Dr. Bon-Chu Chung (Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan)

2016. 03. 17 (Thu) 16:00 ~ 17:00

Conf. Room, Myodaiji (111)

Spectrography and Bioimaging Facility, Yasuhiro Kamei (7535)

     Steroids are widely used in medicine and are notorious for their side effects. We aim to study novel functions of steroids in the body and their regulation, with an emphasis of steroid biosynthesis. Three different aspects of steroid regulation have been the focus of our investigation.
 

I. Actions of neurosteroid pregnenolone

     We would like to examine the action of neurosteroids in the brain in order to find a better neurosteroid for the treatment of brain diseases. We previously showed that neurosteroid pregnenolone promotes cell migration by binding to and activating microtubule-binding protein CLIP-170 to stabilize microtubules. Current research focuses on the mechanism of dynamic neurosteroid actions.
 

II. Regulation and functions of steroidogenic genes

     The first two steps of steroid synthesis are catalyzed by enzymes encoded by CYP11A and HSD3B. In addition to influencing reproduction and endocrine metabolism, we showed that zebrafish cyp11a1 and hsd3b2 controls embryo morphogenesis. Their action mechanism during morphogenesis will bring novel insight about steroid actions.
 

III. Regulation of zebrafish gonad development

     Zebrafish has been a popular model organism for genetic analysis, but the control of its gonad development is unclear. We would like to understand the factors that control gonad differentiation and sex determination. Both methods of candidate gene approach and transcriptome analysis will be used to understand the mode of germ cell differentiation.
 

＊Dr. Chung will also introduce about biological researches in Taiwan.