Fields of Research
Molecular Basis of Social Behavior and Mental Illnesses
Neurobiology and Behavior
Drug Discovery and Precision Medicine
Research Summary
We use the zebrafish model to study the molecular basis of social behavior and its implications for mental illnesses in humans, such as autism spectrum disorder.
Research Statement
Sociality is an essential component of animal behavior, and its deficits are closely associated with mental illnesses in humans, such as autism spectrum disorder. While the ethological and neural basis of social behavior have been extensively studied in the past decades, the molecular basis of social behavior remains poorly understood, especially in vertebrate animals. We use the zebrafish as a primary model to probe the molecular basis of social behavior in vertebrate animals and examine its implications for mental illnesses in humans. Main research directions of the lab include unraveling the intricate genetic and epigenetic regulatory networks underlying social behavior, discovering key environmental modulators of social behavioral development and autism risk, and developing novel therapeutics for mental illnesses via high-throughput screening and machine learning.
Awards and Honors
2023 SCBA-SinoBiological Young Investigator Award
2020 NIEHS Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00)
Yijie Geng
Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health
Affiliations
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology
Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program
Graduate Program in Neuroscience
Center on Human Development and Disability
Interdisciplinary Center for Exposures, Diseases, Genomics, and Environment
Yijie Geng
Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health
Affiliations
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology
Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program
Graduate Program in Neuroscience
Center on Human Development and Disability
Interdisciplinary Center for Exposures, Diseases, Genomics, and Environment
Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
- Building:
- Roosevelt One
- Room:
- 210
- Phone:
- 206-543-8087
- Web Link:
- https://www.genglab.org/team
Lab
- Building:
- Roosevelt One
- Room:
- 276
- Phone:
- 206-543-1005
- Web Link:
- https://www.genglab.org/
Yijie Geng
Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health
Affiliations
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology
Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program
Graduate Program in Neuroscience
Center on Human Development and Disability
Interdisciplinary Center for Exposures, Diseases, Genomics, and Environment
Yijie Geng
Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health
Affiliations
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology
Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program
Graduate Program in Neuroscience
Center on Human Development and Disability
Interdisciplinary Center for Exposures, Diseases, Genomics, and Environment
Yijie Geng
Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health
Affiliations
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology
Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program
Graduate Program in Neuroscience
Center on Human Development and Disability
Interdisciplinary Center for Exposures, Diseases, Genomics, and Environment
Select Publications
Geng Y, Yates C, Peterson RT. Social behavioral profiling by unsupervised deep learning reveals a stimulative effect of dopamine D3 agonists on zebrafish sociality. Cell Rep Methods. 2023 Jan 23;3(1):100381. doi: 10.1016/j.crmeth.2022.100381. eCollection 2023 Jan 23. PubMed PMID: 36814839; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9939379.
Geng Y, Zhang T, Alonzo IG, Godar SC, Yates C, Pluimer BR, Harrison DL, Nath AK, Yeh JJ, Drummond IA, Bortolato M, Peterson RT. Top2a promotes the development of social behavior via PRC2 and H3K27me3. Sci Adv. 2022 Nov 25;8(47):eabm7069. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abm7069. Epub 2022 Nov 23. PubMed PMID: 36417527; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9683714.
Geng Y, Peterson RT. The zebrafish subcortical social brain as a model for studying social behavior disorders. Dis Model Mech. 2019 Aug 6;12(8). doi: 10.1242/dmm.039446. Review. PubMed PMID: 31413047; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6737945.
Publications
Yijie Geng
Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health
Affiliations
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology
Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program
Graduate Program in Neuroscience
Center on Human Development and Disability
Interdisciplinary Center for Exposures, Diseases, Genomics, and Environment