Gender	Male
E-mail	youping.xiao@mssm.edu
Education and Training	Ph.D., University of Texas, Graduate School of Biomedical Science at Houston

Education and Training	Ph.D., University of Texas, Graduate School of Biomedical Science at Houston

Research Interests

- Neural mechanism of color vision

- Neural circuitry of visual cortices

- Encoding, decoding, and processing of information by mammalian visual system

- Function of connections between various parts of visual system

- Advanced techniques of brain image analysis

- Application of brain imaging and multi-channel electrode recording to the study of neurological diseases

The primate visual system is composed of more than 30 cortical areas and sub-cortical structures.  Each cortical area and sub-cortical structure in turn comprises multiple layers. It is one of the most challenging questions in neuroscience that how this multi-stage system processes information received by the eyes and produces our visual perception. My laboratory tackles this question by studying the neural mechanism of color vision.

 

Our precious work with optical imaging of intrinsic signal found that color is represented by spatially organized maps in the secondary visual area (V2). Within each map, different colors activate overlapping but spatially shifted regions, and the spatial shift is correlated with perceptual shift of the stimuli (Xiao et al, Nature, 2003). Recently, we found similar color maps in the primary visual area (V1) at a much smaller scale (Xiao et al, NeuroImage, 2007). Using 64-channel electrode recoding system and information-theory based analysis, we are currently addressing how the multi-layer circuit in V1 constructs the color maps, what features are added to color maps in V2 relative to those in V1, and how the addition or refinery is accomplished by the circuit in V2. Answers to these questions are critical for the understanding of function of different areas and layers, which in turn is important for diagnosis and treatment of cortical deficits and the development of neural prosthesis.

 

My laboratory is also interested in applying techniques of cortical imaging (intrinsic signal, voltage sensitive dye) and multi-channel electrode recording to the study of neurophysiologic changes that contribute to neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia.

Xiao Y, Rao R, Cecchi G, Kaplan E. Improved mapping of information distribution across the cortical surface with the Support Vector Machine. Neural Network 2008; 21(2-3): 341-348.

Casti A, Hayot F, Xiao Y, Kaplan E. A simple model of retina-LGN transmission. The JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE 2008; 24(2): 235-252.

Xiao Y, Rao R, Cecchi G, Kaplan E. Cortical representation of information about visual attributes: one network or many?. Proceedings of International Joint Conference of Neural Network 2007;: 1785-1789.

Xiao Y, Casti A, Xiao J, Kaplan E. Hue maps in primate striate cortex. NeuroImage 2007; 35: 771-786.

Wang Y, Xiao Y, Felleman DJ. V2 Thin Stripes Contain Spatially Organized Representations of Achromatic Luminance Change. Cerebral Cortex 2007; 17(1): 116-129.

Xiao Y, Felleman DJ. Projections from Primary Visual Cortex to Cytochrome Oxidase Thin Stripes and Interstripes of Macaque Visual Area 2. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2004; 101: 7147-7151.

Xiao Y, Wang Y, Felleman DJ. A spatially organized representation of color in macaque area V2. Nature 2003; 421: 535-539.

Xiao Y, Felleman DJ. Segregation and convergence of projections from functionally identified V2 stripes to V4 in Macaques. Cerebral Cortex 1999; 9: 792-804.

Felleman DJ, Xiao Y, McClendon E. Modular organization of occipito-temporal pathway: cortical connections between visual area 4 and visual area 2 and posterior inferotemporal ventral area in macaque monkeys. The Journal of Neuroscience 1997; 17: 3185-3200.

Wang JJ, Xiao YP, Dong MR, Zhang J, Chen J, Yu QX. Stimulation of the dorsal raphe nucleus induced depressive effect on cerebellar Purkinje cell responses to mossy and climbing fiber afferent input in rat. Acta Physiologica Sinica 1991; 43(6): 519-529.