John Chua Jia En
Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology
Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
Tel: 6516 5178
Email: phsjcje@nus.edu.sg

What are your present research interests or distinctive viewpoint to your research?

Synapses are key sites of communication between neurons in neural circuitries. The intracellular transport machinery plays pivotal roles in synapse formation and function by supplying essential biomaterials necessary for building various synaptic signalling complexes. Furthermore, continual addition and removal of biomaterials at synapses are essential for maintaining their proper function. Thus, intact synaptic transport is intimately linked to the formation and maintenance of neuronal circuits. We are interested in elucidating cellular transport mechanisms that contribute to synapse establishment and function during the development of neural circuits. Additionally, we are keen to understand how perturbations in synaptic transport eventually lead to the breakdown of different neural circuits in neurodegenerative disorders and during normal aging that, in turn, causes cognitive and behavioural alterations.

What do you see as your future research directions?

Complementing the rodent models we are currently using, we aim to establish human stem cell or iPSC-derived neurons as relevant disease and aging models to study different aspects of synaptic function. We would also like to utilise organoid models to better understand the relationship between synaptic transport and neural circuit formation and how this influences cognition and behaviour.

Does your laboratory have a particularly strong research expertise?

We have strong expertise in working with rat primary neurons and are establishing platforms to derive different types of ESC/iPSC-derived human neurons. The lab has a dedicated wide-field fluorescence microscopy platform for live-cell imaging. We have capabilities to perform fluorescent-based live cell imaging studies to visualise cellular dynamics in relation to protein function.

Recent Publications

1. Koopmans, F. et al. SynGO: An Evidence-Based, Expert-Curated Knowledge Base for the Synapse. Neuron, doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2019.05.002 (2019).
2. Tan, L. H. et al. Enriched Expression of Neutral Sphingomyelinase 2 in the Striatum is Essential for Regulation of Lipid Raft Content and Motor Coordination. Molecular neurobiology 55, 5741-5756, doi:10.1007/s12035-017-0784-z (2018).
3. Liu, C. et al. S-Nitrosylation of Divalent Metal Transporter 1 Enhances Iron Uptake to Mediate Loss of Dopaminergic Neurons and Motoric Deficit. J Neurosci 38, 8364-8377, doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3262-17.2018 (2018).
4. Huang, H. et al. Tissue-selective restriction of RNA editing of CaV1.3 by splicing factor SRSF9. Nucleic Acids Res 46, 7323-7338, doi:10.1093/nar/gky348 (2018).
5. Ho, C. F. et al. Localisation of Formyl-Peptide Receptor 2 in the Rat Central Nervous System and Its Role in Axonal and Dendritic Outgrowth. Neurochemical research 43, 1587-1598, doi:10.1007/s11064-018-2573-0 (2018).