Professor Email: bokchow@ust.hk

Dr Chow uses Caenorhabditis elegans as a primary genetic model to examine how differentiation of body shape and sensory organs are controlled by multiple genetic components acting in the BMP signaling pathway and a network of transcription factors dictating cell differentiation events. Regulators of the signaling event are of particular interest. Both biochemical and genetic approaches are adopted to dissect these functions and their molecular mode of operation, which is also evaluated in cell culture and other animal models to confirm their biological significance.

The completion of organogenesis is followed by the forming of specific organ morphology and the wiring of neural network. The nematode sensory rays and cephalic neurons are used as the experimental paradigms for studying the establishment of form and shape of organs as well as their cellular connectivity. Currently, a handful of genetic components are actively being characterized. These genes encode products that represent molecular cascades controlling proper matrix organization, paracrine signaling, cell shape determination, and cell adhesion that eventually determine the functionality of male-specific sensory organs in worm for both locating the mating partner and executing the stereotyped mating behavior.

Representative Publications

1. Tsang, S.W.H., Shek, K.F., Lee, J.T.Y. and Chow, K.L. (2009) An Evolutionarily Conserved Nested Gene Pair - Mab21 and Lrba/Nbea in Metazoan. Genomics (Accepted) 
    
2. Tsang, S.W.H. and Chow, K.L. (2009) Mouse embryo cryopreservation utilizing a novel high-capacity vitrification spatula. Biotechniques 46:468-472 
    
3. Lin, L., Chow, K.L. and Leng, Y. (2009) Study of hydroxyapatite osteoinductivity with an osteogenic differentiation assay using mesenchymal stem cells. J Biomaterial Res. A 89: 326-335
    
4. Lin, L., Chow, K.L. and Leng, Y. (2008) Study of hydroxyapatite osteoinduction with osteo-specific gene expression of stem cell. Key Engineering Materials 361-363:1005-1008.
    
5. Tsang, S.W., Nguyen, C.Q., Hall, D.H. and Chow, K.L. (2007) MAB-7 is a novel transmembrane protein that orchestrates C. elegans sensory ray morphogenesis. Developmental Biology 312: 353-366
    
6. Wong, Y.F., Ko, F.C.F., Cheah, K.S.E. and Chow, K.L. (2007) crm-1 facilitates BMP signaling to control the body size in C. elegans. Developmental Biology 311:95-105
    
7. Choy, S.S.W., Wong, Y.M., Ho, S.S.H. and Chow, K.L. (2007) C. elegans SIN-3 and its associated HDAC corepressor complex act as mediators of male sensory ray development. Biochem. Biophy. Res. Comm. 358:802-807
    
8. Chasnov, J.R., So, Q.W.K., Chan, G.C.M. and Chow, K.L. (2007) The species-, sex-, and stage-specificity of a Caenorhabditis sex pheromone. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 6730-6735
    
9. Chu, K.W., Chan, S.K.W. and Chow, K.L. (2005) Improvement of heavy metal stress and toxicity assays by coupling a transgenic reporter in a mutant nematode strain. Aquatic Toxicol. 74: 320-332
    
10. Ko, F.C.F. and Chow, K.L. (2003) A mutation at the start codon defines the differential requirement of dpy-11 in C. elegans body hypodermis and male tail. Biochem. Biophy. Res. Comm. 309:201-208

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