Research Postgraduate Studies
School of Chinese Medicine

The research will concentrate on the clinical trial and experimental study of Chinese medicinal herbs for cancer, and metabolic diseases by using recently developed techniques in clinical research, molecular biology and immunology.

The research will also focus on the following topics: standardization and quality control of Chinese medicinal herbs; pharmacological screening and safety evaluation of Chinese medicinal herbs; pharmacological action and its mechanism in Chinese medicinal herbs. The mid- and long-term plans of this research program include the use of advanced technologies of omics and multiple disciplinary methodologies to analyze the Chinese herbal extract or phytocompound-responsive genes or protein expression profiles in terms of cancer and metabolic diseases. All these activities will lead to new drug discovery from Chinese medicines for cancer, and liver, diabetic, hepatic and renal diseases.

The research will concentrate on the clinical trial and experimental study of Chinese medicinal herbs for cancer, and metabolic diseases by using recently developed techniques in clinical research, molecular biology and immunology.

The research will also focus on the following topics: standardization and quality control of Chinese medicinal herbs; pharmacological screening and safety evaluation of Chinese medicinal herbs; pharmacological action and its mechanism in Chinese medicinal herbs. The mid- and long-term plans of this research program include the use of advanced technologies of omics and multiple disciplinary methodologies to analyze the Chinese herbal extract or phytocompound-responsive genes or protein expression profiles in terms of cancer and metabolic diseases. All these activities will lead to new drug discovery from Chinese medicines for cancer, and liver, diabetic, hepatic and renal diseases.

Chinese herbal medicine has natural advantages in immunomodulation. Our research aims to:

• Identify novel mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, including primary Sjogren’s syndrome (pSS), multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus and type 1 diabetes (T1D);
• Study the immunomodulatory functions of formulae or effective compounds from Chinese herbal medicine
• Conduct translational studies of Chinese herbal medicine for treating autoimmune disease in humans and mouse models  

Our research focuses on the molecular mechanisms by which Chinese medicines reprogram macrophages and neutrophils against inflammation and tissue remodeling in myocardial infarction, obesity and neurodegenerative diseases.

Our strategy applies genomics, proteomics, chemical biology and cell signaling technologies to identify the active compounds and target proteins in different cell models and animal models.

Our ongoing projects are designed to

1. characterise neuroprotective and neurotrophic Chinese medicines;
2. discover new mechanisms for drug discovery; and
3. prepare novel small molecular probes for target identification

Our long-term goal is to develop novel therapeutics for the treatment of myocardial infarction, obesity, depression and neurodegeneration.

This is a long-term and multidisciplinary collaborating research direction aiming to develop frontier chemical biology approaches for understanding molecular mechanisms of ischemic stroke and multiple sclerosis and developing novel therapeutic approaches based on Traditional Chinese Medicine. The research is well funded by Areas of Excellence Scheme 2016/17, Research Grants Council (AoE/P-705/16), RGC GRF and HMRF, etc.

This is a long-term and multidisciplinary collaborating research project aiming to develop frontier stem cell technology for understanding therapeutic principles of Chinese herbal medicine and applying for drug discovery to improve post-stroke brain repair. The research is supported by many high competitive external grants including RGC GRF, HMRF and others.

This is a long-term and multidisciplinary collaborating research project aiming to develop advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology for pulse diagnosis and cardiovascular function assessment. The research is collaborated with multiple universities and hospitals with the expertise of TCM, AI technology and clinical medicine who has been supported by different grants including HMRF and ITF, etc.

This is a long-term and multidisciplinary collaborating research project aiming to develop evidence-based medicine approaches to explore the scientific basis of Syndrome Differentiation and Tongue Diagnosis in chronic heart failure and guide TCM treatment. This is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study involved over 100 hospitals from Mainland China and Hong Kong SAR, which is supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China.

The study aims to understand the complicated mechanisms and molecular connection underlying the efficacy of TCM and natural compounds. Our lab is committed to the full use of modern technologies and multidisciplinary platforms to conduct innovative study of TCM, and has been actively engaged in the basic science and translational research on the prevention and treatment of human GI cancers and metabolic disorders using Chinese herbal medicine. Major research areas include:

1. establishment of molecular landscape in TCM diagnosis of human GI cancers and metabolic disorders;
2. identification of new therapeutic targets of natural compounds and TCM in human GI cancers and metabolic disorders;
3. Discovery of potential lead from natural resources for the treatment of human GI cancers and metabolic disorders. 

• Develop clinical trials to evaluate effectiveness and safety of acupuncture, Chinese medicine, and other non-pharmacological therapies in the management of major neurological and psychiatric disorders
• Investigate psychopharmacological effects of natural compounds and traditional Chinese medicine formulae with the employment of behavioural, biochemical, molecular, and neuroimaging approaches for anxiety, mood, and psychotic disorders
• Explore neural mechanisms of acupuncture effects

• Study pathophysiology of kidney diseases and related metabolic disorders (diabetes, hypertension, etc) via multiple approaches, e.g., epigenetic modifications, and signaling pathways.
• Develop treatments (Chinese medicines, gene therapy) for kidney diseases and related metabolic disorders.

• Evaluate the efficacy/effectiveness of Chinese medicine and acupuncture for common diseases/disorders (e.g., kidney disease, metabolic disorder, cancer, and pain) via evidence-based approaches