Wei Kai Huang

TL;DR: A pan-caspase inhibitor, emricasan, inhibited ZIKV-induced increases in caspase-3 activity and protected human cortical neural progenitors in both monolayer and three-dimensional organoid cultures, and combination treatments using one compound from each category (neuroprotective and antiviral) further increased protection of human neural progensitors and astrocytes from ZIKv-induced cell death.

TL;DR: The results reveal pathogenic mechanisms underlying ZIKV infection in the developing mammalian brain by systematically introducing individual proteins encoded by ZikV into the embryonic mouse cortex.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors systematically profiled transcriptomes of human neural progenitor cells exposed to Asian ZIKVC, African ZIKVM, and dengue virus (DENV) and found that ZIKV has a more selective and larger impact on expression of genes involved in DNA replication and repair.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors systematically profiled transcriptomes of human neural progenitor cells exposed to Asian ZIKVC, African ZIKVM, and dengue virus (DENV) and found that ZIKV has a more selective and larger impact on expression of genes involved in DNA replication and repair.

TL;DR: In this paper , a membrane protein, podocalyxin-like protein 1 (PODXL) was identified as being essential for extended and primed pluripotency, and it was concluded that cholesterol regulation via PODXL signaling is critical for ESC/EPSC.