Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Sciences

Programme Description

Biomedical scientists bridge the gap between the basic sciences and medicine, conduct research in order to comprehend human disease and find ways to improve human health. Graduates interested in conducting independent research and gaining laboratory experience might benefit from our PhD programme. Students in the programme are supervised individually by an academic staff at a professoriate rank to carry out a research project for a research dissertation. Our PhD programme is designed to educate learners who aspire to pursue careers as research scientists, scholars, or academic careers in biological and biomedical science.

Research Directions

Curriculum

Admission Year Curriculum
From 2016/2017 to 2019/2020
2020/2021 and onwards

Normative Study Period

4 Years

Admission

TBA for the 2022/2023 Admission Details

Name of SupervisorResearch TopicsDetails
Prof. Chuxia DENG(1) Oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes
(2) Stem cells, cancer metastasis and drug development
Prof. Wei GE(1) Genetic analysis of growth and reproduction in the zebrafish model
(2) Impacts of environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on reproduction and public health
(3) Zebrafish as a model for aging, human diseases and drug discover
Prof. Han-Ming SHEN(1) Autophagy: regulatory mechanisms and biological functions in cancer
(2) Mitophagy: novel regulatory mechanisms
(3) Cancer metabolism: targeting glucose metabolism in lung cancer
Prof. Guokai CHEN
(1) Metabolic regulation in stem cell maintenance and differentiation
(2) Novel mechanisms involved in cardiomyocyte differentiation and maturation
(3) Skin cell differentiation for regenerative medicine
(4) Endoderm differentiation for disease model
PhD-adm_GKC
Prof. Edwin CHEUNG(1) Mechanism of gene regulation in cancer
(2) Single cell analysis
Prof. Kathy Qian LUO(1) Circulating tumor cells and cancer metastasis
(2) Drug resistant and anti-cancer drug discovery
Prof. San Ming WANGCancer genetic, hereditery breast cancer, genomics, bioinformatics
Prof. Garry WONGBioinformatics and computational biology of aging related neurodegenerative diseases
Prof. Yutao XIANG(1) Psychiatric epidemiology
(2) Health services research in psychiatry
(3) Evidence-based medicine in psychiatry
(4) COVID-19 related studies in psychiatry
(5) Cognition and psychiatric disorders
Prof. Ren-He XUMesenchymal stem cells: the development, heterogeneity, and assimilationPhD-adm_RHX
Prof. Xiaohua Douglas ZHANG(1) Digital medical research and data analysis
(2) Data mining for biomedical research
(3) Development of analytic software for high-throughput biomedical data		PhD-adm_DZ
Prof. Wenhua ZHENGFoxo and neuronal differentiation or new drugs development like artemisinin and metformin
Prof. William Chong Hang CHAOStructure and function of epigenetic regulatorsPhD-adm_WC
Prof. Lijun DI(1) Remodeling of transcriptional program in cancer development by both endogenous and exogenous factors via regulating CtBP status
(2) Molecular mechanism of cancer metastasis
(3) Investigating the molecular mechanisms and identifying the potential therapeutic targets of obesity and related disease
Prof. Hang Fai (Henry) KWOK(1) Antibody / venom-based peptide targeted therapy for anti-cancer prototype drug discovery & development
(2) Biomarkers identification and validation based on the hallmarks of cancer
Prof. Gang LI(1) Epigenetic mechanisms of tumorigenesis
(2) Signal transduction pathways in epigenetics		PhD-adm_GL
Prof. Tzu-Ming LIU(1) In vivo microscopy and spectroscopy of tumor microenvironment
(2) Develop serum fluoroscope for the diagnosis of organ function
Prof. Terence C.W. POON(1) Proteomics/protein/biomarker-based research in precision medicine
(2) Bioinformatics-based research in precision medicine
Prof. Joong Sup SHIMExploiting synthetic lethality for cancer target discovery
Prof. Kin Yip TAM(1) Development of small molecule inhibitors targeting cancer metabolism or Alzheimer’s disease
(2) Combined use of metabolic inhibitors in lung cancer models
(3) Chemical optimizations of small molecule inhibitors
Prof. Chris Koon Ho WONGTranscription regulation of fungal metabolism and infection.
Prof. Ruiyu XIE(1) Epigenetic regulation underlying cell fate determination
(2) Molecular switches in endodermal lineage specification
(3) Molecular mechanisms regulating proliferation and differentiation in the pancreas
Prof. Xiaoling XUBRCA1 associated breast cancer and cancer metastasis
Prof. Zhen YUAN(1) Neuroscience and neuroimaging
(2) Biomedical optics
(3) Optical molecular imaging and cancer nanomedicine
Prof. Xuanjun ZHANG(1) Fluorescent and photoacoustic probes for bioimaging/sensing
(2) Nanoreactors for biomedical applications
Prof. Wa Kam CHANG(1) How cells polarize during cell migration, with a focus on the cytoskeleton and nuclear envelope proteins
(2) How aging affects cell polarization and how cell polarization contributes to aging defects
(3) Characterize candidate aging factors and decipher their modes of action
Prof. Yunlu DAI(1) Cancer nanomedicine
(2) Molecular imaging
(3) Drug delivery
Prof. Leo Tsz On LEE(1) Small RNA-dendrimer in modulating the receptors in renin-angiotensin system to suppress cancer development and metastasis
(2) Proteomic and metabolic analyses of EPAC signaling in ovarian cancer
Prof. Ningyi SHAOCardiomyocytes differentiation across species
Prof. Vivien Ya-Fan WANGMechanism of gene regulation by NFkappaB and co-factors
Prof. Hongjie ZHANG(1) System-intrinsic sphingolipid homeostatic network regulation
(2) Molecular mechanisms of tubular organ morphogenesis
Prof. Qi ZHAO(1) Nanomedicine and target drug delivery
(2) Directed evolution of synthetic proteins and molecules
(3) Neutralizing antibodies against infections
Prof. Jun ZHENG(1) Type VI secretion system in pathogenic bacteria
(2) Development next generation antibiotics
(3) Bacterial persistence

Contact

Academic advisors: Prof. Chuxia DENG, Chair of Graduate Studies Committee.

Email: cxdeng@um.edu.mo

Prof. Guokai CHEN, Associate Dean (Teaching).

Email: guokaichen@um.edu.mo
Administrative support

(Admission)

 Ms. Samantha LAM

Email: saohalam@um.edu.mo
Administrative support

(Programme Operation)

 Ms. Angela CHAN

Email: angelacichan@um.edu.mo