Xin Jin

PhD, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 

BS, China Agricultural University 

2021-present, Professor and Director, Center for Motor Control and Disease, East China Normal University

2018-2020, Associate Professor, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies

2012-2017, Assistant Professor, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies

2007-2011, Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institutes of Health

Selected Awards

2018      McKnight Memory and Cognitive Disorders Award

2012      Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar in Aging Award

2011      Portuguese Society for Neuroscience Featured Article Award

2011      NIH/NIAAA Benedict J. Latteri Memorial Award

2011      Society for Neuroscience Gruber International Research Award

Research Summary

We interact with the world by acting. Adaptive control of movement is probably the most critical function of the brain through millions of years of evolution. Our team charts the fundamental principles of how the brain learns and controls movements to probe cognition and develop treatments for a wide range of related neurological and psychiatric diseases. Specifically, we focus on a series of subcortical nuclei called basal ganglia, and try to unveil the basic computations of how different cell types and subcircuits mediate the organization of movements into proper order and timing, by a combination of cutting-edge neuro-techniques with multiple levels of analysis.

Selected Publications

1. Cook JR, Li H, Nguyen B, Huang HH, Mahdavian P, Kirchgessner MA, Strassmann P, Engelhardt M, Callaway EM, Jin X (2022) Secondary auditory cortex mediates a sensorimotor mechanism for action timing. Nature Neuroscience 25(3): 330-344.

2. Zhang Z, Zhou J, Tan P, Pang Y, Rivkin AC, Kirchgessner MA, Williams E, Lee CT, Liu H, Franklin AD, Miyazaki PA, Bartlett A, Aldridge AI, Vu M, Boggeman L, Fitzpatrick C, Nery JR, Castanon RG, Rashid M, Jacobs MW, Ito-Cole T, O'Connor C, Pinto-Duartec A, Dominguez B, Smith JB, Niu SY, Lee KF, Jin X, Mukamel EA, Behrens MM, Ecker JR, Callaway EM (2021) Epigenomic diversity of cortical projection neurons in the mouse brain. Nature 598(7879): 167-173. 

3. Hollon NG, Williams EW, Howard CD, Li H, Traut TI, Jin X (2021) Nigrostriatal dopamine signals sequence-specific action-outcome prediction errors. Current Biology 31(23): 5350-5363.

4. Zell V, Steinkellner T, Hollon NG, Warlow SM, Souter E, Faget L, Hunker AC, Jin X, Zweifel LS, Hnasko TS (2020) VTA glutamate neuron activity drives positive reinforcement absent dopamine co-release. Neuron 107(5): 864-873.

5. Hollon NG, Jin X (2020) Neural implementation of behavioral hierarchy. Neuron 105(3): 402-404.

6. Aoki S, Smith JB, Li H, Yan X, Igarashi M, Coulon P, Wickens JR, Ruigrok TJ, Jin X (2019) An open cortico-basal ganglia loop allows limbic control over motor output via the nigrothalamic pathway. eLife 8: e49995.

7. Geddes CE, Li H, Jin X (2018) Optogenetic editing reveals the hierarchical organization of learned action sequences. Cell 174(1): 32-43.

8. Klug JR, Engelhardt MD, Cadman CN, Li H, Smith JB, Ayala S, Williams EW, Hoffman H, Jin X (2018) Differential inputs to striatal cholinergic and parvalbumin interneurons imply functional distinctions. eLife 7: e35657.

9. Mansour AA, Gonçalves JT, Bloyd CW, Li H, Fernandes S, Quang D, Johnston S, Parylak SL, Jin X, Gage FH (2018) An in vivo model of functional and vascularized human brain organoids. Nature Biotechnology 36(5): 432-441.

10. Howard CD, Li H, Geddes CE, Jin X (2017) Dynamic nigrostriatal dopamine biases action selection. Neuron 93(6): 1436-1450.

11. Smith JB, Klug JR, Ross DL, Howard CD, Hollon NG, Ko VI, Hoffman H, Callaway EM, Gerfen CR, Jin X (2016) Genetic-based dissection unveils the inputs and outputs of striatal patch and matrix compartments. Neuron 91(5): 1069-1084.

12. Tecuapetla F, Jin X, Lima SQ, Costa RM (2016) Complementary contributions of striatal projection pathways to action initiation and execution. Cell 166(3): 703-715.

13. Amin ND, Bai G, Klug JR, Bonanomi D, Pankratz MT, Gifford WD, Hinckley CA, Sternfeld MJ, Driscoll SP, Dominguez B, Lee KF, Jin X, Pfaff SL (2015) Loss of motoneuron-specific microRNA-218 causes systemic neuromuscular failure. Science 350(6267): 1525-1529.

14. Santos FJ, Oliveira RF, Jin X, Costa RM (2015) Corticostriatal dynamics encode the refinement of specific behavioral variability during skill learning. eLife 4: e09423.

15. Jin X, Costa RM (2015) Shaping action sequences in basal ganglia circuits. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 33: 188-196.

16. Jin X, Tecuapetla F, Costa RM (2014) Basal ganglia subcircuits distinctively encode the parsing and concatenation of action sequences. Nature Neuroscience 17(3): 423-430.

17. Cui G, Jun SB, Jin X, Pham MD, Vogel SS, Lovinger DM, Costa RM (2013) Concurrent activation of striatal direct and indirect pathways during action initiation. Nature 494(7436): 238-242.

18. French CA, Jin X, Campbell TG, Gerfen E, Groszer M, Fisher SE, Costa RM (2012) An aetiological Foxp2 mutation causes aberrant striatal activity and alters plasticity during skill learning. Molecular Psychiatry 17(11): 1770-1085.

19. Koralek AC*, Jin X*, Long JD, Costa RM, Carmena JM (2012) Corticostriatal plasticity is necessary for learning intentional neuroprosthetic skills. Nature 483(7389): 331-335. (* Co-first authors)

20. Jin X, Costa RM (2010) Start/stop signals emerge in nigrostriatal circuits during sequence learning. Nature 466(7305): 457-462.