Zilong Ji

Resources

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Video

Your browser does not support MP4 playback. Download the movie.

Here is a video showing continuous decoding of GC sweep direction vs tmDC sweep direction over a trajectory.

Contact Me

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

zilong.ji at ucl.ac.uk

Research

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Computational Neuroscience

Ji et al., 2025, Current Biology

I develop computational models to understand how the brain supports spatial navigation, episodic memory. Recently, I built a biophysical model of the parasubiculum–entorhinal microcircuit and modelled the generation of left–right theta sweeps recently discovered in the brain (Vollan et al, 2025). This model led to the discovery of two interesting phenomena in the brain. One was the finding of theta phase coding in directional tuning cells in the anteroventral thalamus nuclei (AVN), and the other was the finding of a gradient of theta-sweep angle along the dorsoventral axis in medial entorhinal cortex.

About

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I am currently a Senior Research Fellow working with Neil Burgess at UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. I completed my PhD in computational neuroscience and machine learning at Beijing Normal University under the supervision of Si Wu. Before that, I received a BA in Applied Mathematics from Xiamen University. In 2021, I moved to UCL for postdoctoral training.

My current research focuses on developing computational models of spatial navigation and episodic memory in both rodents and humans, with the aim of understanding how the brain encodes, retrieves, and consolidates memories, and how it uses memories to guide flexible behaviour. I am also developing a two-photon imaging system to take pictures of mouse hippocampus while the animal navigates in a two-dimensional virtual reality environment. This allows me to address research questions through direct access to neural activity in the brain. Moreover, I study how the algorithms performed by the brain can inspire the development of more advanced artificial neural networks.

CV

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

You can view or download my CV here:

Download CV