.

Optogenetic visualization of presynaptic tonic inhibition of cerebellar parallel fibers
Berglund K, Wen L, Dunbar RL, Feng G and Augustine GJ. 
The Journal of Neuroscience. May 2016, 36(21):5709-23, doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4366-15.2016.

Efficient production of cynomolgus monkeys with a toolbox of enhanced assisted reproductive technologies
Ma Y, Li J, Wang G, Ke Q, Qiu S, Gao L, Wan H, Zhou Y, Xiang AP, Huang Q, Feng G, Zhou Q and Yang S. 
Scientific Reports. May 2016, 6:25888, doi: 10.1038/srep25888

Neurobiology of social behavior abnormalities in autism and Williams syndrome
Barak B and Feng G. 
Nature Neuroscience. Apr 2016, 19(6):647-55, doi: 10.1038/nn.4276.

Thalamic reticular impairment underlies attention deficit in Ptchd1(Y/-) mice
Wells MF, Wimmer RD, Schmitt LI, Feng G and Halassa MM. 
Nature. Apr 2016; 532(7597):58-63, doi: 10.1038/nature17427

Optogenetic dissection of ictal propagation in the hippocampal-entorhinal cortex structures
Lu Y, Zhong C, Wang L, Wei P, He W, Huang K, Zhang Y, Zhan Y, Feng G and Wang L. 
Nature Communications. Mar 2016, 7:10962. doi: 10.1038/ncomms10962.

Adult restoration of Shank3 expression rescues selective autistic-like phenotypes
Mei Y, Monteiro P, Zhou Y, Kim JA, Gao X, Fu Z and Feng G. 
Nature. Feb 2016, 530(7591):481-4, doi: 10.1038/nature16971.

Impaired dendritic development and memory in Sorbs2 knock-out mice
Zhang Q, Gao X, Li C, Feliciano C, Wang D, Zhou D, Mei Y, Monteiro P, Anand M, Itohara S, Dong X, Fu Z and Feng G. 
The Journal of Neuroscience. Feb 2016, 36(7):2247-60, doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2528-15.2016.

Mice with Shank3 mutations associated with ASD and schizophrenia display both shared and distinct defects
Zhou Y, Kaiser T, Monteiro P, Zhang X, Van der Goes MS, Wang D, Barak B, Zeng M, Li C, Lu C, Wells M, Amaya A, Nguyen S, Lewis M, Sanjana N, Zhou Y, Zhang M, Zhang F, Fu Z and Feng G. 
Neuron. Jan 2016, 89(1):147-62, doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.11.023.

Striatal magnetic resonance spectroscopy abnormalities in young adult SAPAP3 knockout mice
Mintzopoulos D, Gillis TE, Robertson HR, Dalia T, Feng G, Rauch SL and Kaufman MJ. 
Biological Psychiatry Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. Jan 2016, 1(1):39-48, doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2015.10.001.

Learning from animal models of obsessive-compulsive disorder
Monteiro P and Feng G.
Biological Psychiatry. Jan 2016, 79(1):7-16, doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.04.020

Modeling psychiatric disorders for developing effective treatments
Kaiser T and Feng G. 
Nature Medicine. Sep 2015, 21(9):979-88, doi: 10.1038/nm.3935.

CRISPR germline engineering–the community speaks
Bosley KS, Botchan M, Bredenoord AL, Carroll D, Charo RA, Charpentier E, Cohen R, Corn J, Doudna J, Feng G, Greely HT, Isasi R, Ji W, Kim JS, Knoppers B, Lanphier E, Li J, Lovell-Badge R, Martin GS, Moreno J, Naldini L, Pera M, Perry AC, Venter JC, Zhang F and Zhou Q.
Nature Biotechnology. May 2015, 33(5):478-86, doi: 10.1038/nbt.3227.

Striatal circuits, habits, and implications for obsessive-compulsive disorder
Burguière E, Monteiro P, Mallet L, Feng G and Graybiel AM. 
Current Opinion in Neurobiology. Feb 2015, 30:59-65, doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2014.08.008.