EY1920 Year Book

127 126 Li Chun Yin Semester 1 : Volunteering on OM Ship - Logos Hope Semester 2 : Healthcare Backpackers ARGENTINA BRAZIL MAR DEL PLATA SANTOS RIO DA JANEIRO VITORIA SALVADOR MBBS Enrichment Year 2019/20 Li Chun Yin Sem 1 < SH - Internshi p at O p eration M obilisation, Argentina/ B ra z il >; Sem 2 < SH - Internshi p at HK Christian D octor Network & Healthcare Christian F ellowshi p Hong Kong, Hong Kong > Li Hanchen Semester 1: Research Attachment at HKU Department of Microbiology Research Topic: Gene Knockout and knockdown studies of Nitrate Transporter/Nitrite Reducatse Genes and Argonaute gene in Talaromyces marneffei. Background: Talaromyces marneffei is known as one of the world’s ten most feared fungi. It can cause talaromycosis, a fatal systemic fungal infection endemic in Southeast Asia. Together with tuberculosis and cryptocosis, it is considered as one of the top-three AIDS-defining opportunistic infections. TmPV1 is a newly discovered partitivirus, To investigate how TmPV1 enhance virulence of T. marneffei , the study targets at knocking-out genes of nitrate transport and nitrite reductase to observe whether the loss of these genes are associated with a change in the fungal load. Methodology: A wide range of research methods was adopted, such as PCR, cloning involving restriction digestion, gel purification, ligation, electroporation as well as heat-shock, etc. Figure on the left: Gel electrophoresis of upstream sequence of Nitrate Transporter/Nitrate reductase gene Figure on the right: Gel electrophoresis of the downstream sequences of GABA transaminase and Nitrate transporter/Nitrite reductase gene. Results and future work: The cloning of upstream sequence of Nitrate transporter/nitrite reductase onto the plasmid pAN7.1 was successful. However, combining of the pAN7.1 plasmid containing the upstream sequence with that containing the downstream sequence was unsuccessful. Possible reasons of the failure are poor quality of either the purified products or the DH5α competent cell, electroporation method that might harm the vector (pAN7.1) yield or inadequate quantity. Cloning of the pAN7.1 plasmid with both upstream and downstream sequences of Nitrate transporter/nitrite reductase gene and GABA Transaminase gene will be proceeded in the future. Electroporation can be replaced by heat shock to improve the yield. In addition, increasing the proportion of insert to vector (pAN7.1) may help improve the result. After that, knockdown or knockout can be done for the Nitrate/nitrite gene to evaluate the change in virulence factor of T. marneffei . Semester 2: HKUWW Study Abroad Exchange at University of California, San Diego Although my exchange went to an end due to the coronavirus outbreak, my 3-month stay at the US was still a fruitful one. I studied US History of the 19 th century, Dementia care plan, Environmental Health as well as Global Health in the cultural perspective at the spacious campus. Probably the most memorable part was my trips to LA, Phoenix, Vegas and Tijuana, Mexico! (In clockwise order) 1 st Photo: The most famous building at UC San Diego, the Geisel Library. The University was founded in 1960, located near the La Jolla Shore, a tourist spot known for its mild climate and beaches. 2 nd Photo: Lower Antelope Canyon. Can you spot the face of a lion? 3 rd Photo: The legendary aircraft carrier, ‘Midway’. I took the photo on the third day upon my arrival. Thousands of tourists queued up deck, waiting to get into the cockpits of old battleplanes. However, when I re-visited the landmark just before my departure, nobody could be seen! How terrifying the coronavirus was! MBBS Enrichment Year 2019/20 Li Hanchen Sem 1 < R A - Generation of T alaromyces marneffei virulence genes mutants at D e p artment of M icrobiology, HKU, Hong Kong >; Sem 2 < IC - HKUWW Exchange Programme at University of California San D iego, US >