Recently, Professor Yuming Wang’s research team from the School of Basic Medical Science published a paper entitled “Rat Model of Cockayne Syndrome Neurological Disease” in the international academic journal Cell Reports (paper link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2019.09.028). It was the first time that a rat model was successfully generated for Cockayne syndrome by mimicking the mutations observed in patients. The work demonstrated that the disease rat exhibited DNA repair defects and neurodevelopmental abnormalities similar to patients. Moreover, researchers found that the neuropathological features in the rat model is closely related to gene expression dysregulation. Professor Wang’s team has been dedicated to exploring the molecular mechanisms underlying children’s neurogenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders for many years. This work has provided a valuable animal model for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of Cockayne syndrome.

Professor Yuming Wang from the School of Basic Medical Science of GMU is the only corresponding author of the paper. Yingying Xu, Zhenzhen Wu (graduate students of GMU) and associate professor Lingyun Liu (from Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine) are the co-first authors of the paper. Guangzhou Medical University is the first and the only corresponding institution.

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.