Alumni Association
Professor Gennadij Raivich (University College London)
05 December 2011
Joint Research Project
Project title: Collaborative analysis in exploring molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal regeneration
Japanese Lead Scientist: Professor Hiroshi Kiyama, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Osaka City University
Professor Gennadij Raivich, Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, University College London
Project Duration: April 2009 to 2011
Collaborative analysis in exploring molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal regeneration (Professor G Raivich and SP Hunt, both at UCL, London) with Professor Hiroshi Kiyama from Osaka City University)
Our initial collaboration started back in 2008, with funding for exchanges approved by the Japan Society for Promotion of Science and Royal Society in mid-2009. We are particularly interested in identifying master switches that control the regenerative programme, and we started by exploring ways to combine our resources to look at the effects of transcription factors. This pooled mutual expertise – in our case transgenic mutants with neuronal deletion of transcription factors such c-Jun or STAT3, in case of Prof Kiyama, the expertise of monitoring molecular and anatomical changes in the hypoglossal nerve regeneration model.
The experiments performed during the exchanges in 2010 – my stay in Osaka in May/June 2010, and the stay of Prof Kiyama and Dr Isuzu in London in September 2010 - showed that deleting these factors will interfere with most of the molecular changes following nerve injury. Moreover these effects were shown to be uniform across different forms of injured nerves, and revealed a surprising overlap in the Jun and STAT3 actions, despite the fact that those transcription factors do not form cross-dimers, or bind to the same promoter sequences. We are currently following this by exploring the effects of shared target genes, and those in combined STAT3/c-Jun mutants, some of the data were already presented at national conferences in Japan, and first results are slated for publication in 2012. This is a fruitful and prospering collaboration and we are very grateful for the support from the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) and Royal Society.
Last but not least, in my case, it was combined with a short-term visiting professorship at Osaka City University Medical School in May/June 2010 where in addition to the science, I was also involved in giving research seminars and undergraduate teaching in neuroanatomy and cell biology. There was a lot of interest about the differences and similarities in medical education here and there, and it gave me valuable insights as to how things run sometimes very similarly across different cultures.
