On May 12, Zilong Qiu, investigator of Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences gave an invited lecture entitled non-human primate model of autism.
Autism is a complex mental illness, and the development of animal model is critical for pathological research, drug development and translational research. Qiu’s group developed a transgenic monkey carrying the human autism gene MECP2 autism and did molecular genetic and behavioral analysis of these transgenic monkeys. They found that MECP2 transgenic monkeys showed repetitive locomotion, increased levels of anxiety, and stereotyped behavior social dysfunction, which resemble human autistic patients. This work demonstrated the MECP2 overexpression in the brain directly leads autism phenotype in non-human primates and produced a stably inherited non-human primate model of autism. This is the first non-human primate model of mental illness, which will provide important animal model and research platform for further exploration of the neural mechanisms of autism and potential therapeutic interventions.
Before the lecture, Prof. Qiu had luncheon with graduate students to talk about their lives as graduate students and research trainings. After the lecture, Prof. Qiu met with professors in Life Sciences about their academic experiences.
