Jinfei Ni, Ph.D.
Email: jinfei_ni@mail.sioc.ac.cn
Phone:
Office: 386 Bibo Rd. , Shanghai
Website:
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Biography
Jinfei D. Ni, PhD, is a principal investigator at the Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on the neurobiology of brain-body interactions, particularly the organization and function of the enteric, peripheral sensory, and autonomic nervous systems and their coordination with epithelial, immune, and endocrine systems. His group has uncovered functionally specific connections between the enteric nervous system and peripheral sensory/autonomic pathways and demonstrated their roles in inflammatory visceral pain, intestinal motility, and local blood-flow control. Current work extends these principles to Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders by identifying critical central-peripheral circuits, defining mechanisms of pathological-protein-induced neural injury, and seeking translatable biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
· March 2021—July 2026 | Principal Investigator, Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University
· May 2017–Jan 2021 | Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard Medical School
· Jul 2009–Dec 2017 | PhD in Biochemistry, Johns Hopkins University
· Aug 2006–May 2009 | MS in Biomedical Sciences, University of Connecticut
· Sep 2001–Jul 2005 | BS in Biological Sciences, Fudan University
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Research
· Cellular and molecular organization of the enteric nervous system, local information-processing mechanisms, and their physiological and pathological functions.
· Neural-circuit mechanisms of bidirectional brain-organ communication, including interoceptive sensory input and autonomic regulation.
· Interactions between intrinsic organ neural networks and epithelial, immune, and endocrine cells, and their roles in metabolism and tissue homeostasis.
· Nervous-system-mediated inter-organ communication and physiological coordination.
· Multi-omics analysis, neural-activity imaging, and precise circuit manipulation of peripheral sensory and autonomic nervous systems.
· Central-peripheral nervous-system interactions in neurodegenerative disease, with emphasis on circuits underlying non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, peripheral proteotoxicity, bidirectional brain-body propagation, biomarkers, and intervention targets.
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Publications
1. Kai Li, Yaru Wei, and Jinfei D. Ni. A sensor for heart filling. Neuron. 2026;114:1335-1337.
2. Yaru Wei, Zongya Ma, Boyan Zhang, Lin Fu, Xiaohan Sun, Kai Li, Zhuang Wang, Yueqian Wang, Qianxian Yu, Hui Yang, Chao Tan*, Shumin Duan*, and Jinfei D. Ni*. Sympathetic functional units encoded by genetically defined postganglionic neurons. Neuron. 2026;114(3):463-478.
3. Zhuang Wang, Qihong Tang, Kai Li, Junhui Mou, Yuanyuan Chen, Wenqiong Kuang, Liting Sun, Zongya Ma, Yaru Wei, Rong Bao, Xiaohan Sun, Shaoli Wang, Wei Lu, Guang-Yin Xu, Yi-Quan Tang*, Shumin Duan*, and Jinfei D. Ni*. An enteric-DRG pathway for interoception and visceral pain in mice. Neuron. 2026;114(1):105-121.
4. Si-Wei Zhang, Han Wang, Yi Xiao*, Luo-Tian Liu, Minhong Shen, Zhuang Wang, Shen Zhao, Xiao-Hong Ding, Ying Wang, Qing-Yuan Zhuang, Jinfei Ni*, Zhi-Ming Shao*, and Yi-Zhou Jiang*. The sensory neurons remodel the stroma in triple-negative breast cancer. Cell. 2026;189(4):1039-1055.
5. Tong Sun, Yizhu Tao, Yingjie Zeng, Ran Ai, Tong Li, Xinyu Li, Xueshan Li, Ruiping He, Zhikun Jia, Xiaohan Sun, Zhuanghui Feng, Xiangyi Liu, Xingyu Kong, Linzhang Huang, Lei Chen, Jinfei Ni*, Li Chen*, and Wei Dai*. Increased Yolk Lipid Mobilization Promotes Zebrafish Post-Segmentation Growth via an Hnf4-Lipoprotein Axis. Cell Reports. Accepted.
6. Gaojie Pan, Bing Zhao, Mutian Zhang, Yanan Guo, Yuhua Yan, Dan Dai, Xiaoxi Zhang, Hui Yang, Jinfei Ni, Zhili Huang, Xia Li, and Shumin Duan. Nucleus Accumbens Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Neurons Projecting to the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis Promote Wakefulness and Positive Affective State. Neuroscience Bulletin. 2024;40(11):1602-1620. doi:10.1007/s12264-024-01233-y.
7. Xin Yang, Ru Gong, Linwei Qin, Yifei Bao, Yi Fu, Shan Gao, Hui Yang, Jinfei Ni, Ti-Fei Yuan, and Wei Lu. Trafficking of NMDA receptors is essential for hippocampal synaptic plasticity and memory consolidation. Cell Reports. 2022;40(7):111217. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111217.
