🧠全世界每一百人就有一人有思覺失調症，他們可能是《我們與惡的距離》裡的應思聰、也可能是天才被疾病遮掩的《美麗境界》裡的John Nash ，或是你身邊那個沒有辦法好好讀完大學、沒有辦法就業的家人和朋友。他們會跟你抱怨總是被你聽不到的聲音困擾，總有人指使他們去做自己不想做的事，他們漸漸不清楚現實和幻想的分野，終至無法維持正常生活。現有的思覺失調症藥物以抑制幻覺為主，但思覺失調症的認知症狀卻沒有藥物可以治療。本研究將跟大家分享目前研究思覺失調症的最新發展，怎麼利用更好的動物模型和動物行為、影像醫學去設計更能幫助思覺失調症患者的藥物。(此演講以中文舉行。 This presentation will be held in Mandarin Chinese.)
▶️ 主題 / Topic:
思覺失調症的轉譯醫學研究：如何設計小鼠模型、利用量化方式研究小鼠認知行為、和利用影像醫學找到數位生物標記和治療目標 (Quantifying Behavioral State Instability and Belief-updating Deficits in a Novel Mouse Model for Schizophrenia)
▶️ 中文摘要 / Abstract:
精神疾病一直鮮少新藥的突破，主要肇因於缺乏良好的動物模型、缺乏適當的動物認知行為量測方式與缺乏生物標記。本研究利用大型外顯子定序（large-scale exome sequencing）找到高風險思覺失調症基因變異、並利用CRISPR將高風險基因變異做成動物模型，之後利用量化決策行為證實此動物模型的決策行為異常，並利用功能性影像找到可能受損腦區。研究發現當利用光遺傳學方式刺激激活該腦區，帶基因變異的小鼠的決策行為有顯著的改善，說明激活此區可能有望治療思覺失調症的認知症狀。此研究提出一個連結動物和臨床研究的架構，並提出一個能量測動物思覺失調症認知症狀的行為量測和量化模型，最後成功利用功能性影像找到治療目標，並利用行為證實其可能療效。
▶️ 預印本連結/ Preprint: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.08.574745v2
▶️ 時間 / Time:
▶️ 活動地點 / Venue: Online event，會議連結將在會議幾天前寄出。
▶️ 報名連結 / RSVP: https://forms.gle/Q7do5ntNBT3nK4Yy6
▶️ 講者 Speakers: Yi-Yun Ho Ph.D. (何逸雲博士)
Dr. Yi-Yun Ho received her BS and MS in physics from National Taiwan University. She then transitioned to study biology system by completing a Masters of Engineering in biomedical engineering and a PhD in neuroscience both at Cornell University. She currently works as a postdoc fellow at McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, where she applies her strength in quantitative models and imaging analysis to study the mechanism and pinpoint treatment targets of psychiatric diseases. Outsides of research, she enjoys traveling, hiking, in-door rock climbing, cooking and painting.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yi-yun-ho-476b995b/
▶️ 主持人 Moderators: Wei-Chao Huang, Ph.D. (黃威超博士)
Wei-Chao is currently working as a postdoctoral associate at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He holds an M.S. in Neuroscience from NYMU in Taiwan and a Ph.D. in Neurobiology from the University of Utah. During his Ph.D. studies, Wei-Chao worked on many projects that used next-generation sequencing to determine the epigenetic mechanisms and allele-specific expression effects. In 2019, he relocated to Boston to work at Amgen. Presently, he is studying the mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disorders through mouse models at the Broad Institute.