Date: Friday, 15 February 2019

Venue: Seminar Room 6, LG1/F
Laboratory Block, Faculty of Medicine Building
21 Sassoon Road, Hong Kong

Time: 5:00 p.m.

Title: The potential role of WDR5 in HBV transcription
Speaker: Mr. HUNG Ting Ngai (PhD candidate)

Summary:
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) accounts for most cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Southeast Asia. The episomal form of HBV DNA, cccDNA, serves as the template for transcription of all viral transcripts and is responsible for viral persistence. Targeting cccDNA transcription through epigenetic regulation could help discover a new line of therapeutics. WD40 repeat containing protein 5 (WDR5), an essential component of the MLL complex, is necessary for trimethylating the histone H3 lysine 4 residue (H3K4me3). Enforced expression of WDR5 significantly increased cccDNA and pgRNA levels. HBV core promoter was found to be activated by WDR5 and to be enriched with H3K4me3. Both RNA-binding or phosphorylation defective WDR5 mutants demonstrated weaker HBV-activating effect. HOTTIP, a common lncRNA binding WDR5 may have roles in HBV transcription. Lastly, two small molecule inhibitors of WDR5, WDR5-0103 and OICR-9429, may have potential to be anti-HBV drugs.

Title: Genetic Studies of Congenital Scoliosis
Speaker: Mr. JE Shun Hang (PhD candidate)

Summary:
Congenital scoliosis is a spinal deformity present at birth due to underlying congenital vertebral malformation during embryonic development. Genetic basis of congenital scoliosis is poorly understood. Previous studies had identified TBX6 compound heterozygous in patient cohorts in Chinese, Japanese and France population. We recruited a cohort of 67 patients with congenital scoliosis in Hong Kong. 4.5% of cases were identified to carry TBX6 compound heterozygous mutation reported in literature through quantitative PCR and haplotype analysis. We performed whole exome sequencing of DNA samples from patients with hemivertebra and their family members. Gene candidates were filtered using VarSifter according to de novo, recessive and compound heterozygous inheritance model. A panel of genes were identified using compound heterozygous algorithm. A few gene candidates are considered promising based on their functions or involvement in important signaling pathway in somitogenesis and skeletal development.

ALL ARE WELCOME