A recent publication in Nature Communications by the Gerald Choa Neuroscience Centre reports our discovery of a limbic circuit that plays a critical role in emotional stress response manifested as repetitive behaviors. The paper was featured in the the journal’s Editors’ Highlight webpage:
https://www.nature.com/collections/mjkksldswr/content/christian-schnell
GCNC update (10 December 2019)
World Championship of the International Brain Bee Competition
Prof. Wing-Ho Yung, Director of the Gerald Choa Neuroscience Centre, was invited to serve as a judge in the World Championship of the International Brain Bee Competition (https://thebrainbee.org/competition/2019/) held in September 2019 in Daegu during the 10th International Brain Research Organization World Congress
CUHK Press Releases (11 June 2018)
CUHK study discovers pathway that links to cognitive flexibility Dopamine dysregulation may lead to ability impairment.
Click here for more details
GCNC update (11 May 2018)
GCNC hosted a visit for budding neuroscientists!
The Gerald Choa Neuroscience Centre has hosted a visit for the finalists of the Hong Kong Brain Bee Competition on 11 May 2018. The 5 finalists are secondary school students competing for a place to represent Hong Kong in the International Brain Bee Competition to be held in Germany later in the year. The local competition is organized by the Hong Kong Brain Foundation and led by Dr. Stephanie Au-Yeung. As part of the “Meeting with Professors” tuition program, members of the Gerald Choa Neuroscience Centre including CUHK professors, postdoctoral fellows, PhD students and medical students introduced some basic neuroscience concepts and current neuroscience research programs to the students, to help them prepare for the Brain Bee Competition Final.
Seminar (2 March 2018)
Title: The Sedative Effect of the Cholinergic Transmission in the Habenulo-interpeduncular Pathway in Social Conflict
Speaker: Dr. Hitoshi Okamoto, Deputy Director & Senior Team Leader, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Japan Date: 2 March, 2018 Time: 11:00am - 12:00nn Venue: Room G02, Lo Kwee-Seong Integrated Biomedical Sciences Building, Area 39, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Gerald Choa Neuroscience Centre Helps Discover an Essential Enzyme to Maintain Body Iron Homeostasis
The Gerald Choa Neuroscience Centre contributed to a discovery that mice with a deficiency in the enzyme “cystathionine β-synthase (CBS)” displayed hemochromatosis-like symptoms, which means excess iron content in the serum and liver, along with damage to major organs. Since CBS deficiency could cause abnormal brain functions, further work will be conducted to investigate the role of CBS in the brain. Click here for more details
Seminar (24 January 2018)
Title: Deciphering neural circuits to develop new anti-anxiety medications
Speaker: Dr. Andrew Holmes, Chief of Laboratory of Behavioral and Genomic Neuroscience, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute of Health, USA Date: 24 January, 2018 Time: 11:00am Venue: Room G02, Lo Kwee-Seong Integrated Biomedical Sciences Building, Area 39, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Seminar (28 August 2017)
Title: Synaptic Organization of Visual Space in Primary Visual Cortex
Speaker: Dr. María Florencia Iacaruso , Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford Date: 28 August, 2017 Time: 2:30pm Venue: Room G02, Lo Kwee-Seong Integrated Biomedical Sciences Building, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Seminar (12 July 2017)
Title: Ins and Outs of dendritic integration: Simultaneous dendritic voltage and calcium imaging and somatic recording from Purkinje neurons in awake mice.
Speaker: Prof. Bernd Kuhn, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University Date: 12 July, 2017 Time: 9:30am Venue: G02, School of Biomedical Sciences, Area 39, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Seminar (10 July 2017)
Title: Learning and sleep-dependent dendritic spine plasticity and maintenance
Speaker: Prof. Wenbiao GAN, Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, Dept of Physiology and Neuroscience, New York University Date: 10 July, 2017 Time: 9:30am Venue: G02, School of Biomedical Sciences, Area 39, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
CUHK’s Gerald Choa Neuroscience Centre Unveils Mystery of How Brain Learns Motor Skills
A recent study led by the newly established Gerald Choa Neuroscience Centre of the Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) unveils the intricate processes of motor memory formation taking place in the brain. The research team applied sophisticated neurophysiological techniques to record activities from neurons of experimental rats. The findings explain how higher animals master a new motor skill and help understand the malfunctions of the nervous system in Parkinson’s disease, stroke and many other motor disorders so that better therapies can be developed. Study results have just been published in the top international scientific journal Nature Communications. Click here for more details
Prof. W.H. Yung, Director of the Gerald Choa Neuroscience Centre, has recently paid an academic visit to RIKEN Brian Science Institute, Japan, and delivered a talk on “Refinement of learned skilled movement representation in the motor cortex” on 23 June 2017. The seminar was hosted by Dr. Shigeyoshi Itohara, Head of Laboratory of Behavioral Genetics.
Click here for more details
We are happy to announce that, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Society of Neurosciences, the Gerald Choa Neuroscience Centre is sponsoring the 2017 Hong Kong Advanced School of Neuroscience organized by the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO). This IBRO Advanced School will be held from 2nd to 15th July 2017 at the Chinese University of Hong and the University of Hong Kong. Selected participants from the Asian-Pacific region will attend seminars, learn advanced neuroscience techniques and interact with senior neuroscientists.
