Dawen Cai, PhD

 portrait of Dawen Cai
Associate Professor
Office:
University of Michigan Medical School
Cell & Developmental Biology
NCRC B25-1688, 2800 Plymouth Rd.
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Email:
[email protected]
Phone:
Available to mentor
Dawen Cai, PhD
portrait of Dawen Cai
Associate Professor
  • Qualifications
  • Center Memberships
  • Research Overview
  • Links
  • Recent Publications

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    • Qualifications
    • Research Scientist
      University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, Physics, Ann Arbor, United States
      2011 - 2013
      Other
    • Postdoctoral Fellow
      Harvard University, Center for Brain Science, Cambridge, United States
      2008 - 2011
      Postdoctoral Fellowship
    • PhD
      University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
      2003 - 2007
    • BS
      Peking University, Beijing, China
      1996 - 2000

    Center Memberships
    • Center Member
      Global REACH

    Research Overview

    The Cai Laboratory develops and uses interdisciplinary techniques to study the development and functional-structural relationship of neural circuits in the Drosophila and mouse brains. We currently focus on: 1) Developing novel genetic, imaging, and computational tools for neural circuit tracing at the whole-brain scale with synapse resolution. 2) Identifying neural circuit "motifs" that specify brain functions. 3) Depicting molecular, neuronal, and circuitry mechanisms that contribute to neuron fate determination and Autism.

    Links
    • Cai Lab
    • Neurons Can Fly outreach program
    • twitter

    Recent Publications

     See All Publications
    • Presentation
      Savaii, an Open Cloud Ecosystem from Raw Imagery to Multi-Omics Discovery
      Cai D. 2026 Oct 19;
    • Presentation
      3D Multiomics Strategy for In-Situ Profiling of Neuron Morphology, Connectivity, and Cell-Type Identity
      Cai D. 2026 Oct 19;
    • Journal Article
      Advanced tissue clearing and three-dimensional imaging approaches to visualize neural innervation in the rat knee joints
      Socorro M, Gaire J, Rolim de Lavor J, Cruz-Almeida Y, Caudle RM, Smith R, Watkins SC, Allen KD, Younis J, Yan J, Wythe JD, Worley KC, Wang L, Wagenaar JB, Vivanco-Estela A, Tovias L, Tappan S, Tantry EK, Swahn H, Strinden M, Stover J, Southern KM, Smith SB, Ruiz OE, Ronan EA, de Lavor JR, Roberts A, Dasilva MCR, Ren D, Ray RS, Prieto H, Price TJ, Perry S, Pela M, Patterson F, Otto KJ, Otero M, Orange DE, Olmer M, Obeidat AM, Newton MD, Miller RE, Miller RJ, Mehta B, Martone ME, Malfait AM, Majano CF, Maerz T, Macpherson LJ, Lotz MK, Li J, Leynes C, Levites Y, Lee B, Lai Z, Kulkarni P, Ko FC, Jin Z, Jayachandran S, Ishola AO, Ishihara S, Iadarola MJ, Haelterman NA, Greene S, Goolsby B, Gandhi A, Fullam S, Freburg-Hoffmeister D, Ernberg M, Emrick JJ, Dou Z, Donnelly C, Dolwick MF, Cortez I, Constantinescu B, Chen R, Chen Y, Cela R, Carpio DL, Cai D, Boline J, Boccanfuso J, Boada MD, Bandrowski A, de Paula BB, Bae Y, Arenkiel B, Akopian AN, Watson AM, Almarza AJ. Npj Imaging, 2026 Dec 1; 4 (1): DOI:10.1038/s44303-026-00167-6
    • Presentation
      From Pixels to a 3D Molecular and Morphological Atlas of the Mouse Brain
      Cai D. 2026 Oct 19;
    • Preprint
      A transcriptomic and spatial map of serotonin autoreceptor expression in Drosophila
      Brewer L, Li Y, Lim J, Solano S, Walker E, Watts M, Rhodes JK, Cai D, Roossien DH. 2026 Sep 5; bioRxiv, DOI:10.64898/2026.08.27.747575
    • Journal Article
      A method for efficient, rapid, and minimally invasive implantation of individual non-functional motes with penetrating subcellular-diameter carbon fiber electrodes into rat cortex
      Letner JG, Lam JLW, Copenhaver MG, Barrow M, Patel PR, Richie JM, Lee J, Kim HS, Cai D, Weiland JD, Phillips J, Blaauw D, Chestek CA. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2026 Jul 28; 20: DOI:10.3389/fnins.2026.1848862
    • Journal Article
      A touch-guided neural circuit regulates motivated gnawing to maintain dental alignment
      Su XY, Ronan EA, Perry SK, Lee H, Hor CC, Fatima M, Zheng XY, Wang J, Liu S, Koecklin KHU, Wan S, Jha A, Li P, Du W, Cai D, Emrick JJ, Duan B. Neuron, 2026 Jun 3; 114 (11): 2020 - 2033.e8. DOI:10.1016/j.neuron.2026.01.021
      PMID: 41812659
    • Preprint
      Simultaneous brain-wide single-cell recording resolves spatiotemporal memory architecture.
      Shi D, Hou Y, Yan Y, Zhang T-H, Joesten WC, Liu P, Wang Y, Gautam M, Zheng L, Lim J, Gould J, Ko B, Niu X, Cheng M-C, Hsieh J-C, Levet F, Cai D, Draelos A, Cai DJ, Wei D, Linghu C. 2026 May 22; DOI:10.64898/2026.05.21.726120
      PMID: 42239160