School of Biomedical Sciences cordially invites you to join the following seminar:

Date: 16 April 2024 (Tuesday)
Time: 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Venue: Lecture Theatre 2, G/F, William M.W. Mong Block, 21 Sassoon Road

Speaker: Professor Wenwen Zeng, Professor, Institute for Immunology and School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tsinghua University
Talk Title: Connecting the brain and the periphery: Sympathetic regulation of energy balance and neuroimmune responses

Biography

Professor Wenwen Zeng received her B.S. degree from Tsinghua University, Beijing. She obtained Ph.D. degree from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. She then pursued postdoc training in Genentech Inc. and Rockefeller University.  Her group at Tsinghua University is working on the brain-body interaction in regulating energy balance and the neuroimmune response. She was awarded with the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholar, the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholar, Outstanding Young Scholar Award from Qiu-Shi Science & Technologies Foundation, Young Investigator Award from Lipid Metabolism and Bioenergetics Subsociety of the Biophysical Society of China, and the National Young Investigator Fund.

Abstract
Peripheral nervous system is a key bridge connecting the brain and body. The spatial nerve landscape is critical for afferent and efferent signal transmission, and the nerve structure and function are influenced by the peripheral fluctuations. Through revealing the neural network, we found that the sympathetic arborizations are dense in white adipose tissues and undergo significant changes in adaptation to the metabolic demands. Further, we have revealed a sympathetic-intestinal L cell communication pathway, which restrains GLP-1 release and impedes brain cognitive functions. Meanwhile, we found that neurons could mount immune signaling in response to tissue damage, and a neuroinflammatory cascade transmits the danger signal from the peripheral to the central nervous system.

ALL ARE WELCOME

Should you have any enquiries, please feel free to contact Miss Crystal Chan at 3917 6830.