Xiaoqin Wang, Ph.D.

Professor and Director of Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence

Research-at-a-glance:

Auditory neuroscience

Neural engineering

Affiliations:

Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence (THBI)

School of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University

Biography:

Dr. Xiaoqin Wang       received his B.S. in electrical engineering from Sichuan University in 1984, M.S.E. in electrical engineering and computer science from University of Michigan in 1986, and Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in 1991. He conducted postdoctoral research in somatosensory and auditory neuroscience at University of California, San Francisco (1991-1995). Dr. Wang has been a faculty member of Biomedical Engineering Department at the Johns Hopkins University since 1995. He has served as the director of Tsinghua-Johns Hopkins Joint Center for Biomedical Engineering Research since 2008 and was appointed (part-time) Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tsinghua University in 2010, and Director of Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence in  2017.

Research:

Dr. Wang’s research is in the areas of auditory neuroscience and neural engineering. His work has focused on the understanding of the structure and functions of the auditory cortex and the neural basis of vocal communication. His laboratory has developed a unique experimental model, a highly vocal New World primate - the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus). Using this model system, Dr. Wang’s lab has systematically studied neural coding properties of the auditory cortex in awake and behaving conditions, revealed specialized cortical representations of complex sound features such as pitch and harmonicity and discovered neural mechanisms involved in vocal feedback control and self-monitoring during speaking. Using wireless neural recording techniques in freely roaming marmosets, Dr. Wang’s laboratory has been studying neural mechanisms underlying cortical processing of vocal communication signals in both normal and hearing-impaired conditions. More recently, Dr. Wang has focused on studying neural mechanisms for music processing.

Research Areas:

Understanding of the structure and functions of the auditory cortex and the neural basis of vocal communication; neural mechanisms for music processing

Honors & Awards:

2013 Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)

1999 U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)

Selected Publications:

[1] Osmanski M. S. and X. Wang. Perceptual specializations for processing species-specific vocalizations in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus).      Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 120 (24) e2221756120 (2023).

[2] Song, X., Guo, Y., Li, H., Chen, C., Lee, J.H., Zhang, Y., Schmidt, Z., Wang, X. Mesoscopic landscape of cortical functions revealed by through-skull wide-field optical imaging in marmoset monkeys.      Nature Communications 13, 2238 (2022).

[3] Zhang Y, Ding Y, Huang J, Zhou WJ, Ling ZP, Hong B, Wang XQ. Hierarchical cortical networks of “voice patches” for processing voices in human brain.      Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 118 (52) e2113887118 (2021).

[4] Ding Y, Zhang Y, Zhou W, Ling Z, Huang J, Hong B, Wang X. (2019) Neural Correlates of Music Listening and Recall in the Human Brain.      J Neurosci. 39: 8112-8123.

[5] Zhang Y, Zhou W, Wang S, Zhou Q, Wang H, Zhang B, Huang J, Hong B, Wang X.  (2019) The Roles of Subdivisions of Human Insula in Emotion Perception and Auditory Processing.      Cerebral Cortex 29(2): 517-528.

[6] Feng, L. and Wang, X. (2017) Harmonic template neurons in primate auditory cortex underlying complex sound processing.      Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 114 (5) E840-E848.

[7] Song, X., Osmanski, M. S., Guo, Y., & Wang, X. Complex pitch perception mechanisms are shared by humans and a New World monkey.      Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 113(3):781-6 (2016)

[8] Eliades, S.J. and X. Wang. (2008) Neural Substrates of Vocalization Feedback Monitoring in Primate Auditory Cortex.      Nature 453: 1102-1106.

[9] Bendor, D. A. and X. Wang. (2005) The neuronal representation of pitch in primate auditory cortex.      Nature 436:1161-1165.

[10] Wang, X., T. Lu, R.K. Snider and L. Liang. (2005) Sustained firing in auditory cortex evoked by preferred stimuli.      Nature 435: 341-346.

Contact:

Address: No. 160, Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China, 100084 Office: +86-10-62783675Email: xiaoqinwang@tsinghua.edu.cn