Time：10:00-11:30 AM, Tuesday, Jan 25th, 2022

Zoom link：https://zoom.us/j/4802356426

Zoom number：4802356426

Host: Hongtao Yu, chair professor of School of Life Sciences, Westlake University

Speaker：

Dr. Qiufu Ma, professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Qiufu Ma received his BS from Fudan University in 1987 and PhD from UCLA in early 1994. After postdoctoral training with Dr. David Anderson at Caltech, he became an Assistant Professor at Harvard neurobiology Department and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and become a full Professor in 2011. His lab has been working on the somatic sensory circuits. Major contributions include the identification of key transcription factors controlling sensory cell type specification and circuit formation. In past 10 years, his lab has been using genetic tools to map spinal circuits transmitting pain or itch. Most recently, the lab starts to map circuits driving somato-autonomic reflexes, as a way to understand how acupuncture work.

Title: An anatomical basis for electroacupuncture to drive anti-inflammatory neural pathways

Abstract:

Until recently, the scientific basis behind acupuncture practice was still poorly understood. Since 2016, we started to map somatosensory-autonomic reflexes, as an entry point to study how acupuncture can distantly modulate body physiology. In 2020, we reported that electroacupuncture can drive distinct autonomic pathways in body region- and stimulation intensity-dependent manners. In 2021, we identified the somatosensory neurons required for acupuncture to drive the vagal-adrenal anti-inflammatory axis. The distribution of these nerves can precisely predict the effective and non-effective body regions for acupuncture to drive this pathway. As such, our studies provide a concrete neuroanatomical support for the presence of acupoint selectivity and specificity.

Contact:

Office of Research & External Collaboration

sci-tech@westlake.edu.cn