• Ongoing Initiatives in Anatomy Teaching • 10-Year Anniversary of HKU Body Donation Day • Our Research Assistant Professors share their career paths to becoming independent academics • Dr. Alan Wong and his team engineer highly accurate SaCas9 enzymes with single-base precision for therapeutic genome editing
www.sbms.hku.hk
Welcome Message
The COVID-19 situation remains challenging. In these difficult and uncertain times, we hope everybody is staying healthy and safe. Though we are facing this public health emergency of unprecedented scale, it can also be a great opportunity for
transformational changes. To cope with the pandemic, there is a surge of collaborative research to develop diagnostics, vaccines and therapies to fight against the coronavirus; we have seen many exciting biomedical technologies coming out from Hong Kong and worldwide too. This also reveals the necessity to enhance data and resource sharing, as well as knowledge exchange, among researchers of different disciplines for rapid innovations to prepare for future health emergencies. Agility has never been more important than it is now for research and many aspects. Let’s continue equipping ourselves and staying together to quickly respond to unexpected challenges and explore new opportunities for innovations that may arise in the future.
Dr. Alan Wong Member, Knowledge Exchange and Global Committee School of Biomedical Sciences
Teaching and Learning Ongoing Initiatives in Anatomy Teaching Feature Story
Contributed by Dr. Tomasz Stanislaw Cecot, Senior Lecturer
asked our students for a short reflection about their first patient – The Great Body Teacher - to ensure that we create a reflective environment and focus on professionalism. The Body Donation Programme is an example of world-leading programmes of its kind in the world, with the Body Donation Day celebrated annually on 3rd March. Anatomy Near-Peer Teachers (ANPTs) are a group of senior students coming to the anatomy lab, helping juniors achieve learning outcomes during the dissection classes. The development of this programme is quite crucial in modern anatomy education and brilliantly expresses the Faculty’s peer-education trend. Our near-peer teachers have purple/violet gowns, which is different from the students’ yellow gowns and pink gowns of the staff making them easy to spot and ask for help. ANPTs are specially trained not only to know the dissection material but also how to be active teachers, which makes them different from classical demonstrators employed by many traditional Anatomy Departments. We also invite surgeons to our anatomy sessions, perform live USG demonstrations and teach interpretation of radiological images (X-rays, CT scans and MRI), making these sessions truly clinically oriented. Smaller initiatives focus on “making learning happen” in time and places suitable for our students. We placed some anatomy models in the Learning Commons, which hopefully will develop into a more extensive anatomy self-directed learning room . In cooperation with the library, we offer access to many teaching materials, including Acland’s Atlas of Human Anatomy and the Complete Anatomy app . Running morphological sciences teaching activities is not an easy task, but this is possible and pleasurable with the brilliant team and excellent students!
The Anatomy Team is a group of dynamic and dedicated teachers. The team’s core members are involved in designing various learning activities, delivery of teaching, and preparation of assessment in a wide range of morphological sciences - gross anatomy, histology, and embryology. Our everyday actions are supported by administrative and technical staff. We are very grateful for all work done to ensure that our students will have the best possible learning experience. The most important places for our face-to-face teaching are Anatomy Dissection Laboratory (ADL, 1st Floor, Lab Building) and Multidisciplinary Labs (MDL 1-3, Ground Floor, Lab Building). MDL labs were recently adapted to run Virtual Reality Anatomy Practicals and Anatomage (virtual dissection table) sessions. We also use the Apeiro Virtual Microscope system to support histology teaching. New touch screens (Microsoft Surface Hub) allow group interactions and constant feedback when doing exercises. Several new initiatives introduced in recent years are responsible for the significant shift of the pedagogical strategies into a student-centred approach. The major one is the introduction of the Task-Oriented Practicals (TOPs) , where the classical demonstrations are replaced by a series of tasks, which stimulate students’ engagement allowing group discussions, discoveries, hands-on-activities and solving clinical problems. In the Covid-19 pandemic, we also used this approach in online classrooms to motivate students to work as teams in breakout rooms and actively discuss problems. There are two main approaches to anatomy teaching – prosection and dissection, and we use both styles regarding the needs of our students. Prosections are high-quality specimens already made by skilful technicians. This approach is mainly adopted to anatomy teaching of BBMS, Pharmacy, Nursing, Chinese Medicine and Dental students. The primary approach for MBBS students is dissection, where students actively, in small groups, systematically learn the structure of the human body, layer by layer, in different anatomical regions. We recently introduced dissection-based learning not only for the thorax, abdomen and limbs but also extended that into more challenging dissections of the head and pelvic region . Last year we also designed a new practical, “Introduction to Anatomy”, where students are introduced to all body systems and their significant organs at the beginning of their learning journey. This year, after this practical, we
Feature Story Research & Innovation
Our Research Assistant Professors Share their Career Paths to Becoming Independent Academics
Dr. Xiucong Bao
supervisors about research or career, attending research conference, involving the management of research team, organizing events in/outside of laboratory. Definitely, those things will take your time, but it’s all relative and worthful. Moreover, you can learn a lot about yourself, you will find out whether you care more about your experiments than about your team, whether you can manage a research group, whether you are good at training people, and whether you can be a good mentor.
Learning from my previous experiences as a graduate student and a postdoc, I found that in addition to become an expertise in the field where you attempt to solve some of the most pressing problems in the world, it is also important to develop skills to talk, share and present your research ideas and findings at disciplinary conferences and meetings to a much broader audience. In addition to working at the bench for experimental research, you also need to show initiative and develop a network of contacts, which will greatly expand your options for the future, talking with research students, postdoctoral researchers and
Being a researcher or scientist, you have to prepare yourself from all aspects for your future career.
Dr. Xiucong Bao’s webpage
Dr. Chi Ping Chan
has not and will not surrender. With the great effort of the whole academic community, we have obtained a better understanding of SARS-CoV-2 biology and even developed vaccines and antivirals against it within months. This is a fascinating achievement and has saved lots of lives. Today, as a molecular virologist and biologist, I am glad that I can apply what I learnt to my work and help contribute to the battle towards COVID-19. We are now working very hard towards the development of live attenuated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Hopefully, we can develop a more efficient vaccine that could help to end the pandemic in no time!
Science has always been so amazing for me. Lots of mysteries are still waiting to be solved. With a strong interest in science, I started off with a Bachelor in Biochemistry at HKU. At that time, I did not know how far I could go. I would just sometimes imagine how cool it could be as a Scientist. Throughout the years, I have continued to learn and stepped into academia. Pursuing a PhD degree and doing post-doctoral training at HKU, I can say I am purely locally trained. It is really an exciting learning journey that I believe will continue in my life. This is also what I enjoy.
Humankind is vulnerable in front of Nature. The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has further attested this. However, human
Dr. Chi Ping Chan’s webpage
Dr. Carol Tong
I had a strong interest in science and biology when I was young, and I knew that I wanted to build my career on science. I obtained my BSc degree on Biotechnology and PhD degree from this university. My research interest on cancer biology stemmed from the final year project that I worked on during my undergraduate study, which was about the development of a novel monoclonal antibody to treat liver cancer. From then, I was more assured that I wanted to pursue my career in the academic field. My PhD project was on the study of molecular determinants of liver cancer stem cells and the development of novel therapeutic strategies for liver cancer patients, under the supervision of Dr. Stephanie Ma from our School. I am beyond grateful for the support and opportunities given so that I can
continue my research after graduation. A lot of freedom and opportunities were also provided so that I can develop my own research interests in the lab. As I progressed through my postdoctoral fellow and RAP training, I diverted my research focus and efforts from cancer stem cell biology towards an understanding of an intertwined relationship between metabolic heterogeneity, cellular stress responses in response to therapy and remodeling of tumor microenvironment in liver cancer, with the vision and mission to develop innovative, efficacious and durable therapeutic strategies to help cancer patients. Being able to build my career on science is one of the most rewarding things in my life. I really enjoy learning new knowledge, doing new experiments, and making new discoveries every day.
Dr. Carol Tong’s webpage
Dr. Eric Wong
Learning. A key part in science. At every stage of my scientific career, from undergraduate to postgraduate, from postdoctoral training to where I am now, I have been learning new skills and techniques. Nanoparticle preparation, molecular biology, PET-MRI, Next generation sequencing, bioinformatics, scientific writing, public engagement and more to name. Some of the skills may not be used ever again after you finish the experiment, however, the process of learning, understanding the theory and troubleshooting builds the skillset for the next stage and future. I spent one year in a lab working on development of a nanoparticles for biological uses on my work placement year during undergraduate period. I learned lots of chemistry and modelling at that time, but after I left the lab, I have not made nanoparticles again. Yet, the chemistry and modelling knowledge I learned and the experience of
communicating with experts from different fields are critical for my research now and contribute to one of my recent publications. The pyrosequencing I learned as a final year project student, also gave me an opportunity for my first postdoctoral position a few years back. Without a doubt, science is moving in an incredible pace with new technologies and discoveries publishing every month if not week. Doing research is very time consuming, let alone catching up with publications and new techniques. But acquiring new skills are beneficial and helpful, and will get you prepared when opportunity comes. The skills I learned at each stage of my scientific career have prepared me for the next stage and extended my reach to other possibilities. Learning has shaped who I am now and allowed me to stay in science to explore the world.
Dr. Eric Wong’s webpage
Knowledge Exchange & Global Feature Story 10-Year Anniversary of HKU Body Donation Day Contributed by Dr. Jian Yang, Senior Lecturer, Coordinator of HKU Body Donation Programme
The Body Donation Programme started in 2012 and it has been 10 years since. At the very beginning when we started the programme, we only had about 270 registrants for body donation in total. And thanks to the generous contribution by the public in Hong Kong for the past 10 years, we currently have on average about 500 new registrants every year. The total number of registrants for body donation at this moment of the 10th anniversary is more than 8200. The number of donated deceased bodies the programme received in 2012 was 13, and this number is now approaching between 80 to 90 a year. In the early years, our faculty relied heavily on unclaimed bodies for medical education. But this trend has changed significantly after we introduced the Body Donation Programme in 2012. And currently, the majority of the deceased bodies used in teaching are mainly from the donated deceased bodies through the Body Donation Programme. Here in the School of Biomedical Sciences, the University of Hong Kong, we honour the donated deceased bodies as the Great Body Teachers, with utmost respect. The Great Body Teachers are the first encounter of real human body, moreover the first patient, for a medical student in her/his initial journey of the training as a healthcare professional. The Great Body Teachers play the irreplaceable role in the medical education because they do not only impart the knowledge of anatomy, but more importantly, grant the students with the once in a lifetime authentic hands-on experience of human body and the invaluable knowledge of life that these students will carry forward in their future long career as healthcare professionals. The Great Body Teachers were once, just like you and me, living persons with family and friends. But they extended their life and contribution to the society beyond death, and helped our students, scientists, and healthcare professionals to obtain all the necessary knowledge about not only human body but also the meaning life.
Through the selfless sacrifice of the Great Body Teachers, our medical students, scientists, and healthcare professionals learn the complex structures of our body structures, functions and diseases. And this form of learning is the golden standard of the medical education in the world, and cannot be replaced by digital illustrations, computer software or models. The LKS Faculty of Medicine has designated 3rd of March as the University’s Body Donation Day. In Chinese, the pronunciation of this day resembles the old adage, “san-san-bu-jin”, which highlights the continuous and everlasting of life after life. It also aims to promote the spirit of overcoming the presumed limitations of death and to encourage the passing on of knowledge.
This year is the 10th Anniversary of the HKU Body Donation Day. Because of the current Covid-19 pandemic, we are postponing the celebration to August. I welcome you all to join the Body Donation Day. And I hope that you will have a wonderful and meaningful time.
Video on Body Donation Programme
Upcoming Events
Upcoming Events
Apr 21, 2022 Invited Seminar by Prof. Rui Zhang, Department of Physics, HKUST
Apr 1 & 29, May 6, 13, 20 & 27, Jun 17 & 24, 2022 RPG Seminar
Apr 21, 2022 BBiomedSc Non-JUPAS interview
Apr 4, 2022 HKUMedify Summer Programme: “World of Proteins” by Dr. Masayo Kotaka Apr 7, 2022 Invited Seminar by Dr. Fei Sun, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, HKUST Apr 11, 2022 Major-Minor Selection Talk (Biochemistry) by Dr. KM Yao Apr 11, 2022 Taster Week of Admission Office “What is the difference between a PCR test and a RAT test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus” by Dr. Bonny Yuen
Apr 21, 2022 BSc(Bioinformatics) Non-JUPAS interview
May 10, 2022 Dissecting Lab visit for Aberdeen Baptist Lui Ming Choi College
Jun 9, 2022 Invited Seminar by Prof. Melissa Little, Theme Director of Cell Biology, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne, Program Leader of Stem Cells Australia and Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne
Jun 22, 2022 BBiomedSc JUPAS interview
Apr 13 & 27, May 11 & 25, Jun 1, 2022 PDF Seminar
Jun 28, 2022 BSc(Bioinformatics) JUPAS interview
Congratulations Awards & External Grants
Staff Awards
External Grants RGC Germany/Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme 2021/22 A grand total of HK$89,600 has been awarded to Prof. Pengtao Liu. Midstream Research Programme for Universities (MRP) of Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) A grand total of HK$2,990,832 has been awarded to Dr. You-Qiang Song.
2021 WuXi AppTec Life Science and Chemistry Awards Prof. Jiandong Huang has been awarded 2021 WuXi AppTec Life Science and Chemistry Awards
Students Awards
Wong Ching Yee Medical Postgraduate Scholarship 2021/22 Miss Feng Hu, PhD student in Dr. Martin Cheung’s lab, has been awarded the Wong Ching Yee
Global Young Scientists Summit 2022 Miss Feng Hu has been selected as a participant in the 10th Anniversary edition of the Global Young Scientists Summit (GYSS) 2022 from amongst 1,700 nominations and applications worldwide. The event was held from Jan 17 to 21, with 21 eminent scientists invited to speak at 20 plenary lectures and 6 panel discussions spanning the fields of science, mathematics, and technology.
Medical Postgraduate Scholarship 2021/22
SBMS RPG Poster Presentation Congratulations to the following winners in the SBMS RPG Poster Presentation:
YS and Christabel Lung Postgraduate Scholarship 2021/22 The following students have been awarded the YS and Christabel Lung Postgraduate Scholarship 2021/22:
Mr. Jia Jian Loh, PhD candidate in Dr. Stephanie Ma's lab
Mr. Weizhong Zheng, PhD candidate in Dr. Joshua Ho’s lab
Mr. Ka Chun Tsui, MPhil candidate in Dr. ML Fung’s lab
Mr. Lin Wang, PhD candidate in Prof. Julian Tanner’s lab
Mr. Jia Jian Loh, PhD candidate in Dr. Stephanie Ma's lab
Ms. Huajian Yu, PhD candidate in Dr. Stephanie Ma's lab
Mr. Xiaoqiang Zhu, PhD candidate in Dr. Jason Wong's lab
In the Media School Highlights
Feb 9, 2022 - Press Release: Dr. Jason Wong and his team discover an unknown function of DNA mismatch repair that protects us from cancer
Feb 8, 2022 - Press Release: HKU Biomedical Engineering team develops a new bioinformatic tool for precise prediction of cells transformation and diseases formation including cancers
Recap of Events School Highlights
Mar 15, 2022 Career Aspiration Talk “Big data in Medicine and Engineering” featuring BEng(DS&E) and BSc(Bioinformatics), English session, by Dr. Jason Wong and Dr. Joshua Ho Mar 18, 2022 Career Aspiration Talk “Big data in Medicine and Engineering” featuring BEng(DS&E) and BSc(Bioinformatics), Cantonese session, by Dr. Joshua Ho and Dr. Tommy Lam (Associate Professor, School of Public Health)
Jan 7 & 21, Feb 18 & 25, Mar 4, 11, 18 & 25, 2022 RPG Seminar
Jan 13, 2022 Human Embryonic Development and Developmental Genomics Seminar by Prof. Marianne Bronner, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, USA
Jan 25, 2022 T&L Chalk Talk by Mr. Guilherme Fonseca
Jan 26, 2022 HKU Biomed Entrepreneurship Talk Series by Dr. Sloan Kulper, CEO and Co-Founder, Lifespans Limited Jan 29, 2022 “Pathway to HKU 2022” virtual event for Mainland students, by Dr. Yuanhua Huang Feb 10, 2022 Invited Seminar by Dr. Johnny Kim, Department of Cardiac Development and Remodelling, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Germany
Feb 15, 2022 T&L Chalk Talk by Ms. Jody KP Chu, Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy
Mar 29, 2022 T&L Chalk Talk by Dr. Mandy Liu
Feb 23, Mar 9 & 30, 2022 PDF Seminar
Mar 30, 2022 HKU Biomed Entrepreneurship Talk Series by Mr. Kow Ping, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Well Being Digital Limited and Mr. Brian Chia, Business Development Intern at Well Being Digital Limited, BBMS Year 2 student
Mar 2, 2022 Invited Seminar by Prof. Chi-Chung Hui, Professor of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Canada
Mar 4, 2022 BBiomedSc Career Talk by Biomedical Sciences Society
Mar 10, 2022 SBMS RPG Poster Presentation
All Media Coverage
Mar 9, 2022 - Press Release: Dr. Alan Wong and his team engineer highly accurate SaCas9 enzymes with single-base precision for therapeutic genome editing
Mar 8, 2022 - Prof. Kathryn Cheah, interviewed by Croucher Foundation, shared her thoughts on the challenges and experiences of women scientists in Hong Kong
Mar 7, 2022 - Media Coverage: Dr. Jian Yang wrote an article on HKU Body Donation Programme for am730
New Equipment School Highlights
Ultracentrifuge (Thermo Scientific/ WX100+)
Chemi doc system (Bio Rad/ ChemiDoc Imaging MP)
Ultrahigh speed centrifuge equipped with rotor T-865, max: 65,000rpm and rotor TH-641, max: 41,000rpm Location L4-05, Lab Block Tech-in-charge Mr. Leonard Cheung leonardc@hku.hk | +852-3917-9533
Chemiluminescence and fluorescence detection
Location L4-38, Lab Block
Tech-in-charge Ms. Molly Wong pfwong@hku.hk | +852-3917-9532
*Corresponding Authors | # Co-first Authors | School Members in Bold Publications Highlights
1. You R*, Ho YS, Chang RC *. The pathogenic effects of particulate matter on neurodegeneration: a review. J Biomed Sci. 2022 Feb 22;29(1):15. 2. Kwok AWC^, Qiao C, Huang R^ , Sham MH, Ho JWK, Huang Y* . MQuad enables clonal substructure discovery using single cell mitochondrial variants. Nat Commun. 2022 Mar 8;13(1):1205. 3. Zhou L, Ma S* . Deciphering cancer stem cells in liver cancers: New tools with improved resolution. Carcinogenesis. 2022 Mar 9:bgac028. doi: 10.1093/carcin/bgac028. 4. Roy J#^, Wong KY#, Aquili L, Uddin MS^, Boon CH, Tipoe GL, Wong KH, Fung ML, Lim LW* . Role of melatonin in Alzheimer's disease: From preclinical studies to novel melatonin-based therapies. Front Neuroendocrinol. 2022 Feb 12:100986. 5. Yu JH, Ma S* . Organoids as research models for hepatocellular carcinoma. Exp Cell Res. 2022 Feb 1;411(1):112987. 6. Xu Z, Wang L, Huan X, Lee H, Yang J, Zhou Z, Chen M, Hu S, Liu Y, Feng SP, Zhang T, Xu F, Chu Z* , Kim JT*. On-demand, direct printing of nanodiamonds at the quantum level. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2022 Feb;9(5):e2103598.1. 7. Du Y, Qian C* . Non-canonical bivalent H3K4me3K9me3 recognition by Spindlin1/C11orf84 complex. Bioessays. 2022 Jan 29:e2100229. 8. Chen P# , Tan Z#*, Shek HT, Zhang JN , Zhou Y, Yin S, Dong Z, Xu J, Qiu A, Dong L, Gao B* , To MK*. Phenotypic spectrum and molecular basis in a Chinese cohort of osteogenesis imperfecta with mutations in type I collagen. Front Genet. 2022 Jan 28;13:816078. 9. Hu F^, Fong KO, Cheung MP , Liu JA, Liang R, Li TW , Sharma R, Ip PP, Yang X, Cheung M* . DEPDC1B promotes melanoma angiogenesis and metastasis through sequestration of ubiquitin ligase CDC16 to stabilize secreted SCUBE3. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2022 Jan 27:e2105226. 10. Cheng Y*, Kang XZ^, Cheng T^ , Ye ZW, Tipoe GL, Yu CH , Wong CM, Liu B, Chan CP, Jin DY* . FACI is a novel CREB-H-induced protein that inhibits intestinal lipid absorption and reverses diet-induced obesity. Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2022 Jan 27:S2352-345X(22)00017-0. 11. Strekalova T*, Liu Y^ , Kiselev D, Khairuddin S, Chiu JL , Lam J, Chan YS , Pavlov D, Proshin A, Lesch KP, Anthony DC, Lim LW* . Chronic mild stress paradigm as a rat model of depression: facts, artifacts, and future perspectives. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2022 Jan 24:1–31. 12. Yuen CT#, Thean DG#, Chan BK#^, Zhou P#, Kwok CC#, Chu HY, Cheung MS, Wang B^ , Chan YM, Mak SY, Leung AY, Choi GC , Zheng Z, Wong AS* . High-fidelity KKH variant of Staphylococcus aureus Cas9 nucleases with improved base mismatch discrimination. Nucleic Acids Res. 2022 Jan 21:gkab1291. 13. Wong KH* , Nam HY, Lew SY, Naidu M, David P, Kamalden TA, Hadie SN, Lim LW* . Discovering the potential of natural antioxidants in age-related macular aegeneration: A review. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2022 Jan 14;15(1):101. 14. Chan CP, Jin DY* . Cytoplasmic RNA sensors and their interplay with RNA-binding partners in innate antiviral response: Theme and variations. RNA. 2022 Jan 14:rna.079016.121. 15. Liu M^, Wang L^, Lo Y^, Shiu SC, Kinghorn AB, Tanner JA* . Aptamer-enabled nanomaterials for therapeutics, drug targeting and imaging. Cells. 2022 Jan 4;11(1):159. 16. Li C#, Ye Z#, Zhang AJ#, Chan JF#, Song W, Liu F, Chen Y, Kwan MY, Lee AC, Zhao Y, Wong BH, Yip CC, Cai JP, Lung DC, Sridhar S, Jin D , Chu H, To KK, Yuen KY*. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections by intranasal or testicular inoculation induces testicular damage preventable by vaccination in golden Syrian hamsters. Clin Infect Dis. 2022 Feb 18:ciac142. 17. Long JT, Leinroth A, Liao Y, Ren Y, Mirando AJ, Nguyen T, Guo W, Sharma D, Rouse D, Wu C, Cheah KS , Karner CM, Hilton MJ*. Hypertrophic chondrocytes serve as a reservoir for marrow associated skeletal stem and progenitor cells, osteoblasts, and adipocytes during skeletal development. Elife. 2022 Feb 18;11:e76932. 18. Chow CF#, Guo X#, Asthana P#, Zhang S, Wong SK , Fallah S, Che S, Gurung S, Wang Z, Lee KB, Ge X, Yuan S, Xu H, Ip JP, Jiang Z , Zhai L, Wu J, Zhang Y, Mahato AK, Saarma M, Lin CY, Kwan HY, Huang T, Lyu A, Zhou Z , Bian ZX*, Wong HL*. Body weight regulation via MT1-MMP-mediated cleavage of GFRAL. Nat Metab. 2022 Feb 17. 19. Shuai H, Chan JF, Hu B, Chai Y, Yuen TT, Yin F, Huang X, Yoon C, Hu JC, Liu H, Shi J, Liu Y, Zhu T, Zhang J, Hou Y, Wang Y, Lu L, Cai JP, Zhang AJ, Zhou J, Yuan S, Brindley MA, Zhang BZ, Huang JD , To KK, Yuen KY*, Chu H*. Attenuated replication and pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 Omicron. Nature. 2022 Jan 21.
Research Highlights Come Learn about our School's Research Dr. Ruben Hervas Millan What underlies the making of a memory?
Proteins, the penultimate output of the genome, are the workhorses in the cell. Normally, any given protein function is determined by its three-dimensional structure (fold/shape), the ultimate and functional genome output, which emerge from a complex biochemical process – the protein folding. Among many different protein folds, the amyloid fold corresponds with an aggregated protein state characterized by a filamentous morphology and specific structural attributes. Remarkably, in the human nervous system, amyloids are generally considered an unintended byproduct and are associated with various neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's or Parkinson’s. However, although structurally related, a different type of amyloids, known as functional amyloids, have been proposed to participate in an array of physiological processes in humans, including pigmentation, the storage of peptide hormones, antimicrobial responses, regulated necrosis, animal development or even memory persistence, among others.
Although our understanding of the principles that govern pathological amyloid aggregation is increasing, how amyloids could be functional entities remains poorly
understood. This is due, in part, to the lack of high-resolution structural information of functional amyloids isolated from their endogenous environment. Thus, the coupling of structural information with orthogonal data, such as activity tests or animal models to test the consequences of amyloid formation and disruption, may unravel new biological mechanisms. In our lab, we are interested in elucidating the structure, using electron cryo-microscopy, and function of amyloids implicated in memory consolidation & animal development. We anticipate that studying the structure of endogenous amyloids could offer insight into the functional consequences of amyloid formation in vivo and into how organisms regulate amyloid
assembly-disassembly to restrict their activity in time and space. Also, understanding differences between functional and pathological amyloids should help us to understand why amyloids are often associated with human diseases, and eventually how protein aggregation-based diseases, such as Alzheimer´s, might be treated.
Dr. Ruben Hervas Millan’s webpage
We need to eat and drink to survive, and so do our cells. To remain productive, cells consume nutrients like sugars, fats, and amino acids and convert them into energy through the mitochondria. While our cells can change their nutrient preferences to ensure their survival, this metabolic elasticity is not without cost. The price of nutrient loss is especially evident in immune cells — our fighters against cancer and infections. Dr. Heidi Ling’s Lab is performing investigations at the interface between the historically distinct disciplines of immunology and metabolism. We specialise in understanding the metabolism of CD8+T cells — killers of malignant cells and foreign invaders. These cells are particularly sensitive to metabolic changes, and glycolysis — the breakdown of glucose for energy, is critically important for CD8+T cell effectiveness. Dr. Heidi Ling Synergising immunity and metabolism to understand diseases
HL Lab is interested in metabolic disruptions during chronic inflammatory diseases, such as cancer and Type 2 diabetes (T2D). We investigate how the nutrient landscape in such conditions undermines the protective function of CD8+T cells, and aim to restore their functions through innovative treatments. Recently, we found that in cancer, CD8+T cells were signalled to shift away from glucose, their preferred metabolic fuel, to fatty acids. This metabolic switch weakened their anti-tumour activity and severed as a barrier to effective cancer immunotherapy. Our other line of research focuses on T2D, where glucose intolerance is evident in all cells including immune cells. Clinical data has associated T2D with an increased vulnerability towards respiratory viral infections e.g. COVID19. We are currently addressing this link through the angle of T cell metabolism.
Dr. Heidi Ling's webpage
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