Divergent evolution of astigmatic mites

Astigmatic mites, especially house dust mites, are major human allergy-related mites. However, their evolutionary origins and diverse lifestyles including reversible parasitism have not been illustrated at the genomic level. This collaborative groundbreaking study has clearly depicted the whole evolutionary picture of astigmatic mites which expanded the existing understanding and knowledge of mites. The findings lay the genomics groundwork for future clinical diagnosis of and intervention in mite allergy. 

Anyone interested in future collaboration in this field of research is welcome to contact our key investigator Prof. Stephen TSUI from the School of Biomedical Sciences, CUHK. Prof. Tsui’s research focuses on cancer biology and genomics, dust mite allergy, molecular virology and metagenomics and human health.