Dr. Chia-Yu (Cathy) Huang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Life Sciences at National Central University (NCU), Taiwan. She earned her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University, USA, and completed postdoctoral training at the Texas A&M Health Science Center and Harvard Medical School/McLean Hospital in the USA. After returning to her beloved hometown of Taiwan, she was appointed as an Assistant Professor in 2018 and was promoted to tenured Associate Professor in 2023. Dr. Huang has been dedicated to teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses and has consistently secured government research and teaching grants from the National Science and Technology Council and the Ministry of Education, as well as hospital research grants. She has served as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous international journals. Additionally, she is the Executive Secretary of the Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee (IACUC) and an English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) seeded professor at NCU. Her dedication to teaching, research, and service was recognized by her alma mater, Texas A&M University, where she received the 2023 Rising Star Award.

Our laboratory conducts research at the intersection of neuroscience and neuropsychiatry, with a central goal of understanding how environmental factors and neural circuit dysfunction contribute to cognitive, emotional, and social behavioral abnormalities. Our research focuses on three interconnected themes: (1) the neurobehavioral effects of environmental toxicants, such as microplastics; (2) the neural mechanisms underlying social threat learning and memory; and (3) the neural mechanisms and therapeutic targets of negative symptoms in schizophrenia. Using a multidisciplinary framework, we integrate behavioral neuroscience, molecular and biochemical analyses, histology, and bioinformatics to investigate how environmental pollutants disrupt brain function and how alterations in neural circuits give rise to psychiatric-relevant behavioral deficits.

We have demonstrated that microplastic exposure impairs learning and memory through a vagus nerve–dependent pathway, revealing a novel gut–brain mechanism linking environmental pollution to brain dysfunction. This work has been highly cited and received international media attention, highlighting its scientific and societal significance. In parallel, our lab investigates social threat learning and memory, an evolutionarily conserved process that allows individuals to acquire information about danger through social interactions. Dysfunction in this form of learning is strongly associated with anxiety disorders, depression, autism spectrum disorder, and schizophrenia. We place particular emphasis on sex differences in social threat learning and memory and on how circuit-level dysfunction contributes to psychiatric vulnerability. To dissect the neural and molecular mechanisms underlying these behaviors—and to identify novel therapeutic strategies for negative symptoms of schizophrenia, such as anhedonia and amotivation—we employ cutting-edge approaches, including chemogenetics, optogenetics, machine learning–based behavioral analysis, bioinformatics, and multi-omics, alongside classical molecular, biochemical, histological, and behavioral techniques. Through this integrated approach, our laboratory aims to advance mechanistic understanding of brain dysfunction and to inform the development of new therapeutic targets for mental illness.