Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2021, Vol. 16 ›› Issue (12): 2403-2404.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.313038

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Combinatorial genetics methods for discovering high-order regulatory combinations and engineering genetic drivers for neural differentiation

Dawn G. L. Thean, Alan S. L. Wong*   

  1. Laboratory of Combinatorial Genetics and Synthetic Biology, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Thean DGL, Wong ASL) ;Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Wong ASL)
  • Online:2021-12-15 Published:2021-05-14
  • Contact: Alan S. L. Wong, PhD, aslw@hku.hk.
  • Supported by:
    The present work was supported by the University of Hong Kong Internal funds, Croucher Foundation Start-up Allowance, and NSFC 2020 Excellent Young Scientists Fund (to ASLW).

Abstract: Researchers are still striving to find better therapeutics to revert or slow down the progression of neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Huntington’s disease. These disorders are the result of neuronal cell death in different parts of the brain. Medications or treatments used to relieve the symptoms in patients have not been well established. They do not recover the damaged neural tissues and can result in unwanted side effects. Therefore, an increasing number of studies look to stem cells as a promising therapeutic, because of their self-renewal capabilities and flexibility of differentiation into desired cell lineages for engraftment into the patient to recover the lost neural tissues. However, before stem cells can be clinically used in treating neurological disorders, there are still areas that require a better understanding to unlock their full potential.