My primary research interest is on the glutamate receptor-mediated neuroplasticity in the striatum in mental disorders, including alcoholism and drug addiction and neurodegenerative diseases. Combining whole-cell patch clamp recordings and in vivo / in vitro chemogenetics / optogenetics in animal models, such as drug self-administration model in rats / mice and transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, the neuroadaptations of striatal medium-sized spiny neurons as well as striatal interneurons are explored in specific neural circuits at both cellular and synaptic levels.