Date: 31 March 2023 (Fri)

Time: 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Venue: Cheung Kung Hai Lecture Theatre 1, G/F, William M.W. Mong Block, 21 Sassoon Road

5:00 p.m.

Presenter: Mr. Shengshuo HUANG (PhD candidate)
Primary Supervisor: Prof. Zhongjun ZHOU
Presentation Title: Role of Ism1 during mouse organogenesis revealed by scRNA-seq
Abstract: Isthmin-1 (ISM1) is a secreted protein whose expression pattern is crucial for embryonic and postnatal development. By mining the human cancer database, we found that ISM1 is associated with a variety of cancers, and its mutation will significantly reduce the survival rate of breast cancer patients. However, how ISM1 affects and regulates the development of different tissues and organs is still unknown. To this end, we constructed the Ism1 WT, KO and TG mice mammary gland and bone marrow models. It was observed that Ism1 KO will lead to defective branching morphogenesis in mammary gland and the increase of HSC in bone marrow. We further carried out single-cell RNA sequencing to explore the functional mechanism of Ism1 at a higher resolution level, and reveal the effect of Ism1 mutation on cell population, gene expression and regulatory network during different organ development.

5:30 p.m.

Presenter: Miss Yanzhi LIU (PhD candidate)
Primary Supervisor: Dr. Lee Wei LIM
Presentation Title: Roles of DNMT3a2 in memory decline in Alzheimer’s Disease
Abstract: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has become a global disease burden and currently no effective treatment is available for AD. Decline in brain DNA methylation has been reported in AD patients and animal models, and accumulating evidence suggests that DNA methylation processes are pivotal for normal learning and memory functions. Previous studies in our lab have shown that L-methionine (MET) rescues hippocampal-dependent memory functions in the 5xFAD mouse model of AD. DNA hypomethylation and reduction of several key methylation regulators including DNMT3a were detected in the hippocampus of 5xFAD mice, and these methylation deficits were normalized by MET treatment. The current project aims to investigate the role of DNMT3a2 in memory decline in 5xFAD mice and in MET-mediated pro-mnemonic effects by rAAV-mediated intra-hippocampal overexpression or knock-down of Dnmt3a2.

ALL ARE WELCOME

Should you have any enquiries, please feel free to contact Miss Cynthia Cheung at 3917 9748.