NRLab | Neuromodulation Research Lab

Neuromodulation Research Lab

We start from real behavioral difficulties and turn “I cannot stop,” “I want it but I do not enjoy it,” and “why treatment works or fails” into measurable, modelable, and intervention-ready scientific questions.

NRLab research overview
4 research programs 5 outreach lines 6-12 month RA cycle

Lab Focus

What NRLab Studies

We do not reduce symptoms to a single score. We connect behavior, brain networks, model parameters, and clinical outcomes into an evidence chain.

NRLab focuses on addiction, digital behavior, eating and obesity, adolescent mental health, psychiatric symptoms, and neuromodulation interventions. Many questions begin with daily experience: gaming that becomes difficult to stop, cues that repeatedly trigger craving, social media evaluation pressure, or unstable behavioral trajectories after treatment.

The lab does not stop at description. Behavioral tasks record choices, scales capture symptoms and craving, fMRI and EEG describe brain networks, computational models compress choice trajectories into parameters, and interventions such as rTMS, tDCS, MST, focused ultrasound, and TI place targets, brain signals, symptom change, and long-term outcomes into one testable chain.

Core Statement

We enter science through human behavioral difficulties and return with research paths that are measurable, modelable, intervention-ready, and reproducible.

01Behavioral Problems

Craving, impulsivity, sleep, social stress, and digital behavior.

02Measurement Tasks

Scales, behavioral tasks, cue reactivity, and longitudinal tracking.

03Brain and Models

fMRI, EEG, network analysis, machine learning, and computational models.

04Translational Intervention

Neuromodulation, RCTs, response prediction, and follow-up outcomes.

Research Programs

Research Programs

Four programs serve one goal: moving mental health research from real-world problems to testable mechanisms.

Big Data and AI Prediction

We build questionnaire datasets, variable dictionaries, network analyses, machine-learning prediction models, and interpretable models for addiction, obesity, self-harm, sleep, and emotional risk.

Neuroimaging and Neuromodulation

We study brain networks, symptom change, stimulation targets, and treatment response under interventions such as rTMS, tDCS, MST, focused ultrasound, and TI.

Social Interaction and Mental Health

We analyze social interaction, social isolation, loneliness, family relationships, and peer relationships through behavioral tasks, questionnaires, and longitudinal data.

Digital Biomarkers

We use time-series features such as phone behavior, nighttime use, rhythm, and app switching to understand mental states and risk subgroups in digital environments.

Team Foundation

Team & Platform

The team brings together researchers trained in psychiatry, psychology, biomedical engineering, neuroimaging, clinical research, and computational modeling.

The platform has accumulated multi-center mental health questionnaire data, neuroimaging data, clinical trial data, and behavioral experiment data. The research workflow covers question formulation, data cleaning, variable dictionaries, preregistration, statistical modeling, figures, manuscript drafting, revision, and submission.

Over the past five years, team members have published first-author or corresponding-author papers in journals such as Med, Cell Reports Medicine, Molecular Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, Computers in Human Behavior, and Journal of Affective Disorders.

Clinical Platform An Ding Hospital of Wuhu (Wuhu Fourth People's Hospital)

National Regional Medical Center for Mental Health; the primary research site. It uses province-wide clinical resources to support psychiatric assessment, intervention, and long-term follow-up.

Medical Center Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University

National Center for Mental Health; the institution providing development support for the primary research site. It supports collaboration in psychiatry, neuromodulation, clinical trials, and multimodal assessment.

Hospital Network Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (National Center for Mental Health Research)
Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine

Joint institutions supporting mental health research, neuroimaging, clinical assessment, and cross-center collaboration.

University Network Jiangsu University
Ningbo University
Anhui Medical University
Bengbu Medical University
Wannan Medical University
North China University of Science and Technology
Qiqihar Medical University

Graduate enrollment institutions recruiting master's students in Psychiatry and Mental Health, and Psychology.

Selected Publications

Selected Publications

The selected list prioritizes high-quality journals, core research themes, and papers with clear faculty authorship.

Authorship notes list only NRLab faculty-related authors and specify first-author, co-first-author, corresponding-author, last-author, or author-order roles when clear.

2026 Continuous Theta-Burst Stimulation Improves Long-Term Outcomes in Alcohol Use Disorder by Modulating a Craving-Related Dynamic Network

Biological Psychiatry · Faculty authorship: Ningning Zeng (listed author); Hui Zheng (co-corresponding author); Min Wang (last author)

2026 Immediate and long-term effects of orbitofrontal cortex stimulation on EEG microstates in schizophrenia

Translational Psychiatry · Faculty authorship: Qiang Hu (co-first author); Ningning Zeng, Min Wang, and Ziliang Wang (listed authors); Xiong Jiao (corresponding author)

2026 Symptom and Bayesian network analyses of positive and negative symptoms in psychotic-like experiences

Journal of Affective Disorders · Faculty authorship: Hui Zheng and Qiang Hu (co-corresponding authors)

2025 Individual-Specific Neural Subspaces Reveal Reward Dysregulation and State Transition Vulnerabilities in Internet Gaming Disorder

Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging · Faculty authorship: Min Wang and Ningning Zeng (co-first authors); Hui Zheng (listed author)

2025 Imbalance of habit-based versus goal-directed learning in internet gaming disorder: evidence from fMRI and behavioral performance

Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · Faculty authorship: Hui Zheng (first author); Min Wang and Ziliang Wang (listed authors)

2025 Examining the spectrum of problematic online behaviors in Chinese adolescents: A network analysis of smartphone, gaming, and social media use

Computers in Human Behavior · Faculty authorship: Qiang Hu and Hui Zheng (listed authors); Ziliang Wang (last author)

2025 Similarities and differences between internet addiction and nicotine dependence: motivation network

Computers in Human Behavior · Faculty authorship: Hui Zheng (last author)

2024 The resting-state brain activity signatures for addictive disorders

Med · Faculty authorship: Hui Zheng (co-first author)

2024 Abnormal Global Cortical Responses in Drug-Naïve Patients With Schizophrenia Following Orbitofrontal Cortex Stimulation

Biological Psychiatry · Faculty authorship: Xiong Jiao (first author); Qiang Hu (second author)

2024 Modulation of dlPFC function and decision-making capacity by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in methamphetamine use disorder

Translational Psychiatry · Faculty authorship: Hui Zheng (corresponding and last author)

Public Outreach Matrix

Public Outreach

The public channel is not a paper catalog or a recruitment ad. It helps students see how a question becomes research.

NRLab research communication overview

Outreach is organized along three axes: content source, channel, and final product. The current workflow activates WeChat long-form graphics and Xiaohongshu card sets. All materials share one communication rule: make the judgment first, provide evidence, then translate it into action.

The content avoids slogans. It turns lab research, strong recent papers, academic writing, research tools, and submission workflows into materials that students can keep reading, checking, and practicing.

Lab Paper Series Recent Strong Papers Academic Writing Checklists Research Tool Guides Submission Workflow Guides WeChat Long Graphics Xiaohongshu Card Sets

Training & Recruitment

Join NRLab

The research assistant track is designed for graduates or gap-year candidates who want intensive research training.

Data and Pipelines

Maintain and debug questionnaire data pipelines, organize variable descriptions, data dictionaries, and large tables.

Experiment and Clinic

Participate in clinical experiments, questionnaires, behavioral tasks, or imaging acquisition, and support RCT and preregistration materials.

Analysis and Writing

Build literature evidence tables, preliminary statistical analyses, result figures, manuscript outlines, and submission materials.

Basic Information

  • Positions: 4 research assistants.
  • Cycle: 6-12 months, with possible renewal for strong performers.
  • Mode: approximately half on-site experiments and half data analysis.
  • Core expectation: reliability, integrity, and the ability to move concrete tasks forward over time.
Apply Now
Application and WeChat QR codes

Contact & Application

For research assistant applications, collaboration, or outreach materials, contact us by email or through the application form. Application materials should clearly state the research direction you want to join, your available time commitment, previous data, experiment, or writing tasks, and any code, reports, manuscripts, or project materials you can share.

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