Dr . Youngjin Lee of Assistant Professor Dept. of Biomedical Sciences City University of Hong Kong

The
central nervous system ( consumes very high levels of
energy Thus, altered energy metabolism is associated with
serious neuronal dysfunction, neurodevelopmental defect, and
neurodegeneration in certain neurological disorders as well as it
can have an effect on the malignant progression of CNS tumors,
including glioma and medullablastoma Glucose is the essential
energy substrate for the CNS Nonetheless, in certain conditions
such as oxygen and glucose deficiency, during the neonatal
period, or under the progression of brain cancer,
monocarboxylates including lactate and ketone body, are
consumed by the CNS as energy fuels and bio precursors
Monocarboxylates
are co transported along with protons across
the plasma membrane by monocarboxylate transporters 1 to 4
(MCTs 1 4 The in vivo distribution and role of MCT 1 a major CNS
lactate transporter, has been identified by us and other
colleagues
We
are now investigating the function of MCT 1 and its ancillary
protein, CD 147 in neurodevelopment and glioma progression via
using both animal models in vivo and cell models in vitro We are
also investigating the inhibitors for MCT 1 /CD 147 for the potential
therapeutics in neurodevelopment disorders and glioma For
example, we have found that glioma cells are susceptible to the
gene silencing and chemical inhibition for MCT 1 and CD 147
Recently, we have also found the crucial role of MCT 1 and CD 147
in glioma progression via exosomes, which can be precisely
detected by LSPR and AFM biosensors

Biography:

Dr
Youngjin Lee received his Bachelor’s and
Master’s degree from the School of Pharmacy at
the Sungkyunkwan University in Korea After
working a few years as a clinical pharmacist, he
moved to United States for studying neuroscience
at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
Medical Center, and he began to do research on
glial biology in the central nervous system (
under the guidance of Dr Michael Brenner After
completion of his PhD thesis in 2007 he joined
Jeffrey Rothstein’s lab in the school of medicine
at the Johns Hopkins University for postdoctoral
training in 2009 and he has investigated the role
of glia in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
pathogenesis before joining the Department of
Biomedical Sciences at the City University of
Hong Kong in 2015 During graduate and
postdoctoral training, he significantly
contributed to understanding the property and
role of glia, including astroglia and
oligodendroglia, in health and disease He was a
recipient of the Research Fellowship Award from
the Health Fellowship Foundation in Korea
1996 and the W Barry Wood, Jr Research
Award at the Johns Hopkins University in USA
2013 Dr Lee also was a principal investigator
on Development Grant from Muscular Dystrophy
Association 2011 2014