Fan Wang

Fan Wang is a Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT and Co-Director of the K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Center for Molecular Therapeutics. Her research focuses on neural circuits governing brain-body interactions, including pain perception, addiction, sensorimotor behaviors, and anesthesia mechanisms. She leads the Wang Lab, emphasizing collaborative, inclusive, and interdisciplinary research environments.

Using genetic tools, in vivo imaging, electrophysiology, and behavioral tracking, her lab investigates circuits controlling vocalization-respiration coordination, active touch via whisker systems, and opioid addiction pathways. Recent breakthroughs include identifying central amygdala neurons activated by anesthetics that suppress pain and discovering neural oscillators mediating rhythmic whisking in rodents.

Her team consists of postdocs (Nitsan Goldstein, Jinghao Lu), graduate students (Kian Caplan, Melissa Gonzalez), and technical associates (Ina Bando, Gabrielle Sevrain). The lab actively collaborates on projects like geometric deep learning for 3D kinematic analysis and premotor cortex atlasing.

Key research directions include: 1) Developing CANE (Calcium-Activated Neuron Electrophysiology) tools to study pain circuits 2) Mapping addiction-related neuronal plasticity mechanisms 3) Elucidating anesthesia's anxiolytic effects via BNST circuits. Future work aims to translate these findings into non-opioid pain management strategies and addiction therapies.