QB3 Berkeley / Lu Song

Lu Song

Ph.D., 2014, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Berkeley host: Professor Randy Schekman

Research Summary

The neural fate commitment of pluripotent stem cells requires precise regulation. My previous study demonstrated that the transcriptional factor Pou3f1 is essential for the neural fate commitment of pluripotent stem cells by a dual role, activating internal neural induction programs and antagonizing extrinsic neural inhibitory signals.

In spite of the intrinsic regulation during the neural differentiation, exosomes also play an important role in this process. Exosomes are small extracellular vesicles that function in the transport of protein and RNA cargoes between cells. Exosomes could affect a range of important biologic processes, including cellular proliferation and differentiation. However, how exosomes function in the developmental events especially in the neural fate conversion remains unclear. Now, I will explore the underlying mechanism of the package and delivery of exosomes during neural differentiation.

Impact in China

Exosomes could modulate important functions under pathological conditions of central nervous system. Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, which are characterized by the dysfunction and progressive loss of neurons in the brain, have become a social problem all over the world, including in China. My scientific and technological training at UC Berkeley will enable me to explore the mechanisms of exosome-mediated neural fate conversion, which might provide new insights of exosome-mediated neural degeneration and regeneration.

Publications

  1. Chang Xie*, Ya-Ping Zhang*, Lu Song*, Jie Luo, Wei Qi, Jialu Hu, Danbo Lu, Zhen Yang, Jian Zhang, Jian Xiao, Bin Zhou, Jiu-Lin Du, Naihe Jing, Yong Liu, Yan Wang, Bo-Liang Li, Bao-Liang Song, and Yan Yan. Genome editing with CRISPR/Cas9 in postnatal mice corrects a fatal cardiac disease. Cell Research. 2016 (*equal contribution)
  2. Lu Song, Jun Chen, Guangdun Peng, Ke Tang, Naihe Jing. Dynamic Heterogeneity of Brachyuryin Mouse Epiblast Stem Cells Mediates Distinct Response to Extrinsic Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) Signaling. The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 15212–15225, July 15, 2016
  3. Guangdun Peng, Shengbao Suo, Jun Chen, Weiyang Chen, Chang Liu, Fang Yu, Ran Wang, Shirui Chen, Na Sun, Guizhong Cui, Lu Song, Patrick P.L. Tam, Jing-Dong Jackie Han, Naihe Jing. Spatial Transcriptome for the Molecular Annotation of Lineage Fates and Cell Identity in Mid-gastrula Mouse Embryo. Developmental Cell (2016) 36, 681–697.
  4. Lu Song*, Na Sun*, Guangdun Peng, Jun Chen, Jing-Dong Jackie Han, Naihe Jing. Genome-wide ChIP-seq and RNA-seq analyses of Pou3f1 during mouse pluripotent stem cell neural fate commitment. Genomics Data (2015) 375–377 (*equal contribution)
  5. Lingyu Li*, Lu Song*, Chang Liu, Jun Chen, Guangdun Peng, Ran Wang, Pingyu Liu, Janet Rossant, Naihe Jing. Ectodermal progenitors derived from epiblast stem cells by inhibition of Nodal signaling. Journal of Molecular Cell Biology. (2015), 7(5), 455–465 (*equal contribution)
  6. Pingyu Liu, Xiaoyang Dou, Chang Liu, Lingbo Wang, Can Xing, Guangdun Peng, Jun Chen, Fang Yu, Yunbo Qiao, Lu Song, Yuxuan Wu,Chunmei Yue, Jinsong Li, Jing-Dong J. Han, Ke Tang, Naihe Jing. Histone deacetylation promotes mouse neural induction via restriction of Nodal-dependent mesendoderm fate. Nature Communications. 2015 Apr 23;6:6830.
  7. Wanqu Zhu, Xiao Yao, Yan Liang, Dan Liang, Lu Song, Naihe Jing, Jinsong Li, Gang Wang. Mediator Med23 deficiency enhances neural differentiation of murine embryonic stem cells through modulating BMP signaling. Development. 2015,142 (3):465-476.
  8. Ke Tang, Guangdun Peng, Yunbo Qiao, Lu Song, Naihe Jing. The Intrinsic Regulations in Neural Fate Commitment. Development Growth and Differentiation. 2015,57 (2):109-120.
  9. Yunbo Qiao, Xiongjun Wang, Ran Wang, Yuanyuan Li, Fang Yu, Xianfa Yang, Lu Song, Guoliang Xu, Y. Eugene Chin, and Naihe Jing. AF9 Promotes hESC Neural Differentiation through Recruiting TET2 to Neurodevelopmental Gene Loci for Methylcytosine Hydroxylation. Cell Discovery. 15017 (2015)
  10. Qingqing Zhu*, Lu Song*, Guangdun Peng, Na Sun, Jun Chen, Ting Zhang, Nengyin Sheng, Wei Tang, Cheng Qian, Yunbo Qiao, Ke Tang, Jing-Dong Jackie Han, Jinsong Li, Naihe Jing. Pou3f1 promotes neural commitment via activation of neural lineage genes and inhibition of BMP/Wnt signals. eLife. 2014,1-21. (*equal contribution)
  11. Lingyu Li, Chang Liu, Steffen Biechele, Qingqing Zhu, Lu Song, Fredrik Lanner, Naihe Jing, Janet Rossant. Location of transient ectodermal progenitor potential in mouse development. Development. 140(22):4533-43.2013.