Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences

 Professor Sun is the Research Professor of Biology. He joined the University in 1995 and was Chair of the Department of Biology from 1996 to 2004 as well as the Founding Director of the Molecular Biotechnology Programme from 1998 to 1999. He has also been the Director/Coordinator of the UGC-AoE Centre for Plant and Agricultural Biotechnology (former as Plant and Fungal Biotechnology Centre) since 2000, Director of Institute of Plant Molecular Biology and Agricultural Biotechnology since 2006, Director of State Key Lab of Agrobiotechnology (CUHK) since 2008, and Master of S. H. Ho College in 2009.

 Professor Sun's research interests encompass a number of areas such as plant gene isolation, characterization, transfer, expression, and regulation; plant bioreactors; as well as rice quality improvement and functional genomics. Professor Sun is credited as the scientist who first cloned a plant gene, discovered plant gene intervening sequences, and enhanced an essential amino acid in plant through biotechnological approach.

Croucher Senior Research Fellowship

Professor Jiang joined CUHK in 2000, after receiving his PhD from Canada’s Simon Fraser University and working as a Research Associate at Washington State University for four years. He is now Professor of the School of Life Sciences and Director of the Centre for Cell and Development Biology. He has received numerous awards for outstanding teaching and research, including Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Award by China’s Ministry of Education and Research Excellence Award by the University. During the past ten years, he has also received competitive research grants worth over HK$20 million from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National High-Technology Research and Development Programme, and other important funding bodies.

Professor Jiang has spent most of his career researching on plant biotechnology and is a joint holder of a US patent on a plant gene expression system for transgenic seeds. He particularly concerns the molecular mechanism of protein degradation in germinating seeds, the characterization of plant prevacuolar compartments at the molecular level, protein targeting and organelle biogenesis. He is also a member of the American Society for Plant Biologists, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the International Society for Seed Science.

2025

Date 3 Apr 2025 Time 10:30AM - 11:30AM Venue SC L4 Speaker Professor Grant Dewson, Ph.D., Laboratory Head, Ubiquitin Signalling Division, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) & Head, WEHI Parkinson’s Disease Research Centre Seminar Title Targeting mitochondrial vulnerabilities in Parkinson’s disease Organizer School of Life Sciences [SLS Seminar Series] Seminar Report On April 3, Professor Grant Dewson from WEHI (The Walter and Eliza Hall institute of Medical Research, Australia) delivered an insightful seminar titled "Targeting Mitochondrial Vulnerabilities in Parkinson's Disease" to our school. The session was attended by undergraduate and postgraduate students, along with faculty members. The engaging talk sparked numerous questions and discussions. Professor Dewson also introduced the Inspire Program, a summer exchange program to WEHI, which generated great interest among students.

Date 20 Feb 2025 Time 11:00AM - 12:00PM Venue SC L4 Speaker Prof. Evandro Fei Fang, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Oslo and Akershus University Hospital, Norway Seminar Title The 5“A”s: ageing, autophagy, Alzheimer’s, Artificial intelligence, and an “A” molecule” in brain protection and healthy longevity Organizer School of Life Sciences [SLS Seminar Series] Seminar Report SLS Seminar Series: How to Integrate 5“A”s to Live a Longer & Healthier Life On Feb 20, Prof. Evandro Fei Fang from University of Oslo and Akershus University Hospital (Norway) has visited School of Life Sciences in CUHK and delivered a fascinating seminar to our students about his excellent research in ageing. As an CUHK alumnus, Prof. Fang was very glad to return to CUHK. He is also actively promoting the research collaborations and student exchange between Hong Kong and Nordic groups. He is the coordinator of the Hong Kong-Nordic Research Network and will be back to Hong Kong again in September this year for the Hong Kong-Nordic Research meeting.

Date 6 Feb 2025 Time 11:00AM - 12:00PM Venue SC 297 Speaker Prof. Zhang Yuelin, School of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, China Seminar Title Salicylic Acid Biosynthesis and Signaling in Plants Organizer School of Life Sciences [SLS Seminar Series] Seminar Report On Feb 6th, Professor Yuelin Zhang from Sichuang University has visited School of Life Sciences in CUHK to deliver a seminar entitled “Salicylic Acid Biosynthesis and Signaling in Plants”. Salicylic acid, a plant hormone, is widely used in the preparation of aspirin and many pharmaceutical products. For plants, it serves as a vital component of the plant immune system, enabling plants to defend against pathogens. However, the mechanisms governing its synthesis have long been unclear. In the seminar, Professor Yuelin Zhang has introduced his groundbreaking new discovery of a novel biosynthetic pathway for salicylic acid biosynthesis, which is set to be published in the esteemed Nature journal. Furthermore, his has provided a comprehensive overview of the current understanding of the regulatory pathways of salicylic acid in plant immunity, including an alternative signalling pathway of salicylic acid that modulates plant defence control by his group.

2018