Current Members

Dr. Jing Ren

Jing pursued her Ph.D under the supervision of Dr. Minmin Luo, at the National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing (NIBS). She was awarded the Ray Wu prize in 2011. Her study revealed that neurons previously characterized as “cholinergic” in the medial habenula (MHb) co released two classical neurotransmitters, glutamate and acetylcholine, and activate postsynaptic neurons via distinct transmission modes. This work, together with the findings of glutamate co-release with other classical neurotransmitters, redefined the influential Dale’s principle that a neuron releases only one classical, nonpeptide transmitter.

After that, Jing did postdoctoral research in Dr. Liqun Luo’s lab at Stanford University and started the journey of investigating the serotonin system. She has revealed that the dorsal raphe and median raphe contains parallel serotonin sub-systems, which lays the foundation for integrating anatomical, neurochemical, physiological, and behavioural functions of the serotonin system.

Jing became a junior group leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in January 2020.

“I have been obsessed with the neurobiological basis of psychology since I was a teenager. I will dedicate my career to reveal the neurobiological basis of how we perceive the emotions of ours and others.”