Biology and Medicine Panel (General Research Fund and Other Funding Schemes for Individual Research)
( as at 12 December 2025 )
Member Sphere of Interest
Chairman
Professor Hongtao Yu* Interests in combining cell biological, biochemical, and biophysical methods; to understand cellular mechanisms governing genomic stability at the molecular and atomic levels
Deputy Panel Chairman
Professor Xiao-fan Wang* Interests in surgery, elucidation of molecular nature and signaling mechanisms associated with the initiation of cellular senescence and development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of various types of human cancer
Members
Professor Patrick Brennan* Interests in Exploring novel technologies and techniques that enhance the detection of clinical indicators of disease, whilst minimising risk to the patient
Professor Bang Bui* Interests in vision, improving tools for assessing eye health
Professor Daniel Bressington* Interests in multimorbidity in people with severe mental illness, developing/testing psychosocial interventions to improve mental health and mental health literacy/stigma
Professor Marc Cadotte* Interests in ecological and evolutionary mechanisms generating patterns of species diversity and applying the understanding to conservation issues, community ecology, biology invasions, evolution, biodiversity, plant ecology, experiments and ecosystem function
Professor Patrick Yizhi Cai* Interests in Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Immunology and Microbiology
Professor Wei Chen* Interests in Systems biology, Functional and medical genomics, Bioinformatics, Precision medicine and individualized therapy
Professor Zhengming Chen* Interests in the environmental and genetic causes of chronic disease, evidence-based medicine and evaluation of widely practicable treatments for chronic diseases (such as IHD, stroke and cancer) as well as efficient strategies for chronic disease control in developing countries
Professor Jason Cheung Interests in Basic and clinical research related to pediatric spine deformity, skeletal growth and novel treatment methods, Developmental spinal stenosis
Scoliosis genetics, Basic and clinical research related to degenerative disorders including chronic neck and back pain, Novel imaging and clinical phenotyping, Cervical myelopathy management
Artificial Intelligence and Modeling
Professor Hongbo Chi* Interests in Immunometabolism, T cell biology and systems immunology
Professor Charles ffrench-Constant* Interests in Finding therapies for multiple Sclerosis
Professor Nikolaos Donos* Interests in Systematic reviews leading to treatment guidelines, Translational Research, Experimental Medicine Studies
Professor Sam El-Osta* Interests in understanding the roles of specific transcriptional components in the regulation of metabolic memory and cardiac disease and further extend our understanding of gene silencing events associated with genomic methylation in pre-clinical models and human populations
Professor Ian Everall* Interests in psychiatry, psychology and neuroscience
Professor Dean W. Felsher* Interests in investigating oncogenes initiate and sustain tumorigenesis
Professor Pinghui Feng* Interests in Dynamic interactions between herpesviruses and host innate immune system during infection and pathogenesis
Professor Sandy Feng* Interests in solid organ transplantation, transplant immunology/tolerance, cirrhosis and associated complications including hepatocellular carcinoma, and clinical trials related to organ transplantation and including cellular therapies
Professor Jia-Hong Gao* Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Human Brain Mapping; functional and molecular magnetic resonance imaging and their applications in neuroscience and medicine.
Professor Alice Gregory* Interests in Sleep and Mental Health, Behavioural Genetics
Professor Simon Han Interests in Phytochemistry, methodology of tracking active ingredients from natural products using HSCCC, and quality analysis of herb formula medicnies
Professor Tilmann Harder* Interests in Chemical Ecology of planktonic microorganisms
Professor John Cijiang He* Interests in diabetes, HIB/AIDS, kidney, signal transduction and systems biology
Professor Arthur Yu-Shin Kim* Interests in AIDS and HIV infection, Hepatitis B virus (HBV), Hepatitis C virus (HCV), HIV / HCV coinfection, Immunocompromised patient, Immunology, Substance abuse and Travel medicine
Doctor Jessica CF Kwok* Interests in perineuronal nets; plasticity; glycosaminoglycans; extracellular matrix; spinal cord injury; memory and ageing
Professor Timothy CY Kwok Interests in Prevention strategies and psycho-social interventions for dementia
Professor Wai Keung Leung Interests in Screening and early detection of gastrointestinal cancers, Inflammatory bowel diseases, Gastrointestinal bleeding, Helicobacter pylori, Application of big data on gastrointestinal diseases, Computer-assisted endoscopic diagnosis
Professor Bo Li* Interests in Amygdala circuits and motivated behaviors, Cortico-basal ganglia-brainstem circuits and motivated behaviors, Cellular and circuit mechanisms regulating feeding behavior and metabolism
Professor Maofu Liao* Interests in EM method development driven by biological discovery, Structure and mechanism of dynamic macromolecular machines, Novel therapeutic strategies enabled by molecular structure and mechanism
Professor Chang-Jun Liu* Interests in Neural mechanisms underlying social behaviors and psychiatric diseases
Doctor Rui Hai Liu* Interests in diet and cancer, the effects of functional foods and bioactive compounds on chronic disease risks; specifically including health benefits of antioxidants/phytochemicals in fruits, vegetables and whole grains; food genomics and functional foods for disease prevention and health promotion targeted at cancers, aging, and inflammatory diseases; and natural products and herbal formulations for antiviral activity
Professor Simin Liu* Interests in Molecular Genetics, Nutrition, Clinical Medicine, and Public Health
Professor Nancy Kwan Man Interests in liver transplantation of graft injury and cancer recuurence, inflammation, immunology and cancer, molecular imaging in cancer research and liver graft injury, development of pharmaceutical treatments for liver cancer metastasis and recurrence, development of small animal models for liver transplantation and liver cancer, application of robotic surgery and new biometerials in cancer research and prospective clinical studies of liver surgery and hepatocellular carcinoma
Professor Sandie McCarthy* Interests in Prevention, assessment and management of the short and long-term toxicities of cancer therapy
Professor Vivian Ngai Interests in Postnatal Depression, Breastfeeding, Parent-infant Bonding
Professor Marcus Ong* Interests in Emergency Medicine, Prehospital Emergency Care, Health Services Research
Professor Marco Pang Interests in Rehabilitation for individuals with stroke or dementia and Therapeutic interventions for preventing falls and improving functioning in older adults
Professor Alexander Ploss* Interests in immune responses and pathogenesis to human infectious diseases, including hepatitis viruses, related flaviviruses, and malaria, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Viral hepatitis, Liver inflammation, Humanized mice, In vivo imaging and Genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics
Professor Peter Polverini* Interests in angiogenesis, tumor angiogenesis, endothelial cells, healthcare quality, tumors, apoptosis, cardiovascular system, vascular biology and macrophage
Professor Lit Man Poon Interests in SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV and human/animal influenza viruses.
Professor Jie Song* Interests in biomaterials and regenerative medicine; design and evaluation of smart synthetic bone / cartilage tissue grafts, metallic implant surface modifications for reducing periprosthetic infections, new therapeutic targets for the development of disease modifying drugs of osteoarthritis
Professor Wing Kin Sung Interests in Genomics, Bioinformatics
Professor Serigo Uribe* Interests in Medical Imaging, Medical Imaging Techonology, Image Analysis
Professor Yi Wang* Interests in biomedical imaging and instrumentation, bioengineering, biomedical engineering, image analysis, signal and image processing, scientific computing, biomolecular engineering, algorithms, artificial intelligence, biophysics, biotechnology, computational fluid dynamics, complex systems, network science and computation, computational science and engineering, computer aided diagnosis, neuroscience, statistics and machine learning
Prof Alan Warren* Interests in Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS), Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome (SDS), Haematopoietic Stem Cell Function
Professor Gloria Hai Ming Wong Interests in Dentofacial growth and development, Childhood caries prevention and management
Professor Kenneth Kak-Yuen Wong Interests in molecular biology of childhood tumors, immuno-modulation in transplantation tolerance and nanomedicine for wound regeneration and tumor therapy, including novel drug therapies
Professor Yang K. Xiang* Interests in Pharmacology
Professor Ting Xie Interests in Stem Cell Biology
Professor Jiake Xu* Interests in osteoimmunology, osteolysis, and mechanisms of bone resorpt Buxbaum ion, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells and pericytes, screening of natural compounds for the treatment of osteoporosis, deciphering the molecular basis of musculoskeletal diseases using ENU-induced mutant mice and cc mice and intercellular communication and angiogenic potential of endothelial progenitor cells in bone microenvironment
Professor Xiao-Ming Yin* Interests in Determination of the homeostatic role of autophagy in the liver, Determination of the role of autophagy in alcohol and non-alcohol fatty liver diseases (AFLD and NAFLFD), Development of small molecules for manipulation of autophagy and for cancer therapy
Professor Qinglu Zeng Interests in Cyanobacteria, Virology, Marine bacteria, Environmental microbiology, Marine microbial ecology
Professor Xin Zhang* Interests in glial development and pathology, mechanism of FGF signaling in eye development, molecular regulation of cell shape, adhesion and migration and neural degeneration and repair
Secretary
Ms Milly Ng Assistant Secretary General (Research) 1, UGC.

* Non-local Members