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

Speaker: Dr. Hanjie Li, Principal Investigator, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Talk Title: Microglia in the periphery

Date: 20 June 2025 (Friday)
Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Venue: Lecture Theatre 1, G/F, William M.W. Mong Block, 21 Sassoon Road
Host: Professor Heidi Ling

Biography

Dr. Hanjie Li is a Principal Investigator at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, specializing in immunology, single-cell genomics, and computational biology. With a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Xiamen University, he has conducted postdoctoral research at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel) and the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing (Germany), working under leading scientists in immunology and aging. His research focuses on immune cell dynamics and function in development and disease, leveraging cutting-edge single-cell technologies. Dr. Li has published extensively in top-tier journals (Cell 2025; Cell 2023; Cell 2019) and received prestigious awards, including the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (2024) and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship (2017). His work bridges molecular biology, bioinformatics, and translational medicine, aiming to uncover novel therapeutic strategies for immune-related disorders.

Abstract

Over the past century, microglia have been recognized as essential guardians of brain health, playing critical roles in development, homeostasis, immune surveillance, and neurodegenerative diseases. Historically, microglia were regarded as exclusive to the central nervous system (CNS), based on the absence of cells bearing microglial features and ontogeny in tissues outside the CNS in rodent models. However, we have recently identified cells in peripheral tissues of humans and other vertebrates that share the molecular phenotype and yolk sac-derived ontogeny of CNS microglia (Cell 2023; Cell 2025; Trends in Immunology 2025). These findings challenge the traditional perception that microglia are strictly confined to the CNS and suggest that cells with a microglial transcriptome and ontogeny represent a distinct immune lineage with broad tissue distribution and specialized roles across organs. We thus propose using the term "microglial lineage" to categorize both these peripheral cells and classical CNS microglia. In this seminar, I will talk about the ontogeny, function, and evolution of the microglial lineage, and discuss future directions about this unique immune lineage.

All are welcome.