Jung Shan Hwang is a teaching and research academic in the Department of Medical Sciences at Sunway University. As an undergraduate, she studied molecular biology at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research began with a Ph.D. investigating the protein-DNA interactions between E. coli TyrR protein and its regulatory genes in E. coli. After graduating from PhD at the University of Melbourne in 1998, she received JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship and studied the RNA polymerase of influenza virus at the Department of Molecular Genetics, National Institute of Genetics, Japan. She continued her research career in the Center for Information Biology of the same institute but her research focus shifted from the influenza virus to a freshwater invertebrate, Hydra. She contributed significantly on the gene expression studies of Hydra interstitial stem cell lineages. In this work, she has identified and characterised a number of orphan genes which are unique to the Kingdom of Cnidaria. On her return to Malaysia in 2010, Hwang joined UCSI University and later was promoted to Associate Professor. She continued her Hydra work on investigating the pore-forming toxins of Hydra and their mechanisms causing inflammatory response, apoptosis and necrosis in human cells. After six years at UCSI University, Hwang joined Sunway University. She kept up her interest of Hydra but broadened her research horizons to the clinical research. In collaborating with three local hospitals, her first project in Sunway University worked to understand the drug efficacy and toxicity of methotrexate in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Currently, her research goal is to study the potential application of miRNAs as biomarkers in monitoring the disease activity of rheumatoid arthritis, and the association of pathogenic bacteria with the cellular hypercitrullination in rheumatoid arthritis.
Dr Hwang Jung Shan
Dr. Gr ace Lai-Hung Wong
Grace Wong is a Professor of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2001 with honors and distinctions in Medicine. In 2010, she received the Doctoral Degree of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Grace Wong’s main research interest includes big data research in hepatology, chronic viral hepatitis, and risk prediction and risk reduction of hepatocellular carcinoma, and non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis. She has published over 410 articles in peer-reviewed journals including Gastroenterology, Journal of Hepatology. Gut and Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology. She is currently the editor-in-chief of Hepatology (Hong Kong edition), the associate editor of Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics and Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. She has been awarded for the Young Investigator Award of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver in 2009, the Distinguished Research
Paper Award for Young Investigators of the Hong Kong College of Physicians in 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2015, the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Hong Kong (香港十大傑出青年) in 2014, Sir David Todd Lectureship of Hong Kong College of Physicians in 2016, the Distinguished Young Fellow of Hong Kong Academy of Medicine in 2017, the Emerging Leader Lectureship of the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation (JGHF), the Presidential Awards in the Global Hepatitis Summit 2021 and the Richard Yu Lectureship of Hong Kong College of Physicians in 2021.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yow Yoon Yen
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yow is an algae biotechnologist and her research focuses on the discovery and development of new compounds from algae as nutraceutical candidates in the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases. Additionally, she is working on the beneficial effects of algae in cosmeceuticals and its anti-microbial and anti-cancer properties. She is also interested in the study of molecular phylogenetics and genetic diversity of algae, and invasive Pomacea apple snails. The high value of algae and their products has made them an economically important natural resource in Malaysia. To date, a total of 386 specific and intraspecific taxa have been recorded in Malaysia. A number of these algae have been proven to contain natural compounds of anti-ulcerogenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-neurodegenerative and gastroprotective properties, and serve as a promising antioxidant, chemotherapeutic, and anti-diabetic agents. In line with Sunway University’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), she looks forward to discovering how algae play a role in the SDGs with the aim to promote well-being for all.