Research Area 1: Cardiovascular and Respiratory Research
- Examination of the signalling pathways involved in the regulation of vascular tone under physiological and pathological situations
- Mechanistic study of the vascular actions of clinically used drugs and natural products
- Investigation of the role of ion channels in the function of vascular smooth muscle and endothelial cells
- Examination of the physiology and pharmacology of nucleoside transporters and drug transporters in the cardiovascular system
- Pharmacology and development of novel anti-angiogenic agents
- Examination of the signalling pathways involved in the regulation of pulmonary function under physiological and pathological situations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), and the elucidation of potential therapeutic agents
- Mechanistic study of the actions of natural products in mucus viscosity and secretion in airway epithelial cells
- Mechanistic study of cellular effects of mesenchymal stem cells in the prevention and management of chronic airway diseases
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Research Area 2: Ageing and Related Diseases
- Sirtuin-1 (SIRT1) as a therapeutic target for ageing-related diseases
- Drug development and evaluation in obesity-related cardio-metabolic diseases and cancer
- Applying "omics" approaches for biomarker discovery and developments
- Integrative study of the role of Toll-like receptors in metabolic diseases and their cardiovascular complications
- Study of immuno-metabolism with a focus on metabolic function of Toll-like receptor mediated by cell signalling events
- Gut microbiota in the evolutionary development of Toll-like receptor pathways
- Adipocyte fatty acid binding protein as therapeutic target for obesity-related diseases
- Identification of novel factors that regulate energy metabolism and have potential therapeutic effects on obesity and its related cardiometabolic complications
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Research Area 3: Big Data for Medication Safety and Pharmacoeconomics
- Population-based studies of drug safety and effectiveness to advance medication practice and pharmacoepidemiology research
- Development of methodologies to predict future risk of cardiovascular events and adverse drug reactions using big data from population databases
- Evaluation of the effectiveness and safety of medications used in the elderly, children, pregnancy and other special patient groups
- Safety and effectiveness of cardiovascular drugs (e.g., anticoagulants, statins, aspirin) and effects on bone, liver, kidney and cancer
- Post-marketing surveillance of safety of medications used in the management of respiratory disorders, psychiatric disorders and infectious diseases
- Pharmacoeconomics of pharmacotherapy in chronic illness and public health interventions - determination of healthcare resource utilisation; analyses of oral anticoagulants, vaccinations, drug use in rare diseases using the willingness-to-pay concept, decision-analytic models and budget impact models
- Design of interventional clinical trials to compare the effectiveness and safety of drugs used in the emergency setting for sedation, epilepsy and pain control
- Clinical and pharmacy practice-based research to characterise drug-related problems and pharmacists' clinical intervention
- Assessment of the appropriateness of medications in the older population
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Research Area 4: Precision Medicine
- Genetics and genomics study of endocrine disorders
- Using integrative omics to develop new drugs and health supplement
- Development of novel biomarker or prediction score for predicting clinical outcomes, such as incident disease, mortality, and treatment effectiveness (in endocrine disorders and cancer)
- Evaluation of the effectiveness and safety of health supplement using randomized controlled trial, metabolomics, and animal study
- Pharmacogenomics of serious drug-related adverse events and treatment effectiveness
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Research Area 5: Drug Delivery and Translational Research
- Engineering stimuli-response nanomaterials for targeted drug delivery
- Photoresponsive drug delivery
- Ocular drug delivery
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Find Out More
Information on selected projects or research areas: Interested candidates are advised to email the relevant supervisors. Please enclose with your email: (i) your CV, (ii) a brief description of your research interest and experience, and (iii) two reference letters (reference letters not required for HKUMed UG students seeking MRes[Med] or URIS projects)
Research studies enquiries specific to the Department/School’s research should be directed to the Departmental Research Postgraduate Advisor: Professor Y Wang ( yuwanghk@hku.hk)
Information on the research programme, funding support and admission requirements could be found on the RPg Admissions website.
General admission enquiries should be directed to rpgmed@hku.hk.
Meet Our Students
XUAN Bianfei
Place of Origin: China
Progress: PhD Year 3
Supervisor: Dr SF Chow
出於對化學獨有的熱愛，宣邊斐在醫學領域中潛心探索着藥物共晶的奧秘。從研究中藥到藥物晶體，中西結合的研究經歷也讓她在研究藥物共晶上的思路更加開闊。
雖然中醫與西醫體系完全不同，但可以尋找它們的共同點進行攻克。就研究角度來看，中藥學中的一些分子是可以當作藥物晶體的部分原材料的，所以是相通的。
而她第一個研究，就是通過共晶體來改善藥物原來的性質。宣邊斐希望未來通過自己的研究為醫學盡一份綿薄之力，通過劑型改良更多候選藥物的性質，幫助更多病患減輕頻繁吃藥的疾苦。
August 2021
Joseph BLAIS
Place of Origin: Canada
Progress: PhD Year 3
Supervisor: Dr EW Chan
“If you can, try to ‘test’ working with your supervisor and their lab to get to know their work culture before deciding to commit to a PhD.”
Joseph Blais, a third year PhD student, came to Hong Kong 4 years ago from Canada, and quickly found himself involved in the research work of Dr Esther Chan, first as a research assistant at the Centre for Safe Medication Practice and Research, and then as her PhD student, investigating the use and effectiveness of cholesterol medications.
“Since my supervisor works closely with the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, our lab has access to high-quality electronic health data. By analysing different sources of real-world data we have a clearer understanding of how patients use cholesterol drugs in Hong Kong and internationally.”
Reflecting on his research journey, Joe advises prospective applicants to get in touch with the lab and its current students to learn more about their projects, “I was lucky to work with my team for about 6 months before committing to a PhD…I realised I enjoyed research and decided to take advantage of the opportunity to do a PhD at HKU.”
December 2020
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