Rui Chang

Rui Chang is an Associate Professor at Yale University School of Medicine, jointly appointed in the Department of Neuroscience and Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology. His research focuses on organ-to-brain circuits and neurocardiology with specific interest in Parkinson's disease. He completed his

• B.S. in Biological Sciences at Tsinghua University (2005)
• Ph.D. in Neuroscience at University of Southern California (2011)
• Postdoctoral training in the lab of Stephen Liberles at Harvard Medical School (2017)

Research Highlights: The Chang lab employs single-cell gene expression profiling, virus-based anatomical mapping, and optogenetics to investigate vagal interoceptive systems and their roles in cardiovascular regulation and gut-brain axis dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases. Their work has revealed a multidimensional coding architecture for visceral sensory signals.

Notable Scientific Awards:

• McKnight Neurobiology of Brain Disorders Award (2021)
• NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (2019)
• Kavli Faculty Innovative Research Award (2019)
• NIH K01 Mentored Research Scientist Award (2017)
• Keystone Symposia Future of Science Scholarship (2016)

Collaborative Network: Chang collaborates with experts in neurodegeneration (David A. Hafler, MD), biostatistics (Hongyu Zhao, PhD), and neural imaging (Le Zhang, PhD). His work intersects with the Stephen & Denise Adams Center for Parkinson’s Disease Research and Kavli Institute for Neuroscience.