School of Biomedical Sciences
生物醫學學院
The Chinese University of Hong Kong 香港中文大學

Prof POON Ngar Yun Ellen


EllenpoonAssistant Professor

DPhil (Oxon), BSc Hons (USyd)

Telephone:  3943 5750

Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Address: Room 226A, Lo Kwee-Seong Integrated Biomedical Sciences Building, Area 39, CUHK

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9280-3681

 

 

 

Biography

Prof. POON Ngar Yun Ellen (潘雅欣) received her BSc degree from the Department of Inorganic Chemistry in the University of Sydney, where she graduated with First Class Honours and University Medal, as well as numerous scholastic awards. She then received a prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship for her DPhil research in the University of Oxford to study the molecular mechanisms of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and was also a recipient of the American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship in the University of California, San Francisco where she first started her training in pluripotent stem cell technology. In February 2019, she joined The Chinese University of Hong Kong as an Assistant Professor.

Prof. Poon’s research focuses on the application of human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes for disease modelling and drug screening. Immaturity of human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes has long been a barrier to the use of these cells for research and therapy. Combining transcriptomic, proteomic and microRNA profiling, she revealed novel regulatory mechanisms that facilitate the generation of cardiomyocytes with adult-like mitochondrial and metabolic properties. Her work has been published in prestigious journals such as Cell Research and Cardiovascular Research, and is the subject of a recent patent application. Her current focus is to utilise her cardiomyocyte platform for the modelling of human cardiac diseases, investigations of cardiotoxicity and discovery of cardioprotective agents.

  1. Stem cell cardiac biology
  2. Cardiotoxicity induced by anti-cancer and anti-viral treatment
  3. Mitochondria and metabolism
  4. Precision medicine: using patient specific cardiomyocytes to investigate cardiac disorders
  5. Omics technology for cardiac maturation and disease modelling
  1. Wu, B.B., Leung, K.T. & Poon, EN*. (2022). Mitochondrial-Targeted Therapy for Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 23, 1912.
  2. Kwok, M., Lee, C., Li, H.S., Deng, R., Tsoi, C., Ding, Q., Tsang, S.Y., Leung, K.T., Yan, B.P. & Poon EN*. (2021). Remdesivir induces persistent mitochondrial and structural damage in human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes. Cardiovasc Res. Online ahead of print.
  3. Chan, K., Zhang, C., Wong, Y.T.S., Zhang, X.B., Wang, C.C., Ng, W.H., Fok, S.P., Tang, P.M., Kang, W., Feng, B., Poon, E.N., Lee, K,Y., Lee, C.K., Chen, C., Leung, T.Y., Ng, M,H., To, K.F., Wang, H., Lam, H.S., Ng, P,C., Yuen, P.M., Li, K., Leung, A.W.K., Li, C.K. & Leung, K.T. (2021). R4 RGS proteins suppress engraftment of human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells by modulating SDF-1/CXCR4 signaling. Blood Adv. Online ahead of print.
  4. Kelly, M.I., Albahrani, M., Castro, C., Poon, E.N., Yan, B., Littrell, J., Waas, M., Boheler, K.R. & Gundry, R.L. (2021). Importance of evaluating protein glycosylation in pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes for research and clinical applications. Pflugers Arch, 473:1041-1059.
  5. Boheler, K.R. & Poon, E.N.*. (2021). Cell surface markers for immunophenotyping human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. Pflugers Arch, 473:1023-1039.
  6. Zhu, S., Law, A.H.Y., Deng, R., Poon, E.N., Lo, C.W., Kwong, A.K.Y., Liang, R., Chan, K.Y.K., Wong, W.L., Tan-Un, K.C., Pijnappel, W., Chan, G.C.F. & Chan, S.H.S. (2020). Generation of genomic-integration-free human induced pluripotent stem cells and the derived cardiomyocytes of X-linked dilated cardiomyopathy from DMD gene mutation. Stem Cell Res 49:102040.
  7. Poon, E.N.*, Luo, X.L., Webb, S.E., Yan, B., Zhao, R., Wu, S., Yang, Y., Zhang, P., Bai, H., Shao, J., Chan, C.M., Chan, G.C., Tsang, S.Y., Gundry, R.L., Yang, H.T. & Boheler, K.R.* (2020). The Cell Surface Marker CD36 Selectively identifies Matured, Mitochondrial-rich hPSC-Cardiomyocytes. Cell Res. 30, 626-629.
  8. Waas, M., Weerasekera, R., Kropp, E.M., Romero-Tejeda, M., Poon, E.N., Boheler, K.R., Burridge, P.W. & Gundry, R.L. (2019). Are These Cardiomyocytes? Protocol Development Reveals Impact of Sample Preparation on the Accuracy of Identifying Cardiomyocytes by Flow Cytometry. Stem cell reports. 12:395-410.
  9. Poon, E.N.*, Hao, B., Guan, D., Li, M., Lu, J., Yang, Y., Wu, B., Wu, S., Webb, S., Liang, Y., Miller, A., Yao, X., Wang, J. & Yan, B.* & Boheler, K.R. (2018). Integrated transcriptomic and regulatory network analyses identify microRNA-200c as a novel repressor of human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte differentiation and maturation. Cardiovasc Res. May 1;114(6):894-906. Subject of journal editorial.
  10. Lu, J., Boheler, K.R., Jiang, L., Chan, C.W., Tse, W.W., Keung, W., Poon, E.N., Li, R.A. & Yao, X. (2018). Polycystin-2 Plays an Essential Role in Glucose Starvation-Induced Autophagy in Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes. Stem Cells. Apr. 36(4):501-513.
  11. Gu, X., Yeung, S.Y., Chadda, A., Poon, E.N., Boheler, K.R. & Hsing, I. (2018). Organic Electrochemical Transistor Arrays for In Vitro Electrophysiology Monitoring of 2D and 3D Cardiac Tissues. Adv. Biosys 1800248, 8.
  12. Wang, J., Cui, C., Nan, H., Yu, Y., Xiao, Y., Poon, E.N., Yang, G., Wang, X., Wang, C., Li, L., Boheler, K.R., Ma, X., Cheng, X., Ni, Z. & Chen, M. (2017). Graphene Sheet-Induced Global Maturation of Cardiomyocytes Derived from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. ACS applied materials & interfaces. 9:25929-25940.
  13. Chen, Y., Huang, L., Dai. X., Tian, Q., Yu, M., Agheb, M., Chan, N.C., Poon, E.N., Guo, Z., Boheler, K.R. & Wu, H. (2017). Facile formation of a microporous chitosan hydrogel based on self-crosslinking. Journal of Materials Chemistry 5, 9291-9299.
  14. Wang, Y., Li, Z.C., Zhang, P., Poon, E.N., Kong, C.W., Boheler, K.R., Huang. Y., Li, R.A. & Yao X. (2015). Nitric Oxide-cGMP-PKG Pathway Acts on Orai1 to Inhibit the Hypertrophy of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes. Stem Cells. 33, 2973-2984.
  15. Poon, E.N., Keung, W., Liang, Y.M., Ramalingam, R., Yan, B., Zhang, S., Chopra, A., Moore, J., Herren, A., Lieu, D.K., Wong, H.S., Weng, Z., Wong, O.T., Lam, Y.W., Tomaselli, G.F., Chen, C., Boheler, K.R. & Li, R.A. (2015). Proteomic Analysis of Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived, Fetal and Adult Ventricular Cardiomyocytes Reveals Pathways Crucial for Cardiac Metabolism and Maturation. Circ Cardiovasc Genet. Jun. 8(3):427-36.
  16. Zhang, S., Poon, E, Xie, D., Boheler, K..R., Li, R.A, & Wong, H.S. (2015). Consensus comparative analysis of human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. PLoS One 10, e0125442.
  17. Poon, E.N., Yan, B., Zhang, S., Rushing, S., Keung, K., Lihuan, R., Lieu, D.K., Lin, G., Kong, C.W., Wang, J., Wong, H.S., Boheler, K.R. & Li, R.A. (2013). Transcriptome-guided functional analyses reveal novel biological properties and regulatory hierarchy of human embryonic stem cell-derived ventricular cardiomyocytes crucial for maturation. PLoS One. Oct 21;8(10).
  18. Poon, E.N., Kong, C.W. & Li, R.A. (2011). Human pluripotent stem cell-based approaches for myocardial repair: From the electrophysiological perspective. Mol Pharm. 8:1495-1504.
  19. Poon, E.N., Clermont, F., Firpo, M.T., Akhurst, R.J. (2006). Tgfbeta inhibition of yolk-sac-like differentiation of human embryonic stem-cell-derived embryoid bodies illustrates differences between early mouse and human development. J Cell Sci. 119:759-768.

    20. *Corresponding or co-corresponding author

  1. Health and Medical Research Fund [CO-PI; 2022-2024) “Solving unresolved neuromuscular disease cases via multi-omics integrative analytics” (HK$1,474,480).
  2. ECS/RGC - General Research Fund [PI; 2021-2022]: “Mitochondrial and genotoxic stress-induced senescence as a mechanistic contributor to doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity in humans” (HK$1,233,751).
  3. Direct Grant, CUHK [PI; 2021-2022]: “Single cell transcriptomic analysis of human cardiac senescence” (HK$27,000).
  4. Direct Grant, CUHK [PI; 2020-2021]: “Cell surface marker for the isolation of atrial human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes” (HK$148,980).
  5. Health and Medical Research Fund [PI; 2019-2022) “Exploring novel therapeutic approaches for doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity using a metabolically-advanced and patient-specific human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte model” (HK$1,496,544).
  6. Health and Medical Research Fund [PI; 2016-2020) “Identification of the optimal source of human mesenchymal stromal cells for the treatment of acute graft-versus-host disease under a clinical-grade ex-vivo culture system” (HK$1,183,837).