CBM Seminar Series - Motor neuron-specific Deleted in Liver Cancer 1-isoform 1 (DLC1-i1) rescues neuromuscular defects in spinal muscular atrophy

The College of Biomedicine was pleased to host Professor Martin Chi Hang CHEUNG, Associate Professor & Associate Director (Research and Innovation), School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, as a distinguished speaker in the CBM Seminar Series on 10 November 2025 (Monday). Professor Cheung is a leading expert in neural crest development and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), with a research focus spanning molecular mechanisms of cell fate specification, motor neuron biology, and neuromuscular disease modeling using patient-derived organoids. He has published extensively in journals such as PNAS, Nature Communications, Advanced Science, and Stem Cell Reports.

In his talk, titled “Motor neuron-specific Deleted in Liver Cancer 1-isoform 1 (DLC1-i1) rescues neuromuscular defects in spinal muscular atrophy” Professor Cheung presented his team’s discovery of DLC1-i1 as a motor neuron-specific factor essential for axon outgrowth and neuromuscular junction formation. Overexpression of DLC1-i1 restored neuromuscular function in SMA organoids and mouse models, acting through both SMN-independent and SMN-enhancing pathways. His findings highlight a promising gene therapy approach to improve existing SMA treatments and address motor neuron vulnerability. The seminar sparked active discussion and underscored the importance of mechanistic insights in developing next-generation therapeutics.