Wenbin Yang

Postdoc Researcher at UCalgary

Career

10/2024-present University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
Postdoc Researcher
08/2019-08/2024 University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Ph.D. in Neurobiology
09/2012-04/2019 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, China
M.S. in Biophysics (awarded in 04/2019) B.S. in Applied Physics (awarded in 07/2016)

Publication

2023 Yang, W., Pavão-Delgado, M., Warnecke, C., Çoban, B., Zattera, B., Felsenberg, J. Creating true and false memories from forgotten information in Drosophila (submitted)
2019 Yang, W., Meng, Y., Li, D., Wen, Q. Visual contrast modulates operant learning responses in larval zebrafish. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
2017 Cong, L., Wang, Z., Chai, Y., Hang, W., Shang, C., Yang, W., Bai, L., Du, J., Wang, K., and Wen, Q. Rapid whole brain imaging of neural activity in freely behaving larval zebrafish (Danio rerio). eLife

Research Experience

Phillips Lab, UCalgary, Advisor: Aaron Phillips
Project: First Author, Neurovascular coupling in spinal cord injury: a therapeutic target for early recovery
  • Two-photon imaging of blood flow and neural activities in the spinal cord
Felsenberg Lab, FMI, Advisor: Johannes Felsenberg
PhD Project: First Author, Creating true and false memories from forgotten information in Drosophila
  • Found distinct dopamine circuits for true and false memories
  • Designed and optimized behavioral experiments
  • Architected analysis pipelines for behavioral and imaging data in Python
Wen Lab, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Advisor: Quan Wen
Project I: First Author, Visual contrast modulates operant learning responses in larval zebrafish
  • Demonstrated that increasing visual contrast of the conditioned stimuli enhances learning efficiency
  • Designed a novel operant learning paradigm and independently built up the behavioral setup
  • Designed hardware controlling software BLITZ (C++) and data analysis software ABLITZER (MATLAB)
  • Mentored three undergraduate students during the project development
Project II: Contributor, Rapid whole brain imaging of neural activity in freely behaving larval zebrafish
  • Extracted behavioral features from raw videos using custom MATLAB image processing code
  • Tested the robustness of the tracking system
Project III: (with Zhou Lab,) Main Contributor, Modeling distraction in human decision-making
  • Designed behavioral experiments for human subjects
  • Automated experimental procedure with MATLAB
  • Analyzed human responses with statistical models and time series analysis
Engert Lab, Harvard University, Advisor: Florian Engert
Project I: Contributor, Investigated on larval zebrafish hunger behavior
  • Conducted experiments and learned methodologies in behavioral neuroscience
  • Performed correlations analysis on behavioral data, visualized the results with custom MATLAB code
Laurent Lab, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Advisor: Gilles Laurent, Mark Shein-Idelson
Bachelor thesis project: Main Contributor, Predicting local field potentials in turtle cortex: a morphology-based model
  • Crafted a prediction model in Python for local field potentials in the three-layer cortex
  • Furthered the project's efficiency by designing a parallel computing pipeline
  • Reproduced experimental results, validating the accuracy and utility of the developed model

Workshops and Training

01/2024 Eyes High Postdoc Fellowship, Calgary, Canada
12/2023 Google data analytics certificate, Google, online
08/2023 SQL for Data Science, Coursera Course, online
06/2022 Neurotechnology NIN summer school, Amsterdam, Netherlands
11/2021 Fundamentals of Graphic Design, Coursera Course, online
10/2021 Experimental neuroscience Cajal bootcamp, Cajal Course, online
10/2018 Specialization: Machine learning with TensorFlow on Google Cloud Platform, Google, online
08/2016 Data Structures, Coursera Course, online
09/2012-09/2016 Cyrus Tang ScholarShip, USTC, China

Academic Conferences

06/2023 Speaker, Mushroom Body Meeting, Göttingen, Germany
03/2023 Speaker, German Neuroscience Society Conference, Göttingen, Germany
09/2022 Speaker, FMI Annual Meeting, Grindelwald, Switzerland
12/2018 Poster Presenter, 5th Imaging Structure and Function in the Zebrafish Brain Conference, Brighton, United Kingdom
10/2018 Poster Presenter, Advances in Optical Imaging of Living Cells & Organisms, Cold Spring Harbor Asia, Suzhou, China

References

Aaron Phillips
Postdoc advisor, Associate Professor, UCalgary
aaron.phillips@ucalgary.ca
Johannes Felsenberg
PhD advisor, Group Leader, FMI Basel
johannes.felsenberg@fmi.ch
Florian Engert
Internship advisor, Professor, Harvard University
florian@mcb.harvard.edu
Wen Quan
Master advisor, Professor, USTC China
qwen@ustc.edu.cn
Gilles Laurent
Bachelor thesis advisor, Professor, MPI for Brain Research
anita.wagner@brain.mpg.de