Motor control and essential tremor

Dr. Mu Zhou received PhD degree in Physiology and Biophysics from the University of Southern California in 2014, and did postdoctoral research at Stanford. In 2021, Dr. Zhou became a faculty member at Tsinghua University. He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Basic Medicine, and an investigator in the IDG/McGovern Brain Research Institute.

Dr. Zhou is an expert studying the circuitry mechanisms of the nervous system. He published many high-impact papers in the fields of sensory system, motor system and memory.

（Research）

·Neural mechanisms of Essential Tremor

Holding a glass of milk, brushing teeth and tying shoe laces might all sound so simple tasks that one rarely even think about them. But for patients with essential tremor, all these life routines can become very challenging. Essential tremor is reported to be the most common movement disorder. It is estimated to affect 1% of the general population and its prevalence increases with age.

We aim to use mouse models to elucidate the neural circuit mechanisms of essential tremor. Our philosophy is that although essential tremor is a heterogeneous disease which can originate from different risk gene mutations and environment factors, its core symptoms are more or less the same, i.e. the action tremor. By dissecting the synaptic and circuit mechanisms that generate action tremor, we can potentially identify the final common pathway of essential tremor disease and provide therapeutic ideas.

·Cerebellar neural circuits controlling fine movements

Previous results from the Zhou lab show that the projections from the cerebellar nuclei to the brainstem motor nuclei could be responsible for online movement corrections. Future studies in the lab will investigate roles of cerebellar circuits in fine motor control by using in vivo electrophysiological recordings, circuit tracing/manipulation techniques, and developing novel behavior paradigms that require online movement corrections.

·Brainstem neural circuits in motor control

Movement is eventually achieved by contractions of muscles innervated by motor neurons. Each type of movement is controlled by synergetic actions of a group of muscles, making it difficult to interpret the connections between neural codes and movements. In the brainstem, including the medulla, pon and midbrain, there are numerous motor brain regions, which send motor command signals to motor neurons. Currently our understanding of the structure and function of motor neural circuits in the brainstem is still very limited. We think the brainstem neural circuits play a vital role in motor control. They may receive motor decision and planning signals from upstream regions and deliver concrete movement control signals to distributed sets of motor neurons. We are using cutting edge circuit study tools to investigate roles of different brainstem motor nuclei and cell types in motor control.