Neuroscience’s Qian Sun seeks to further understanding of brain region involved in many neuropsychiatric disorders
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosciences, School of Medicine
Area of Focus: Hippocampus
Editor’s note: Jasmine Vo, the author of this story, is a student employee in the University Marketing and Communications department. She is a fourth-year student majoring in communication sciences.
Neuroscientist Qian Sun, PhD is fascinated by the hippocampus—a brain area involved in memory formation, spatial navigation, and learning.
“Right now, our priority is understanding the hippocampus's activities and function,” said Sun, assistant professor in the Department of Neurosciences at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. “That knowledge will serve as the foundation for investigating related diseases.”
The Sun Lab is interested in the interactions between the hippocampus and other brain areas and among its sub-regions. The reason, Sun explained, is that the hippocampus does not function in isolation but also in collaboration with other brain areas. Understanding the activities of the hippocampus’s subregions and their connection to other brain areas will provide a better picture of its contribution to brain function.
A key player in the hippocampus is the Cornu Ammonis 3 (CA3). This is a distinct region in the hippocampus that plays a vital role in memory storage and retrieval from incomplete cues. A deficit in the CA3 area is shown to be linked with many neuropsychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and epilepsy.
“The Cornu Ammonis 3 (CA3), however, is relatively understudied compared to other regions of the hippocampus,” Sun said.
Sun also hypothesized that the interaction between the CA3 and other brain regions, such as the amygdala, septum, and the supramammillary nucleus, would contribute significantly to the formation of memory. The research may explain how damage in CA3 is associated with PTSD, depression, or chronic stress.
Sun’s lab is one of the few laboratories in the United States that can perform patch clamp recording on CA3 pyramidal neurons in brain slices, a technique in neuroscience research that measures the electrical activity in living brain cells. Since the hippocampus is organized into discrete subregions, electrophysiology provides a means to examine cells' activity across these regions and study their communication.
Sun first developed his interest in the brain while training as a doctor. Curiosity has motivated him to pursue and persist in the academic field—traits he also wants to impart to his students.
The neuroscientist is actively involved in the training of both undergraduate and graduate students through his lab. His approach to mentorship is encouraging students to publish their work during their training.
“Even when this is a high aim, students will learn and polish most of the skills useful for research when preparing to publish in a scientific journal,” said Sun.
Sometimes that learning comes from negative results, said Sun, who started his research career in 2004. Reflecting on his time as a PhD student, Sun doesn’t view negative research results as a loss but a lesson. He encourages his students to do the same.
“In the research process, you learn many things, even with the negative results: reading the literature, writing, presenting, conducting experiments, communicating with other people, and operating as a troubleshooter,” said Sun. “These also come with challenges that you really need to be passionate about research to overcome.”
