Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a necessary cause for cervical cancer which is one of the top cancers worldwide. HPV also causes cancers in other parts of the body. Several research areas will be open to postgraduate students in the coming term, including (i) epidemiology and risk factors of HPV infection, (ii) molecular mechanism of oncogenesis, (iii) host genetic and environmental cofactors for cancer development, (iv) oncogenicity of different strains of HPV; (v) phylogeny, sequence variability and risk association of HPV types more common fund in East Asia; (vi) role of HPV in skin cancer.

Students are expected to learn basic molecular techniques such as hybridization, sequencing, real-time PCR; cloning, cellular transformation, biostatics; phylogenetic analysis; etc.

Remarks: Previous experience in laboratory research related to virology and oncology would be an advantage.

Students are expected to learn basic bacteriology and molecular techniques, real-time PCR; sequencing, phylogenetic analysis studies on athogenic mechanisms may involve working with small animals and cell culture assays.

Remarks: Previous experience in laboratory research related to microbiology and molecular biology would be an advantage.

Invasive fungal infections

Invasive fungal infections is one of the major causes of death in immunocompromised patients.  The following areas of research are opened for postgraduate studies:  (a) epidemiology of antifungal resistance; (b) molecular determinants of antifungal resistance; (c) novel antifungals development.

Students are expected to learn microbiological techniques such as culture, identification and susceptibility testing; basic molecular techniques such as sequencing, real-time PCR; as well as in vitro and in vivo research skills.

Remarks: Previous experience in laboratory research related to microbiology would be an advantage.

Microbial Evolution and Bioinformatics

The main focus of our laboratory is to understanding the carcinogenic potential of human microbiota and viruses (e.g. human papillomaviruses) that is highly pathogenic and causes cancers and other clinical disorders in humans. Several research areas will be available to postgraduate students including (i) genetic and epigenetic heterogeneity of human papillomaviruses underlying the carcinogenic mechanism in cervical cancer; (ii) genetic diversity and pathogenic potential of human microbiota in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; (iii) ecological diversity and evolutionary dynamics of human gut microbiome, mycobiome and virome in association with human health and disease. Our mission is to facilitate each individual reaching his or her potential through learning, experimentation and sharing in the pursuit of knowledge to promote human health.

Students are expected to learn basic molecular techniques, evolutionary analyses, systems biology, Next-Generation sequencing, big dataset analyses, and advanced bioinformatics.

Remarks: Previous experience in computational analysis or laboratory research related to virology and microbiology would be an advantage.

Transcription is the first step of gene expression in all organisms and bacterial transcription represents an underutilized antibiotic target. The following research areas are opened for postgraduate studies: (a) bacterial transcription regulation; (b) structural studies of bacterial transcription machinery; (c) discovery and development of novel antimicrobial agent targeting transcription.

Students are expected to learn basic bacteriology techniques, such as aerobic and anaerobic culturing, and susceptibility testing; molecular techniques, such as cloning, protein overproduction and purification, protein-protein interaction; and structural techniques, such as cryo-electron microscopy and single particle analysis.

Remarks: Previous experience in laboratory research related to molecular microbiology, biochemistry and structural biology would be an advantage.

The human microbiome has been extensively studied and is implicated in many aspects of health and disease. Since ethnicity, lifestyle, diet and biogeography influence the microbiome, there is a need to establish whether our current knowledge applies to the local population. Secondly, viruses of the human gut have received far less attention than their bacterial counterparts although they are estimated to be equally abundant. Prospective students are welcome to discuss potential projects related to gut bacteria/viruses with a focus on the following themes: gut microbiome related to metabolic syndrome, reconstructing viral genomes and their taxonomy.

Students will learn how to process microbial community profiling (small subunit 16S rRNA gene amplicons) and metagenomics sequence data, perform statistical analyses and comparative genomics. As the research will involve a fair bit of computer work and numbers, any experience with command line interfaces (mostly unix and R) and MS Excel will be most helpful.