Time: 2012. 6.28 （Thu） 10AM

Place:  IOZ C101

Title: Neural differentiation for translational medicine

Speaker: Su-Chun Zhang. Professor, Neuroscience,Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison,USA.

Dr. Zhang’s laboratory focuses on addressing how functionally diversified neuronal and glial subtypes are born in the building and rebuilding of our human brain. They have developed models of neural differentiation from mouse, monkey, and human pluripotent stem cells, including embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and have successfully directed hPSCs to regionally and functionally specialized neural cellsand region-specific astrocyte subtypes. They have also discovered regulatory mechanisms that are quite unique to human neural development, such as identifying Pax6 as a transcriptional determinant of the neuroectoderm. They are currently dissecting the transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of neuroectodermal induction and neural subtype specification. In parallel, they are establishing iPSCs and reprogramming neural cells from skin tissues of patients with neurological disorders, such asALS, SMA, Huntington’s disease, Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s diseasefor disease modeling and drug discovery

Selected Publication:

Ma L, Hu BY, Liu Y, Vermilyea SC, Liu H, Gao L, Sun Y, Zhang X , Zhang SC (2012): Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived GABA Neurons Correct Locomotion Deficits in Quinolinic Acid-Lesioned Mice. Cell Stem Cell, 10(4):455–464.

Weick JP, Liu Y, Zhang SC (2011): Human embryonic stem cell-derived neurons participate in and modulate neural network activity. . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 108:29108-194.

Krencik R., Weick JP, Liu Y, Zhang Z, Zhang SC (2011): Specification of transplantable astrocyte subtypes from human pluripotent stem cells. .Nature Biotechnol, 29: 528-534.

Zhang X, Huang CT, Chen J, Pankratz MT, Xi J, Li J, Yang Y, LaVaute TM, Li XJ, Ayala M, Bondarenko GI, Z Du ZW, Jin Y, Golos TG, Zhang SC (2010): Pax6 Is a Human Neuroectoderm Cell Fate Determinant. .Cell Stem Cell, 7: 90-100.

Hu B.Y., Weick J., Yu J. Zhang X.., Ma L., Thomson J.A., Zhang SC (2010): Neural Differentiation of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Follows Developmental Principles but with Variable Potency. .Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 107: 4335-4340.

Cantact：64806297　Prof. HU bao-yang