Education
Ph.D., School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, 2017
M.Phil., School of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013
B.Sc. (First Class Honours), Biochemistry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010

Selected Awards
Best Postdoctoral Fellow Poster, The Nano-Bio Symposium, JHU, 2024
Runner-up of GENEWIZ Week Grant contest, Azenta, 2023
Co-winner of Poster Competition, Transcriptional regulation: Chromatin and RNA polymerase II, ASBMB, 2022
Croucher Fellowships for Postdoctoral Research, 2020
College Head’s List, 2010
Dean’s Honours List, 2009, 2010
Pang Ching Cheung Scholarship, 2009

Conferences and Professional Presentations
“Single-Molecule Insights into RNAPII Target Search and Transcription Regulation in Living Cells”. Oral presentation at Trailblazers of Tomorrow National Postdoctoral Symposium, Department of Molecular Biosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, May 20, 2024, Austin, the United States.

“Disordered C-terminal domain drives spatiotemporal confinement of RNAPII to enhance search for chromatin targets”. Poster presentation at 2024 Nano-Bio Symposium, Johns Hopkins University, May 13, 2024, Baltimore, the United States.

“How does RNA Polymerase II Find a Gene?”. Oral presentation at the School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, March 28, 2024, Hong Kong.

“How does RNA Polymerase II Find a Gene?”. Oral presentation at the School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, March 18, 2024, Hong Kong.

“Disordered C-terminal domain drives spatiotemporal confinement of RNAPII to enhance search for chromatin targets”. Poster presentation at Mechanisms of Eukaryotic Transcription, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, August 29 – September 2 2023, New York, the United States.

“Disordered C-terminal domain directs nuclear search kinetics of RNA polymerase II”. Oral presentation at Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University, April 27, 2023, Baltimore, the United States.

“Spatiotemporal distribution and dynamics of RNA polymerase II are governed by its disordered C-terminal domain”. Poster and oral presentation at Transcriptional regulation: Chromatin and RNA polymerase II, ASBMB, September 29 – October 2 2022, Snowbird, Utah, the United States.

Mechanisms of Eukaryotic Transcription, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 31 August – 3 September 2021 (Virtual).

Epigenetics & Chromatin, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 15 – 18 September 2020 (Virtual).

“A Balanced Level of Centromeric RNA Is Important for Chromosome Stability”. Oral presentation at the 2nd Workshop on Mitotic Fidelity, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 30 May 2019, Hong Kong.

“HKU biologists discover cell division requires a balanced level of non-coding RNA for chromosome stability”. Press conference speaker at the University of Hong Kong, 7 May 2019, Hong Kong.

“Elucidating the molecular and epigenetic basis of centromere instability and premature sister chromatid separation”. Oral presentation at the 76th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Cancer Association, 28 – 30 September 2017, Yokohama, Japan.

“Determining the Role of Centromeric Non-coding RNA Transcription in Chromosome Segregation in the Budding Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae”. Poster presentation at Centromere Biology, Gordon Research Conferences, 24 – 29 July 2016, Vermont, the United States.

Teaching and Professional activities
Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University
Instructor, AS.020.361 Advanced Research Lab in Cell and Molecular Biology, 2021 – 2024

School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong
Teaching Assistant, BIOL3401 Molecular Biology, 2018
Lab demonstrator, BIOL4416 Stem cells and regenerative biology, 2016
Lab demonstrator, BIOL2103 Biological sciences laboratory course, 2014 – 2016
Student organizer, BIOL6001 Postgraduate Seminar, 2015
Lab demonstrator, BIOL2532 Practical Diet and Disease, 2014
General secretary, Postgraduate Student Association, 2012 – 2013

Department of Biochemistry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Advisor, iGEM (MIT), 2010
Lab demonstrator, Science Enrichment Programme, 2009
Recreation secretary, Biochemistry Society, 2008 – 2009

Media coverage
“Not junk RNA after all”. Croucher Foundation, 25 June 2019. (link)
“Chromosome Stability in the Balance”. HKU Bulletin, November 2019, Volume 21 No. 1. (link)
“New Discovery on Cell Division”. VP(R)’s Picks, 2019. (link) (video)
“Cell division requires a balanced level of non-coding RNA for chromosome stability”. EurekAlert!, 22 May 2019. (link)
“Hong Kong scientists discover cenRNA essential for chromosome stability”. XINHUANET, 7 May 2019. (link)
“發現細胞分裂新機制 港大︰助了解治癌方向”. am730, 8 May 2019. (link)
“港大揭細胞分裂機制 盼助篩查癌症”. 晴報, 8 May 2019. (link)
“港大染色體專家揭治癌非蛋白質編碼”. 大公報, 8 May 2019. (link)
“「著絲粒RNA」能穩定染色體分裂 港大團隊︰助了解癌症成因”. 巴士的報, 7 May 2019. (link)
“港大團隊發現「著絲粒RNA」 能穩定染色體分裂”. 香港商報, 7 May 2019. (link)
“港大發現細胞分裂新機制或有助偵測癌症 研究成果登上國際期刊”. 香港01, 7 May 2019. (link)
“港大發現細胞分裂機制 或助篩查癌症”. 香港經濟日報, 7 May 2019. (link)

Mentorship
Kelly Chen, Undergraduate volunteer, JHU, 2023 – 2024
Maggie Sixiang Wang, Undergraduate volunteer, JHU, 2023
Chloe Liang, Undergraduate volunteer, JHU, 2022 – 2024
Theresa Mai, Rotational graduate student, JHU, 2022
Joseph Ziyang Ye, Master student, JHU, 2020 – 2021
Chuofan Yu, Undergraduate volunteer, JHU, 2020 – 2023

Jasmine Chit Ying Lau, Undergraduate volunteer, HKU, 2018
Crystal Tang, Undergraduate final year project, HKU, 2017 – 2018
Katie Chin Ching Tsoi, Undergraduate volunteer, Imperial College London, 2017
Marvin Yu Cheng, Undergraduate directed study, HKU, 2016 – 2017
Scarlet Tsz Hing Cho, Undergraduate directed study, HKU, 2016 – 2017
Jason Ka Ho Mak, Undergraduate final year project, HKU, 2015 – 2016