Professor Qiufu Ma received his bachelor's degree from Fudan University in 1987 and his Ph.D. degree from UCLA in 1994. From 1994 to 1998, he completed postdoctoral training，first at Bristol-Myers Spoor and then at Caltech. In early 1999, he became an assistant professor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School. He became a full professor in 2011. Dr. Ma was a CUSBEA student in 1988 and a Pew Scholar in 2000. In the fall of 2022, he joined Westlake University as a Chair Professor and as the director for the Center of Bioelectronic Medicine.

Title: A neuroanatomical basis for electroacupuncture to modulate inflammation and pain

Abstract:

Acupuncture at specific body regions can distantly modulate body physiology. Since the 1970s, researchers from Japan, Germany, and China have discovered that this long-distant acupuncture effect partially operates through somatosensory-autonomic reflexes. For example, we and others found that low-intensity electroacupuncture (EA) at limb-region acupoints, such as "Zusanli", could drive the vagal-adrenal reflexes and attenuate systemic inflammation induced by bacterial endotoxins. We then identified a group of sensory neurons necessary for EA to drive this anti-inflammatory axis. Based on the projections of these sensory nerves to tissues, we can predict effective and non-effective body regions. Most recently, we found that high-intensity EA is needed to attenuate post-surgery pain, likely via driving a different somatosensory-autonomic pathway. These findings offer neuroanatomical support for EA to modulate inflammation and pain.