Professor Seong-Seng Tan
- Professor Seong-Seng Tan
BDS (Malaya) MDS (Adelaide) D.Phil (Oxford) FRACDS (Australia)
Senior Principal Research Fellow
Group Leader, Brain Development Group
Laboratory Head, Brain Development Laboratory
Contact Details
Email: |
Research Interests
- To understand how brain cells are assembled and properly wired together.
- To decipher how abnormal brain development can lead to disorders such as mental retardation, autism and schizophrenia.
- To appreciate how evolution has contributed to the expansion of the human brain leading to complex human traits such as language and consciousness.
- To discover ways of protecting brain cells from cell death during traumatic injury and stroke.
Laboratory Techniques
- Video imaging of live brain cells
- Brain tissue transplantation
- Gene knockouts by homologous recombination
- Transgenic mice
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Gene transfer using viruses
Additional Information
- Prof Tan leads a research team of 15 scientists. He has a strong interest in the workings of the mind and is the founder of the Melbourne Brain and Mind Club. For his research achievements, he was awarded the 1997 Amgen Award for Medical Research.
Publications & Articles (2001 to present)
Please see PubMed.
Hammond, V., Howell, B., Godinho, L. and Tan, S-S. (2001)
Disabled-1 functions cell-autonomously during radial migration and cortical layering of pyramidal neurons.
J. Neurosci. 21: 8798-8808.
Hong, Y., Schleuning, W., Michl, M., Liberatore, G., Tan, S-S. and Medcalf, R.L. (2001)
Control elements beween –9.5 and –3.0 kb in the human tissue-type plasminogen activator gene promoter direct spatial and inducible expression to the murine brain.
Eur. J. Neurosci. 14:1-12
Tan, S-S., Valcanis, H., Kalloniatis, M. Harvey, A. (2002)
Cellular dispersion patterns and phenotypes in the developing mouse superior colliculus.
Dev. Biol. 241:117-131
Gunnersen, J.M., Augustine, C., Spirkoska, V., Kim, M., Brown, M., and Tan, S-S. (2002)
Global analysis of gene expression patterns in developing mouse neocortex using Serial Analysis of Gene Expression (SAGE).
Mol. Cell Neurosci. 19:560-573
Kim, M.H., Gunnersen, J., Augustine, C. and Tan, S-S. (2002)
Region-specific expression of the helix-loop-helix gene BETA3 in developing and adult brains.
Mech. Dev. 114:125-128
Tan, S-S., Gunnersen, J. and Job, C. (2002)
Global gene expression analysis of developing neocortex using SAGE.
Int. J. Dev. Biol. 46:653-660
Martin, L.A., Tan, S-S. and Goldowitz, D. (2002)
Clonal architecture of the mouse hippocampus
J. Neurosci. 22:3520-3520
Stone, L.M., Tan, S-S., Tam, P.P.L. and Finger, T.E. (2002)
Analysis of cell lineage relationships in taste buds.
J. Neurosci. 22:4522-4529.
Tan, S-S (2002)
Cortical Liars (News & Views article)
Nature 417:605-606
Sang, Q., Wu, J., Rao, Y., Hsueh, Y-P. and Tan, S-S (2002)
Slit promotes branching and elongation of neurites of interneurons but not projection neurons from the developing telencephalon.
Mol. Cell Neurosci. 21:250-265.
Kim, M.H., Gunnersen, J.M. and Tan, S-S (2002)
Localised expression of the seizure-related gene SEZ-6 in developing and adult forebrains.
Mech. Dev. 118:171-174.
Heng, J.I.T. and Tan, S-S (2002)
Cloning and characterisation of GRIPE, a novel interacting partner of the transcription factor E12 in developing mouse forebrain.
J. Biol. Chem. 277: 43152-43159
Sang, Q. and Tan, S-S (2003)
Contact-associated neurite outgrowth and branching of juvenile cortical interneurons Cereb.
Cortex 13:677-683.
Job, C.W. and Tan S-S (2003)
Constructing the mammalian neocortex – the role of intrinsic factors.
Dev. Biol. 257:221-232
Blackshaw, S., Kuo, W.P., Park, P.J., Tsujikawa, M., Gunnersen, J.M., Scott, H.S., Boon, W-M., Tan, S-S., Cepko, C.L. (2003)
MicroSAGE is highly representative and reproducible, but reveals major differences in gene expression among samples obtained from similar tissues.
Genome Biology 4:R17
Takagi, N., Sugimoto, M., Yamaguchi, S., Ito, M., Tan, S-S. and Okabe, M. (2003)
Non-random X Chromosome Inactivation in Mouse Embryos Carrying Searle’s T(X;16)16H Translocation Visualized using X-linked lacZ and GFP Transgenes Cytogenet. Genome Res. 99:52-58
Valcanis, H. and Tan, S-S (2003)
Layer specification of transplanted interneurons in developing mouse neocortex.
J. Neurosci. 23:5113-5122
Heng, J.I.T. and Tan, S-S (2003)
The role of class I HLH genes in neural development – have they been overlooked?
Bioessays 25:709-716
Sugimoto, M., Karashima, Y., Abe, K., Tan, S.S. and Takagi, N. (2003)
Tetraploid embryos rescue the early defects of tw5/tw5 mouse embryos.
Genesis 37: 162-171
Hammond, V., Tsai, L-H, and Tan, S-S. (2004)
Control of cortical neuron migration and layering: cell and non cell-autonomous effects of p35.
J. Neurosci. 24:576-587 (cover feature)
Beissbarth, T., Hyde, L., Smyth, G.K., Job, C., Boon, W.M., Tan, S-S., Scott, H.S., and Speed, T.P.(2004)
Statistical modeling of sequencing errors in SAGE libraries.
Bioinformatics; 20 Supplement 1:131-139.
Koukoulas, I., Augustine, C., Silkenbeumer, N., Gunnersen, J., Scott, H., and Tan, S-S. (2004)
Genomic organisation and nervous system expression of radial spoke protein 3.
Gene 336:15-23
Boon, W-M., Beissbarth, T., Hyde, L., Smyth, G. Gunnersen, J., Denton, D.A., Scott, H. and Tan, S-S. (2004)
A comparative analysis of transcribed genes in the mouse hypothalamus and neocortex reveals chromosomal clustering.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101:14972-14977
Moore, R., Champeval, D., Denat, L., Tan, S-S., Faure, F., Julien-Grille, S., and Larue, L. (2004)
Involvement of cadherins 7 and 20 in mouse embryogenesis and melanocyte transformation.
Oncogene 23:6726-6735
Morley, S.D., Chang, S-P., Tan, S-S., and West, J.D. (2004)
Validity of the 21-OH/LacZ transgenic mouse as a model for studying adrenocortical cell lineage.
Endo. Res. 30: 513-519
Kim, M.H., Gunnersen, J.M., and Tan, S-S. (2005)
Mph2 expression in germinal zones of the mouse brain
Dev. Dyn. 232:209-215
George, A.J., Holsinger, R.M., McLean, C.A., Tan, S-S., Scott, H.S., Cardamone, T., Cappai, R., Masters, C.L. and Li, Q.X. (2005).
Decreased phosphatidylethanolamine binding protein expression correlates with Abeta accumulation in the Tg2576 mouse model of Alzheimer's disease
Neurobiol. Aging 27:614-623
Hammond, V., So, E., Gunnersen, J., Valcanis, H., Kalloniatis, M. and Tan, S-S (2006)
Layer positioning of late-born cortical interneurons is dependent upon Reelin but not p35 signaling (this paper was highlighted by J. Neuroscience for the issue)
J. Neurosci. 26:1646-1655
Britto, J.M., Obata, K., Yanagawa, Y. and Tan, S-S (2006).
Migratory response of interneurons to different regions of the developing cortex.
Cereb. Cortex 16:i57-63
Sang, Q, Kim, M., Kumar, S., Bye, B., Morganti-Kossman, M.C., Gunnersen, J., Fuller, S., Howitt, J., Hyde, L., Beissbarth, T., Scott, H.S., Silke,, J. and Tan, S-S (2006)
Nedd4-WW domain-binding protein 5 (Ndfip1) is associated with neuronal survival following acute cortical brain injury.
J. Neurosci. 26:7234-7244
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