Very happy to see our work on PTK7 as a novel molecular driver in metastatic HCC finally published in Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Congrats to Matthew! Read the article here.
Findings from this study demonstrated PTK7 as a novel regulator of HCC metastasis. Specifically, we found PTK7 to be critical in driving TGF-β signaling activation, induction of metastatic phenotypes, and guiding of specific epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) status.
News
Hello and Welcome 2022/23
A warm welcome to our incoming team members who have joined us this past summer and in this new academic year – BBMS Final Year Project Students Phoebe and Elok, Research Assistants Victoria and Yalu, M.Phil. students Matt, Jia and Joseph, and Ph.D. students Angel and Jingyi!
Essays in Biochemistry – Special Issue on Cancer Stem Cells
Happy to have the opportunity to co-guest edit this special issue for Essays in Biochemistry with Terence Lee. We have assembled a nice series of reviews with contributions from Dean Tang, Alan Wong, Masaru Katoh, Stephanie Xie, Junfang Ji, Youhua Tan, Mohit Kumar Jolly, Chunzhang Yang, Xin-Yuan Guan, as well as articles from Terence and my own teams. In particular, our Ph.D. student Toni contributed a review article on ‘Mechanisms of resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors in liver cancer stem cells and potential therapeutic approaches.
Check it out at https://portlandpress.com/essaysbiochem/issue/66/4.
A huge thank you to Sarah :)
Sarah has been with us for the past 3 years, helping us with all essential lab housekeeping, and making sure our lab runs smoothly. We are sad to see her go but sending her our very best wishes as she begins her research postgraduate studies in the School of Biological Sciences at HKU. Thank you, Sarah 🙂
SKLLR Internal Meeting 2022
Johnson and Ianto shared their research findings at the annual SKLLR Internal Meeting that was held on August 20th. Always lovely to gather with different research groups working in the same field to catch up, share and discuss. Well done to both and in particular Johnson who won one of the Best Presentation Awards 🙂
Happy Farewells
Our best wishes to Carol, Yunong, and Justin!
I cannot be more proud of Carol and am thrilled to see her start her own independent lab in the School of Biomedical Sciences at CUHK this summer. Carol was my first PhD student and I have witnessed her growth and achievements, both academically and personally, over the years. I have no doubt she will continue to fly high and look forward to seeing her further accomplishments in the future.
Yunong is finishing off his MPhil study under the supervision of Carol, and will be beginning his PhD program with Carol in her new lab at CUHK.
Justin is finishing off his MBBS Enrichment Year and MRes[Med] study with us. Justin – Best of luck as you begin clinical rotations in medical school. I hope to see you continue doing research as a medical doctor in the future!
Thank you all for your contribution to the SMA lab. It has been a pleasure working with you!
#proudsupervisor
#teamSMA
#hkusbms
#hkumed
Our review paper in Hepatology
Thrilled to have an opportunity to contribute a review article to the journal Hepatology. Our Ph.D. student Sheree provided a nice summary of our current understanding of noncellular components of the liver cancer stem cell niche and their potential clinical implications. 
It has been a while!
Very strict dining and gathering restrictions in HK for the most part of the first and second quarters of 2022. Finally had an opportunity to gather and celebrate birthdays in the lab.
Our latest lab group photo with new members Angela Kong (RA) and Grace Guan (summer intern). Welcome!
InnoHK Launch Ceremony
The InnoHK Launch Ceremony was held on May 25th, 2022, marking a new milestone in the HKSAR Government’s commitment to promoting HK’s innovation and technology. Blessed to be part of this era of new research and innovation opportunities in HK through participation in Prof CM Che’s Laboratory of Synthetic Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Prof Pentao Liu’s Centre for Translational Stem Cell Biology.
#InnoHK #Health@InnoHK #CTSCB #LSCCB 
6th IASCBC 2022
Stephanie shared the team’s latest research work on the liver CSC tumor microenvironment at the recent 6th International Anatomical Sciences and Cell Biology Conference (IASCBC) held virtually from February 21 to 23, 2022. Thank you to Leilei Chen for the invitation and for chairing the session on Cancer Biology. Hope to visit Singapore in person next time! 
SMA Lab 