Assistant Professor

Research Interests

Theoretical and computational neuroscience; graph motifs and network dynamics; modeling and analysis for large scale neuroscience data

Teaching

• MATH2411  Applied Statistics

Selected Publications

  Article

1. Mapping effective connectivity by virtually perturbing a surrogate brain
   • Author(s): Luo, Zixiang; Peng, Kaining; Liang, Zhichao; Cai, Shengyuan; Xu, Chenyu; Li, Dan; Hu, Yu; Zhou, Changsong; Liu, Quanying
   • Source: Nature Methods, April 2025
   • Year: 2025


2. The Geometry and Dimensionality of Brain-wide Activity
   • Author(s): Wang, Zezhen; Mai, Weihao; Chai, Yuming; Qi, Kexin; Ren, Hongtai; Shen, Chen; Zhang, Shiwu; Tan, Guodong; Hu, Yu; Wen, Quan
   • Source: eLife, v. 1, January 2025
   • Year: 2025


3. Learning Linear Polytree Structural Equation Model
   • Author(s): Lou, Xingmei; Hu, Yu; Li, Xiaodong
   • Source: Transactions on Machine Learning Research, v. 2025-March, March 2025
   • Year: 2025


4. The visuomotor transformations underlying target-directed behavior
   • Author(s): Zhao, Peixiong; Tong, Yuxin; Lazarte, Ivan Alex Priela; Khan, Biswadeep; Tian, Guangnan; Chen, Kenny K. Y.; Lam, Thomas Ka Chung; Hu, Yu; Semmelhack, Julia Lee
   • Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, v. 122, (13), April 2025, article number e2416215122
   • Year: 2025


5. An optofluidic platform for interrogating chemosensory behavior and brainwide neural representation in larval zebrafish
   • Author(s): Sy, Samuel K.H.; Chan, Danny C.W.; Chan, Roy C.H.; Lyu, Jing; Li, Zhongqi; Wong, Kenneth K.Y.; Choi, Chung Hang Jonathan; Mok, Vincent C.T.; Lai, Hei-Ming; Randlett, Owen; Hu, Yu; Ko, Ho
   • Source: Nature Communications, v. 14, (1), January 2023, article number 227
   • Year: 2023


6. The spectrum of covariance matrices of randomly connected recurrent neuronal networks with linear dynamics
   • Author(s): Hu, Yu; Sompolinsky, Haim
   • Source: PLOS Computational Biology, v. 18, (7), July 2022, article number e1010327
   • Year: 2022


7. Brainwide Organization of Neuronal Activity and Convergent Sensorimotor Transformations in Larval Zebrafish
   • Author(s): Chen Xiuye; Mu, Yu; Hu, Yu; Kuan, Aaron T.; Nikitchenko, Maxim; Randlett, Owen; Sompolinsky, Haim; Engert, Florian; Ahrens, Misha B.
   • Source: Neuron, v. 100, (4), November 2018, p. 876-890.e5
   • Year: 2018


8. Feedback Through Graph Motifs Relates Structure and Function in Complex Networks
   • Author(s): Hu, Yu; Brunton, Steven L.; Cain, Nicholas; Mihalas, Stefan; Kutz, J. Nathan; Shea-Brown, Eric
   • Source: Physical Review E, v. 98, (6), December 2018, article number 062312
   • Year: 2018


9. From the Statistics of Connectivity to the Statistics of Spike Times in Neuronal Networks
   • Author(s): Ocker, Gabriel Koch; Hu, Yu; Buice, Michael A.; Doiron, Brent; Josic, Kresimir; Rosenbaum, Robert; Shea-Brown, Eric
   • Source: Current Opinion in Neurobiology, v. 46, October 2017, p. 109-119
   • Year: 2017


10. Local Paths to Global Coherence: Cutting Networks Down to Size
    • Author(s): Hu, Yu; Trousdale, James; Josic, Kresimir; Shea-Brown, Eric
    • Source: Physical Review E, v. 89, (3), March 20147, article number 032802
    • Year: 2014


11. The Sign Rule and Beyond: Boundary Effects, Flexibility, and Noise Correlations in Neural Population Codes
    • Author(s): Hu, Yu; Zylberberg, Joel; Shea-Brown, Eric
    • Source: PLoS Computational Biology, v. 10, (2), February 2014, article number e1003469
    • Year: 2014


12. Motif Statistics and Spike Correlations in Neuronal Networks
    • Author(s): Hu, Yu; Trousdale, James; Josic, Kresimir; Shea-Brown, Eric
    • Source: Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment, v. 2013, (3), March 2013, article number P03012
    • Year: 2013


13. Impact of Network Structure and Cellular Response on Spike Time Correlations
    • Author(s): Trousdale, James; Hu, Yu; Shea-Brown, Eric; Josic, Kresimir
    • Source: PLoS Computational Biology, v. 8, (3), March 2012, article number e1002408
    • Year: 2012

  Conference paper

1. Bias-corrected synaptic plasticity is essential for capacity in mushroom body circuits
   • Author(s): Huang, Zhanmiao; Hu, Yu
   • Year: 2024


2. The scale-invariant covariance spectrum of brain-wide activity
   • Author(s): Wang, Zezhen; Mai, Weihao; Chai, Yuming; Shen, Chen; Qi, Kexin; Hu, Yu; Wen, Quan
   • Year: 2023


3. The spectrum of covariance matrices of randomly connected recurrent neuronal networks
   • Author(s): Hu, Yu; Sompolinsky, Haim
   • Year: 2021