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
Normative Study Period
4 Years
Admission
Name of Supervisor | Research Topics | Details |
---|---|---|
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 WANG | Cancer genetic, hereditery breast cancer, genomics, bioinformatics | |
Prof. Garry WONG | Bioinformatics 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 XU | Mesenchymal stem cells: the development, heterogeneity, and assimilation | PhD-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 ZHENG | Foxo and neuronal differentiation or new drugs development like artemisinin and metformin | |
Prof. William Chong Hang CHAO | Structure and function of epigenetic regulators | PhD-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 SHIM | Exploiting 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 WONG | Transcription 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 XU | BRCA1 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 SHAO | Cardiomyocytes differentiation across species | |
Prof. Vivien Ya-Fan WANG | Mechanism 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 |