Chris Seh Hong Lim, PhD, is an Assistant Professor for the Department of Physician Assistant Studies in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the MGH Institute. He teaches anatomy and physiology for a variety of courses.
Dr. Lim received his Master of Veterinary Science (MVSc) from Taiwan (National Chung Hsing University) in 2008 and his PhD from Boston University School of Medicine, Program of Anatomy and Neurobiology in 2019. He also received his Vesalius Teaching Certificate for his extensive teaching experience in anatomy and neuroscience courses, along with his educational research project.
Dr. Lim's neuroscience research aims to better understand the encoding of fear-associative learning and memory. He transforms the field of fear learning and memory research by introducing a novel fear conditioning paradigm that incorporates prediction errors to model real-world fear learning experiences. In collaborative studies, he utilizes optogenetics and calcium imaging to study the processing of prediction errors in the fear neural circuit to understand the underlying mechanisms of fear memory enhancement.
Another focus of Dr. Lim's research is to determine the role of ghrelin, previously known as the “hunger hormone”, in stress-induced susceptibility to enhanced fear. His previous studies revealed the mechanism of central ghrelin resistance to elucidate the contradictory role of ghrelin in stressed and unstressed animals. His studies build a strong foundation for translational research which shows stress-induced high ghrelin levels persisted in both humans and animals long after the stressor was ceased, suggesting ghrelin can serve as the new biomarker to detect chronic stressor exposure in humans and to identify individuals who are at risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- BS, Life Sciences, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan
- MVSc, Veterinary Basic Medical Science, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan
- PhD, Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University, Boston, MA
Dr. Lim has published numerous papers - some titles are highlighted below. You can view a complete listing of Dr. Lim's publications on Google Scholar or in his CV.
Hippocampal processing of ambiguity enhances fear memory.
Central ghrelin resistance permits the overconsolidation of fear memory.
Reproductive experience modified dendritic spines on cortical pyramidal neurons to enhance sensory perception and spatial learning in rats.
Growth hormone biases amygdala network activation after fear learning.