Home > About HKUST > Media Relations > Press Releases > HKUST Researchers Find Possible Mechanisms of Human Brain Disorders That May Shed Light on New Treatments
HKUST Researchers Find Possible Mechanisms of Human Brain Disorders
That May Shed Light on New Treatments
31-08-2016
A research team led by Prof Mingjie Zhang, Kerry Holdings Professor of Science of the Division of Life Science at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), has achieved a breakthrough that provides mechanistic insights into the causes that lead to various neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism, intellectual disorders (ID) and schizophrenia. With their discoveries, new treatments for these disorders may be developed in near future.
All neurons in our brain are wired via a micron-sized connection unit called synapse, and each synapse contains a layer of densely-packed, protein-rich compartment called postsynaptic density (PSD), which is responsible for brain signal processing and transmission. While the existence of PSDs has been known to scientists for 60 years, how PSDs form and change in response to brain activities are poorly understood.
In Prof Zhang’s study, the team discovered that two abundant protein molecules in PSDs – SynGAP and PSD-95 – that are known to cause autism when genetic mutations alter the molecules’ interactions can form an
autonomously-assembled network structure. Most surprisingly, the protein assembly can form stable “oil-like” droplets in living cells via a phenomenon called phase transition. Importantly, the team also found that defects of the proteins identifed in brains of autistic patients alter the “oil-like” droplets formation and thus change the synaptic signaling activity of neurons – a mechanism that may explain the cause of the genetic disease. The research fndings were published in the top scientifc journal Cell on August 25, 2016.
Prof Zhang said, “Our studies of the SynGAP/PSD-95 complex formation have led to an unexpected fnding that sees a very fundamental physical phenomenon called phase transition in living neurons to place different functional units at specifc cellular locations. Our work also provides insights into why genetic mutations altering the interactions of proteins can contribute to a spectrum of central nervous system diseases that currently have no treatments. We believe that our discovery will inspire new ways to develop therapeutic methods for these devastating diseases.”
“This study is only the beginning of teasing out how other proteins collectively contribute to the formation and brain activity-dependent alterations of PSD. We are also interested in trying to fnd out whether other synapses, the neuron-muscle connections for an example, also adopt the phase transition strategy to build their PSDs in response to different activities,” added Mr Menglong Zeng, frst author of the Cell paper and a PhD student in Prof Zhang’s lab.
Prof Mingjie Zhang and his PhD student Mr Menglong Zeng with their research paper published in the top scientifc journal Cell on August 25, 2016
Prof Zhang puts a protein sample into the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer to investigate its molecular structure
Prof Zhang’s research discovers that mice with mutation of SynGAP have hyper-excited synapses and show autistic symptoms
Prospective Students Current Students Faculty & Staff Alumni Donors Visitors Media Community
People Scholarly Publications HKUST Google 简体 | 繁體
ABOUT HKUST ACADEMICS ADMINISTRATION RESEARCH ADMISSIONS GLOBAL CONNECTIONS LIFE@HKUST
For media enquiries, please contact: Sherry No Tel: 2358 6317 Email: sherryno@ust.hk Johnny Tam Tel: 2358 8556 Email: johnnytam@ust.hk
Explore the Site Map Library myPortal Giving Jobs@HKUST Contact Us
