Dr Bing Song's Research Highlights

After 2 years visiting in Photon Medical Research Centre, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine in Japan, Dr Bing Song joined the wound healing centre led by Professors Colin McCaig and Min Zhao in School of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen. In the past 8 years, Dr Song and co-workers have been concentrating on molecular and genetic mechanisms of electric signals controlled directional cell migration and oriented cell division during wound healing. Models they are using include: cornea and skin wound healing model; Dictyostelium; stem cells. In 2006, Together with Professor Min Zhao, Dr Song and co-workers discovered two genes – PI3K and PTEN which are essential in regulating electric signals controlled cell migration in wound healing. This work has been published in Nature (Nature 2006. 442: 457-60), and this paper has been selected as “The Top 12 Biology Stories in 2006” by Discover magazine. Dr Song was awarded a prestigious Royal Society University Research Fellowship in 2005, and was promoted to a Royal Society URF Senior Lecturer in 2007.

Dr Song is actively collaborating with the following groups:

1. Internally collaborating with the following groups:

A.    With Professor C McCaig (School of Medical Sciences, Aberdeen University, UK) on molecular and genetic mechanisms of nerve regeneration, cytokinesis of directional cell migration during wound healing.

B.     With Professor J Forrester (Head of Dept of Ophthalmology, Aberdeen University, UK) on molecular and genetic control of cornea wound healing.

C.     With Professors M Cotter and N Cameron (School of Medical Sciences, Aberdeen University) on promoting better wound healing with electric stimulation in diabetes.

D.    With Dr S Shen (School of Medical Sciences, Aberdeen University) on the role of PAC1 receptor in brain development.

E.     With Professor K Doherty (School of Medical Sciences, Aberdeen University) on directional cell migration control of stem cells.

F.      With Dr I Gibson (Department of Chemistry, Aberdeen University) on biomedical application of nanomaterials to promote better wound healing.

G.    With Dr Bin Wang (School of Engineering, Aberdeen University) to develop electric micro-stimulators in promoting wound healing.

2. Externally collaborating with Dr Chengli Song (Dundee University, UK) on Shape Memory Alloy generated electric micro-stimulator in treating wound healing.

3. Together with Professor M Zhao (University of California, Davis, USA), we are collaborating nationally with Professor Robert Insall (University of Birmingham, UK) on genetic control of directional cell migration.

4.  Together with Professor M Zhao, we are collaborating internationally with Professors Peter Devreotes (Director, Dept of Cell Biology, Johns Hopkins University, USA), Henry Bourne (Director, Dept of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, UCSF, USA), Richard Firtel (Chair, Dept of Cell and Development Biology, UCSD, USA) and Josef Penninger (Director, IMBA, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria), on molecular and genetic control of directional cell migration in wound healing.