Runnan Cao, PhD
Instructor in Radiology
Research Centers:
Neuroimaging Labs Research CenterLab:
Shuo Wang LabRunnan Cao, PhD, is an instructor in the Neuroimaging Labs Research Center at Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR) for WashU Medicine. A K99/R00 awardee, she previously worked as a postdoctoral scholar in the Wang Neuroscience Lab, led by Shuo Wang, PhD. Cao’s research is focused on cognitive computational neuroscience, particularly in underlying fundamental mechanisms of visual and social cognition in neurotypical brains and how they are altered in neurological conditions. Her work includes neural coding of faces and objects and investigating how visual perception supports higher-level cognitive functions. Cao holds a doctorate in cognitive neuroscience from the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Research Interests
Face and object perception, social cognition, autism, intracranial electrophysiology, human single-neuron recordings, fMRI, machine/deep learning
Link to Publications
Education History
Doctorate
Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Undergraduate
Shandong Normal University
Associations
Co-Chair, DEIJ Women’s Group, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Association for Women in Science
Society for Neuroscience
Vision Science Society
Awards
2024 Finalist, O’Leary Prize Competition, Office of Neuroscience Research, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
2023 Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00), National Institute of General Medical Sciences