Prof. Yuan Kexin obtained his PhD in Neurobiology from the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2006, followed by postdoctoral research at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley).
He joined Tsinghua University as a full-time faculty member in 2012 and currently serves as a Tenured Associate Professor at the School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, PhD Supervisor of Tsinghua University, and Researcher at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, the Center for Brain-inspired Computing Research, and the Brain and Intelligence Laboratory of Tsinghua University.
He is also the Deputy Director of the Cognitive Neurobiology Branch of the Chinese Neuroscience Society. In 2019, he was awarded the WuXi AppTec Life Chemistry Research Award - Scholar Award by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
In recent years, Dr. Kexin Yuan’s laboratory has focused on the neural mechanisms and functions of cross-modal integration and the development of novel three-dimensional spatial biology technologies. The major contributions include:
1)Discovering that higher-order thalamus is a key brain region responsible for cross-modal integration (Cerebral Cortex 2019, corresponding author; Journal of Neuroscience 2024, senior corresponding author, accompanied by a dedicated commentary);
2)Revealing that higher-order thalamus mediates the triggering of arousal states and defensive responses by cross-modal danger signals (Neuron 2023, senior corresponding author, accompanied by a dedicated commentary);
3)Developing the original tissue clearing technique VIVIT, which enabled the mapping of synaptic inputs and whole-brain outputs of higher-order thalamic neurons (Cell 2025, corresponding author, dedicated commentary in Nature Methods, selected as a 2025 Major Advance by the Chinese Neuroscience Society; the VIVIT technique was awarded the Gold Medal at the 11th International Exhibition of Inventions and has been widely adopted both in China and internationally);
4)Constructing brain-inspired AI models with significant speech discrimination capabilities (IEEE TPAMI 2024, co-corresponding author, featured in a dedicated article by MIT Technology Review China).
1. Yixiao Gao; Fengyuan Xin; Tao Wang; Chengjun Shao; Ying Hu; Zhuoya Chen; Yiwei Wang; Fenghua Xie; Tianyu Li; Sijie Li; Liqun Ren; Caiqin Li; Xian Yang; Zhongjun Yang; Meijie Li; KaMun Tan; Tao Bai; Changwei Wei; Hanchuan Peng; Kun Li; Yichang Jia; Kexin Yuan*; Unveiling trans-scale bioarchitecture through ionic glassy tissue, Cell, 2025
2. Mengting Liu†; Yixiao Gao†; Tao Wang; Ying Hu; Fengyuan Xin; Fenghua Xie; Ningyu Wang*; Kexin Yuan*; Parvalbumin and somatostatin: biomarkers for parallel tectothalamic pathways in the inferior colliculus, Journal of Neuroscience, 2024, Mar 6; 44 (10).（Featured article）
3. Kai Li; Fenghua Xie; Hang Chen; Kexin Yuan*; Xiaolin Hu*; An Audio-Visual Speech Separation Model Inspired by Cortico-Thalamo-Cortical Circuits, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 2024, doi: 10.1109/TPAMI.2024.3384034.
4. Yiwei Wang†; Ling You†; KaMun Tan†; Meijie Li†; Jingshan Zou; Zhifeng Zhao; Wenxin Hu; Tianyu Li; Fenghua Xie; Caiqin Li; Ruizhi Yuan; Kai Ding; Lingwei Cao; Fengyuan Xin; Congping Shang; Miaomiao Liu; Yixiao Gao; Liqiang Wei; Zhiwei You; Xiaorong Gao; Wei Xiong; Peng Cao; Minmin Luo; Feng Chen; Kun Li; Jiamin Wu; Bo Hong*; Kexin Yuan*; A common thalamic hub for general and defensive arousal control, Neuron, 2023, 111(20): 3270-3287.（Highlighted by Neuron Previews）
5. Dongqin Cai†; Yin Yue†; Xin su ; Miaomiao Liu ; Yiwei Wang; Ling You; Fenghua xie; Fei Deng; Feng Chen ; Minmin Luo; Kexin Yuan*; Distinct Anatomical Connectivity Patterns Differentiate Subdivisions of the Nonlemniscal Auditory Thalamus in Mice, Cerebral Cortex, 2019, 29 (6): 2437-2454.
Course offered: Fundamentals of Neuroscience and Neuroengineering
Teaching Awards:
1)Outstanding Class Advisor, Tsinghua University (2020)
2)First Prize, Excellent Supervisor of SRT Program, Tsinghua University (2023)
3)Outstanding Contributor, Tsinghua University (2023)
4)Excellent Undergraduate Thesis Supervisor, Beijing Municipal Commission of Education (2021, 2024)
5)Bronze Medal Supervisor, National Medical Innovation Competition for College Students (2025)
