Prof. Jian Feng from the State University of New York at Buffalo Visits GIBH

Prof. Jian Feng from the State University of New York at Buffalo visited GIBH, and gave a seminar on the afternoon of July 2nd, 2012. His presentation was entitled “The Role of Parkin in Parkinson's Disease”. Dr. Miguel A. Esteban from the South China Institute of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at GIBH hosted the seminar.

Prof. Jian Feng introduced his discovery of Parkinson’s disease mechanism, and highlighted how to successfully using human pluripotent stem cells derived dopaminergic neurons to model Parkinson disease progression. His research team found mutations of parkin cause increased spontaneous release of dopamine and reduced dopamine uptake, thereby disrupting the precision of dopaminergic transmission. The team also noted that transcription of monoamine oxidase is greatly increased when parkin is mutated. This markedly increases dopamine oxidation and oxidative stress, thereby leading to neural degeneration. The findings was published in the journal Nature Communication (2011).

After the seminar, Prof. Jian Feng had in-depth discussion with researchers at GIBH.