(EN) A collaboration work between School of Biomedical Sciences (SBS), CUHK, and Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong (HKU) revealed that SARS-CoV-2 #Omicron variants can invade and better replicate in human neuronal cells.

The team of Prof. Albert Cheung Hoi-hung from SBS, CUHK generated human forebrain and midbrain organoids from pluripotent stem cells, and Prof. Chu Hin’s group from HKU tested the viral invasion and replication in these organoids. The results showed that Omicron variants caused more neuronal deaths, raising a concern of the neurological complications in COVID-19 patients.

The findings have been published in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-022-01241-2.