Date: 7 March 2024 (Thursday)
Time: 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Venue: Cheung Kung Hai Lecture Theatre 1, G/F, William M.W. Mong Block, 21 Sassoon Road

5:00 p.m.

Presenter: Jingyu CUI (PhD candidate)
Primary Supervisor: Prof. Julian TANNER
Presentation Title: Aptamer-based system for early-stage pancreatic cancer exosome enrichment and diagnosis
Abstract: Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most lethal cancers, with late diagnosis leading to a median survival of under five years. Exosomes are promising non-invasive biomarkers for early detection due to their cargo of parent cell-derived proteins and nucleic acids. Traditional isolation methods such as ultracentrifugation are time-consuming and compromise the integrity of exosomes. Aptamers offer a viable alternative with their high affinity binding, stability, and cost-effectiveness. Here, an aptamer suitable for exosomes isolation was selected through Exo-SELEX strategy. Underwent 12 rounds of Exo-SELEX, a universal aptamer, Apt2, was selected for recognizing exosomes. Then conjugated to magnetic beads to enable gentle and efficient exosome isolation from complex samples, without the need for elaborate equipment. The enrichment of exosomes was validated through Western blotting. Additionally, specific miRNAs detected in enriched exosomes to facilitate specificity detection of pancreatic cancer. We hope our method offers novel insights into exosome isolation and cancer diagnosis.

5:30 p.m.

Presenter: Ruiyan HOU (PhD candidate)
Primary Supervisor: Prof. Yuanhua HUANG
Presentation Title:  Turning waste into treasure: revisit the trimmed reads in scRNA-seq data
Abstract: UMI-based single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) is commonly generated via paired-end sequencing while the cDNA on read 1 is often omitted, although it can be highly informative. In 5’ scRNA-seq, the reads 1 can inform the transcription start site (TSS), for which we recently developed a computational method, CamoTSS, to precisely identify TSS and quantify its expression by leveraging the cDNA on read 1, enabling effective detection of alternative TSS usage in different biological processes, including cell types across human organs, the development of human thymus, and cancer conditions. On the other hand, the more widely used 3’ scRNA-seq can indicate the polyadenylation sites (PAS), while most existing tools only use read 2, resulting in a variable distance from the genuine PAS (around 150 bp). In this seminar, we will also introduce a new computational method, called scTail, which demonstrates that the read 1, despite high noise, can accurately identify PAS with sufficient effectiveness and boosts the read 2 for PAS quantification.

ALL ARE WELCOME

Should you have any enquiries, please feel free to contact Jerry Siu at 3917 6912.