“Novel and Unexpected Functions of Zebrafish CCAAT Box Binding Transcription Factor (NF-Y) B Subunit during Cartilages Development,” a paper published by Dr. Chen Yau-hung, an Associate Professor of Dept. of Chemistry, is appreciated internationally, and highlighted on the cover of a well-known medical journal Bone.

Before Dr. Chen’s paper was published, scientific field did not know much about NF-YB. Dr. Chen speculated that microcephaly or the miscarriage of 4 to 5 month old fetus due to cranium hypoplasia might be related to the NF-YB gene of human. Since zebrafish’s NF-YB is very similar to human’s NF-YB gene, Dr. Chen and his graduate students spent four year proving that NF-YB is an important gene to zebrafish’s cartilage development.

Dr. Chen plans to work together with doctors of the obstetrics and gynecology department, using zebrafish’s NF-YB as reference to check that whether the damage of the similar gene in human will cause microcephaly and other kinds of cranial malformation. If the assumption is right, the gene can become a marker in the future to identify the abnormal fetus with microcephaly. ( ~Shu-chun Yen )