Prof. Kwok-Fai So is currently the director of GHM Institute of CNS Regeneration. He became the member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 1999. He is also chair professor in Ophthalmology Department, and Jessie Ho Professor in Neuroscience, in the University of Hong Kong. He is the co-director of the State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at HKU, and co-chairman of the board of director of the China Spinal Cord Injury Network. He received Ph.D. degree from MIT in 1977, and is one of the pioneers in the field of axonal regeneration in visual system. He is the first one to show long-distance regeneration of retinal ganglion cell axons in adult mammalians by peripheral nerve graft. He is currently using both pharmaceutical and non-drug approaches to promote central nervous regeneration, and to improve psychiatric disorders. His research groups have identified neuroprotective and regenerative factors including exercise, small molecules from Chinese herbs, physical therapy and novel bio-materials. He has authored more than 300 original research articles, which have been cited for more than 6500 times. He won the National Natural Science Award of China in 1995, and has been elected as US National Academy of Invention Fellow in 2015.
1.Frost, D. O.,So, K.-F., and Schneider, G. E. (1979) Postnatal development of retinal projections in Syrian hamsters: a study using autoradiographic and degeneration techniques.Neuroscience,4: 1649-1677.
2.So, K.-F., Woo, H. H., and Jen, L. S. (1984) The normal and abnormal postnatal development of retinogeniculate projections in golden hamsters: an anterograde horseradish peroxidase tracing study.Dev Brain Res,12: 191-205.
3.So, K.-F., and Aguayo, A. J. (1985) Lengthy regrowth of cut axons from ganglion cells after peripheral nerve transplantation into the retina of adult rats.Brain Res,328: 349-354.
4.Keirstead, S. A., Vidal-Sanz, M., Rasminsky, M., Aguayo, A. J., Levesque, M., andSo, K.-F.(1985) Responses to light of retinal neurons regenerating axons into peripheral nerve grafts in the rat.Brain Res,359: 402-406.
5.Ng, T. F.,So, K.-F., and Chung, S.K. (1995) Influence of peripheral nerve grafts on the expression of GAP-43 in regenerating retinal ganglion cells in adult hamsters.J Neurocytology,24: 487-496.
6.Cui, Q, Yip, H.K., Zhao, R.C.H.,So, K.-F., and Harvey, A.R. (2003) Intraocular elevation of cyclic AMP potentiates ciliary neurotrophic factor-induced regeneration of adult rat retinal ganglion cell axons.Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience,22: 49-61.
7.Yick, L.-W., Cheung, P.-T.,So, K.-F., and Wu, W. (2003) Axonal regeneration of Clarke’s neurons beyond the spinal cord injury scar after treatment with chondroitinase ABC.Exp Neurology,182: 160-168.
8.Cheung, Z.H., Chan, Y.-M., Siu, F.K.W., Yip, H.K., Wu, W., Leung, M.C.P. andSo, K.-F.(2004) Regulation of caspase activation in axotomized retinal ganglion cells.Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience,25: 383-393
9.Ji, J.-Z., Elyaman, W., Yip, H.K., Lee, V.W.H., Yick, L.-W., Hugon, J., andSo, K.-F.(2004) CNTF promotes survival of retinal ganglion cells after induction of ocular hypertension in rats: the possible involvement of STAT3 Pathway. Eur.J Neuroscience,19(2):265-272.
10.Ellis-Behnke, R.G., Liang, Y.-X., You, S.-W., Tay, D.K.C., Zhang, S.,So, K.-F., Schneider, G.E.(2006) Nano neuro knitting: peptide nanofiber scaffold for brain repair and axon regeneration with functional return of vision,PNAS(Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America), March 28, 103 (13): 5054-5059.
