NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) for FY 2013 in Taiwan

Chen Jerry S, San Diego CA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds Jerry Chen of San Diego State University to conduct a research project in Biology during the summer of 2013 at Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan. The project title is "What Makes a Neuron: Genetic Analysis of Essential Nervous System Genes in a Primitive Marine Invertebrate." The host scientist is Jr-Kai Yu in the Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology. With Dr. Yu, the Fellow is using the marine invertebrate amphioxus to study the conservation, expression and interaction of the proneural transcription factors Pou4, NeuroD, MyTF and Ash, as well as the proneural microRNAs miR-9 and miR-124. Collectively, these genes are essential to nervous system development in humans, as several recent studies have shown that expression of these genes can convert human stem cells into functional neurons, and dysfunction of these genes results in various neurological diseases. Using DNA sequence alignment tools along with in situ hybridization, this project is determining the conservation and expression patterns of these genes in developing amphioxus embryos. The Fellow is also performing experiments eliminating the expression of each of these genes to determine how these genes interact with each other. Such experiments cannot be done in humans, which is the motivation for doing this work in amphioxus. And since the nervous system of amphioxus is similar to that of human, such genetic analyses give us insight into the how the human nervous system develops. Broader impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce. Furthermore, upon return to the U.S., the Fellow will present his research at local and national research conferences, and will also become actively involved in promoting specific collaborations with the research faculty and colleagues he meets in Taiwan.