Jun Lu Laboratory

Jun Lu, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Neurology, working on identifying pathways and neurotransmitters involved in sleep state switching, as well as the long-term behavioral effects of sleep disruption.

Education 
Forth Military Medical University (China) MD 1984 
Institute of Space Medico-Engineering (China) MS 1988 
Texas A & M University PhD 1994

Current research interests: 
1. Circadian control of sleep-wake cycle and body temperature. I am particularly interested in circadian outflow from the suprachiasmatic nucleus to the subparaventricular zone and the dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus in regulating locomotion, sleep, the body temperature and endocrine system.

2. Dopamine control of arousal. Identification of wake-active dopaminergic cells in the PAG, their connectivity. I am also examining whether the PAG dopaminergic cells mediate arousal induced by dopamine transporter such as (amphetamine) and if these dopaminergic neurons are degenerated in Parkinson's disease.

3. Sleep-wake and analgesic mechanism underlying general anesthetics (GABA agonist and NMDA antagonist). Collaborating with our collages in Denmark and England, we have been investigating how anesthetics control sleep-wake states and how they control analgesia. 

4. Pontine flip-flop switch for REM sleep. I am focusing on finding location of the REM-off and the REM-on cells in pontine regmentum, their interaction and how REM-on cells control REM sleep behavioral components, i.e., neocortical desynchronization, hippocampal theta oscillation, and atonia.