MBI Weekly Meeting

Time: 10am
Date: Friday, 25 February 2022
Venue: Online seminar via ZOOM

Understanding human neuropathology with human neural cells

By Alfred Sun, Principal Investigator, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore

Abstract:

Complementary to animal models, human neural cells are emerging as a useful tool to understand human brains and model human neurological diseases, pivoting on the idea that human specific features may be manifested better with human cells. Here in this talk I shall share some of my past works on human neural cells  and my future plans continuing this line of research, ideally with collaborative inputs from experts of other disciplines (MBI!). My interest in this area of research started in graduate school when I co-discovered neurogenic microRNAs that act as powerful fate-switchers in directly converting human dermal fibroblasts to neurons. Continuing this line of research, I spend several years of my postdoc identifying and optimizing genetic factors that could efficiently and robustly generate electrically mature excitatory and inhibitory neurons. Functional investigation of these induced neurons and 3D brain organoids led me to uncover a novel potassium channel dysfunction that underlies epilepsy in Angelman syndrome. Concurrently, I am part of a team that developed world-first human organoid model that resembles the midbrain, and I am applying it to understand neurodegeneration, focusing on Parkinson’s disease.

Find Help
Non MBI staff who are interested in attending should contact Qiao Jing at mbilqj@nus.edu.sg for Zoom details. If you are having difficulty connecting, contact the MBI ITCore at mbit@nus.edu.sg.