Cheng, Hwai-Jong
Axonal Connection, Hippocampus, and Aging
We are interested in axon guidance, a research field that deals with everything about how the neuronal network in our brain is built and refined during early development and matures and changes throughout the entire lifetime. By combining molecular, cellular, histological, genetic, and electrophysiological approaches, our laboratory seeks to comprehensively understand the formation and modification of brain circuits. Mouse is the main model system utilized to address these issues, but we had experiences in using other model organisms such as chick, ferret, and C. elegans as well.
One of the fundamental questions we would like to understand is the intricate regulatory processes to generate the neuronal network that on one hand is stereotyped enough to allow universal human brain functions, but on the other hand is plastic enough to create individual differences. Such passion has led to our recent focus on the issues concerning how the adult-generated neurons functionally integrate into the mature circuits in the hippocampus and how aging processes can alter this integration. Given the known role of hippocampus in learning and memory, we hope our research will ultimately provide basic insight into the fundamental understanding of memory loss in aged population – a question that is highly related to human mental health in general.
Selected Recent Publications:
- Murray, K.D., Liu, X.-B., King, A.N., Luu, J. and Cheng, H.-J.. Age-related changes in synaptic plasticity associated with mossy fiber terminal integration during adult neurogenesis. eNeuro 7(3):ENEURO.0030-20 (2020).
- Chen, S.-Y., Ho, C.-T., Liu, W.-W., Lucanic, M., Shih, H.-M., Huang, P.-H. and Cheng, H.-J.. Regulation of axon repulsion by MAX-1 SUMOylation and AP-3. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 115: E8236-E8245 (2018).
- Davis, Z.W., Chapman, B., and Cheng, H.-J.. Increasing spontaneous retinal activity before eye opening accelerates the development of geniculate receptive fields. J. Neurosci. 35:14612-14623 (2015).
- Failor, S., Chapman, B., and Cheng, H.-J.. Retinal waves regulate afferent terminal targeting in the early visual pathway. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 112: E2957-E2966 (2015).
- Liu, W.-W., Chen, S.-Y., Cheng, C.-H., Cheng, H.-J. and Huang, P.-H.. Blm-s, a BH3-only protein enriched in postmitotic immature neurons, is transcriptionally upregulated by p53 during DNA damage. Cell Reports 9: 166-179 (2014).