CV
Wenbin Yang, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
Email: wenbin.yang@ucalgary.ca | Web: young24.github.io
ORCID: 0000-0003-3100-5202
Positions
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow — Phillips Lab, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada — 2024–present (Supervisor: Aaron Phillips (Associate Professor, Physiology & Pharmacology))
- Ph.D. Researcher — Felsenberg Lab, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland — 2019–2024
- Research Intern — Engert Lab, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA — 2017–2017 (Summer 2017)
- Research Intern (Bachelor Thesis) — Laurent Lab, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany — 2016–2016
Education
- Ph.D. in Neurobiology — University of Basel / Friedrich Miescher Institute (FMI), Basel, Switzerland — 2019–2024 (Supervisor: Johannes Felsenberg (Group Leader, FMI)) (Thesis: Creating true and false memories from forgotten information in Drosophila)
- M.S. in Biophysics — University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, China — 2016–2019 (Supervisor: Quan Wen)
- B.S. in Applied Physics — University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, China — 2012–2016
Publications
- Yang, W., et al., (2026). Creating true and false memories from forgotten information in Drosophila. Nature Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-026-02381-2
- Yang, W., et al. (2026). Validating the ADFSCI hypotension symptom domain as a scalable patient-reported outcome measure in spinal cord injury https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-026-02841-w
- Yang, W., Meng, Y., Li, D., & Wen, Q. (2019). Visual contrast modulates operant learning responses in larval zebrafish. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 13, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00004
- Cong, L., Wang, Z., Chai, Y., Hang, W., Shang, C., Yang, W., … & Wen, Q. (2017). Rapid whole brain imaging of neural activity in freely behaving larval zebrafish (Danio rerio). Elife, 6, e28158. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.28158
Grants & Fellowships
- 2026–2028, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Postdoctoral Fellowship Recipient, $140,000 CAD ($70,000/yr x 2 yr)
- 2024–2026, University of Calgary Eyes High Postdoctoral Fellowship Recipient, $50,000 CAD
- 2019–2024, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) PhD Fellowship Recipient, ~250,000 CHF
- 2019, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) International Communication Scholarship Recipient, €3,200
- 2016–2019, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) Excellence Scholarship for Graduate Students Recipient, ¥72,000
- 2012–2016, USTC / Cyrus Tang Foundation Cyrus Tang Scholarship Recipient, ¥16,000
Awards
- Libin Publication Award, Libin Cardiovascular Institute (2026)
- Best Presentation Award, FMI Annual Meeting (2022)
- Gold Medal, China Undergraduate Physics Tournament (CUPT), China Undergraduate Physics Tournament (national) (2017)
- Bronze Medal, China Undergraduate Physics Tournament (CUPT), China Undergraduate Physics Tournament (national) (2016)
Conference Presentations
- Yang, W. 19th Canadian Neuroscience Meeting (CAN 2026), Montréal, QC, Canada. 2026-05. (Poster)
- Yang, W. Brain-spine interface stabilizes hemodynamics after spinal cord injury. 11th International BCI Meeting, Banff, AB, Canada. 2025. (Invited)
- Yang, W. Creating true and false memories from forgotten information. German Neuroscience Society (NWG) Conference, Göttingen, Germany. 2023. (Invited)
- Yang, W. Creating true and false memories from forgotten information. Cold Spring Harbor Meeting: Neurobiology of Drosophila, New York, NY, USA. 2023. (Invited)
- Yang, W. Creating true and false memories from forgotten information. Mushroom Body Meeting, Göttingen, Germany. 2023. (Contributed Oral)
- Yang, W. Creating true and false memories from forgotten information. FMI Annual Meeting, Grindelwald, Switzerland. 2022. (Contributed Oral; Won Best Presentation Award – see awards.yml)
- Yang, W. 5th Imaging Structure and Function in the Zebrafish Brain Conference, Brighton, UK. 2018. (Poster)
- Yang, W. Advances in Optical Imaging of Living Cells & Organisms, Cold Spring Harbor Asia, Suzhou, China. 2018. (Poster)
Teaching
- Teaching Assistant, Computational Neuroscience, University of Science and Technology of China — 2016–2017
- Workshop Lecturer, Computational Methods for Neuroscience, University of Basel — Fall 2023 (10 students)
Student Supervision & Mentorship
- Omar Hassan (University of Calgary, 2022–2026) — AI-based automated motor recovery assessment after SCI.
- Daniel Choi (University of Calgary, 2024–2028) — AI-based automated motor recovery assessment after SCI.
- Danyang Li (University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), 2016–2020) — High-throughput operant conditioning in larval zebrafish. Undergraduate thesis resulted in a peer-reviewed publication (Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 2019) – see publications.bib:yang2019zebrafish
- 3 undergraduate students, USTC Wen Lab (group mentoring) (University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), 2016–2019) — Behavioral neuroscience experimental design and data analysis.
- 2 undergraduate students, Phillips Lab UCalgary (group mentoring) (University of Calgary, 2025) — SCI behavioral protocols, locomotor assessment, and AI-based analysis pipelines.
Professional Service
- Reviewer for 2026 for CIHR CGRS fellowship application internal review
- Founder, CUPT Selection Process, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) (2017) Founded the university’s first formal selection process for the China Undergraduate Physics Tournament (CUPT) team, replacing ad hoc team assembly; the system remained in institutional use as of the source CV’s writing. Coached the selected team to a gold medal (national) – see awards.yml.
Professional Affiliations
- Society for Neuroscience (SfN) (2017–2018)
- Canadian Association for Neuroscience (CAN)
- Swiss Society for Neuroscience (SNN)
Advanced Training
- Neurotechnology NIN Summer School, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam — 2022
- Experimental Neuroscience Cajal Bootcamp — 2021
Reference
Aaron Phillips, Ph.D. — Associate Professor, Physiology & Pharmacology, University of Calgary aaron.phillips@ucalgary.ca (postdoctoral supervisor)
Johannes Felsenberg, Ph.D. — Group Leader, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel johannes.felsenberg@fmi.ch (doctoral supervisor)
Florian Engert, Ph.D. — Professor, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Harvard University florian@mcb.harvard.edu
Quan Wen, Ph.D. — Professor, University of Science and Technology of China qwen@ustc.edu.cn (M.S. supervisor)
Gilles Laurent, Ph.D. — Director & Professor, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany gl@brain.mpg.de (B.S. thesis supervisor)