5N01 | School of Biological Sciences | The University of Hong Kong

	INTRODUCING the EMB group at the University of Hong Kong
		The Evolutionary and Molecular Biology Group (EMB group) is a team of young researchers at the University of Hong Kong, School of Biological Sciences, led by Professor Frederick Chi-Ching Leung. The EMB group works on molecular and evolutionary virology, avian genomics and comparative endocrinology, evolutionary genomics and traditional Chinese medicines. Members of the group are diverse with multi-disciplinary backgrounds, including molecular biologists, computer scientists, mathematicians and physicists..

			`News and Status`
			Hein Min Tun (PhD student) was awarded IPRRSS David Benfield Travel Fellowship (DABSTF) in International PRRS Symposium (IPRRSS) 2011 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mabel Wong Ting (Mphil student) was awarded Jones-Hamilton Co. Graduate Student Travel Grant Award --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hein Min Tun (PhD student) was awarded Prize Presentation (photo 1, photo 2). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brar Manreetpal Singh (PhD student) was awarded Hong Kong PhD Fellowship 2011. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hein Min Tun (PhD student) was awarded DIK ZWART AWARD by AITVM as a best poster presentation award. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Congratuations to Tommy Tsan-Yuk Lam (PhD student), Chi-Wai Yip (PhD student) and Lina Tik-Wun Wong (Mphil student) for accomplishment of their degree programs. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amy Ho-Yan Kwok (PhD student) was awarded HKSAR Government Scholarship (photo). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof. Frederick Chi-Ching Leung was elected as Fellows of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). (Offical announcement from AAAS website) (HKU announcement) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jun Li (PhD student) was awarded IPRRSS David Benfield Travel Fellowship (DABSTF) in International PRRS Symposium (IPRRSS) 2009. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The homepage of The 16th International Congress of Comparative Endocrinology (ICCE) was held successfully! The 16th ICCE was held during June 22-26, 2009, in Hong Kong, hosted by the School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong. (Photo) (Program book, including all abstracts) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Geographical Origins of Novel H1N1/09 Influenza in Humans --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Professor Frederick Chi-Ching Leung was awarded University Teaching Fellowship 2007. (Photo). Citation from his postdoctoral fellow Dr. Hon Chung Chau. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tommy Tsan-Yuk Lam (PhD student) was awarded Novartis Vaccines Award for Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases 2008 (Photo) in 13th International Congress of Infectious Disease. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amy Ho-Yan Kwok (PhD student) was awarded University Postgraduate Fellowships. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

			`Selected Recent Publications` <click here for more publications >
			Li J, Jiang J, Leung FC. "6-10x pyrosequencing is a practical approach for whole prokaryote genome studies." Gene. in publication Cai S, Li J, Wong MT, Jiao P, Fan H, Liu D, Liao M, Jiang J, Shi M, Lam TT, Ren T, Leung FC. "Genetic characterization and evolutionary analysis of 4 Newcastle disease virus isolate full genomes from waterbirds in South China during 2003-2007." Vet Microbiol. 2011 Apr 22. [PUBMED] Tun HM, Shi M, Wong CL, Ayudhya SN, Amonsin A, Thanawonguwech R, Leung FC. "Genetic diversity and multiple introductions of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome viruses in Thailand" Virol J. 2011 Apr 12;8:164 [PUBMED] Ho JC, Kwok AH, Zhao D, Wang Y, Leung FC. "Characterization of the chicken galanin type I receptor (GalR1) and a novel GalR1-like receptor (GalR1-L)." Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2011 Jan 15;170(2):391-400. Epub 2010 Oct 25. [PUBMED] Brar MS, Shi M, Ge L, Carman S, Murtaugh MP, Leung FC. "Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in Ontario, Canada 1999-2010: genetic diversity and restriction fragment length polymorphisms" J Gen Virol. 2011 Feb 23. [Epub ahead of print] [PUBMED] Shi M, Lam TT, Hon CC, Murtaugh MP, Davies PR, Hui RK, Li J, Wong LT, Yip CW, Jiang JW Leung FC, "Phylogeny-based evolutionary, demographical, and geographical dissection of North American type 2 porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome viruses." J Virol. 2010 Sep;84(17):8700-11. Epub 2010 Jun 16. [PUBMED] Yuan J, Hon CC, Li Y, Wang D, Xu G, Zhang H, Zhou P, Poon LM, Lam TT, Leung FC, Shi Z " Intra-species Diversity of SARS-Like Coronaviruses (CoVs) in Rhinolophus sinicus and Its Implications on the Origin of SARS-CoVs in human." J Gen Virol. 2010 Apr;91(Pt 4):1058-62. Epub 2009 Dec 16 [PUBMED] Li R , ..., Leung FC, ..., Wang J "The sequence and de novo assembly of the giant panda genome." Nature. 2010 Jan 21;463(7279):311-7. Epub 2009 Dec 13. Erratum in: Nature. 2010 Feb 25;463(7284):1106 [PUBMED] Wang Y, Li J, Yan Kwok AH, Ge W, Leung FC. "A novel prolactin-like protein (PRL-L) gene in chickens and zebrafish: Cloning and characterization of its tissue expression ." Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2010 Mar 1;166(1):200-10. Epub 2009 Oct 23 [PUBMED] Yip CW, Hon CC, Shi M, Lam TT, Chow KY, Zeng F, Leung FC. "Phylogenetic perspectives on the epidemiology and origins of SARS and SARS-like coronaviruses." Infect Genet Evol. 2009 Dec;9(6):1185-96. Epub 2009 Sep 30 [PUBMED] Wang Y, Li J, Wang CY, Kwok AY, Zhang X, Leung FC. "Characterization of the receptors for chicken GHRH and GHRH-related peptides: identification of a novel receptor for GHRH and the receptor for GHRH-LP (PRP)" Domest Anim Endocrinol. 2010 Jan;38(1):13-31. Epub 2009 Aug 31 [PUBMED] Lynch VJ, Tanzer A, Wang Y, Leung FC. , Gellersen B, Emera D, Wagner GP. "Adaptive changes in the transcription factor HoxA-11 are essential for the evolution of pregnancy in mammals." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Sep 30;105(39):14928-33. Epub 2008 Sep 22.[PUBMED] Wang Y, Leung FC. "In silico prediction of two classes of honeybee genes with CpG deficiency or CpG enrichment and sorting according to gene ontology classes." J Mol Evol. 2009 Jun;68(6):700-5. Epub 2009 May 23 [PUBMED] Wang Y, Leung FC. "Discovery of a long inverted repeat in human POTE genes." Genomics. 2009 May 20 [PUBMED] Wang Y, Leung FC. " Acquisition of inverted GSTM exons by an intron of primate GSTM5 gene." J Hum Genet. 2009;54(5):271-6. Epub 2009 Mar 20 [PUBMED] Wang Y, Leung FC. "A study on genomic distribution and sequence features of human long inverted repeats reveals species-specific intronic inverted repeats." FEBS J. 2009 Apr;276(7):1986-98. Epub 2009 Feb 25 [PUBMED] Lam TY, Hon CC, Wang Z, Hui RK, Zeng F, Leung FC.. "Evolutionary Analyses of European H1N2 swine infuenza A virus by placing timestamps on the multiple reassortment events." Virus Res . 2008 Feb;131(2):271-8. Epub 2007 Oct 23 [PUBMED] Hon CC, Lam TT, Yip CW, Wong RT, Shi M, Jiang J, Zeng F, Leung FC "Phylogenetic evidence for homologous recombination within the family Birnaviridae." J Gen Virol, 2008 Dec;89(Pt 12):3156-64. [PUBMED] 　 Wang J, Wang Y, Li X, Li J, Leung FC. "Cloning, tissue distribution, and functional characterization of chicken glucagon receptor." Poultry Sci, 2008 Dec;87(12):2678-88. [PUBMED] 　 Wang Y, Leung FC. "GC content increased at CpG flanking positions of fish genes compared with sea squirt orthologs as a mechanism for reducing impact of DNA methylation." PLoS ONE, 2008;3(11):e3612. [PUBMED]　　 Chow KY, Yeung YS, Hon CC, Zeng F, Law KM, Leung FC. "SARS coronavirus and apoptosis." Hong Kong Med J, 2008 Aug;14 Suppl 4:8-13. [PUBMED] 　 Lam TY, Hon CC, Pybus OG, Sergei KP, Wong TY, Yip CW, Zeng F, Leung FC. "Evolutionary and transmission dynamics of reassortant H5N1 influenza virus in Indonesia." PLoS Pathogens, 2008 Aug 22;4(8):e1000130. [PUBMED] Hon CC, Lam TY, Shi ZL, Drummond AJ, Yip CW, Zeng F, Lam PY, Leung FC. "Evidences of the Recombinant Origin of a Bat SARS-like Coronavirus and its Implications on the Direct Ancestor of SARS Coronavirus." J Virol. 2007 Dec 5; [PUBMED] 　 Wang CY, Wang Y, Kwok AH, Leung FC. "Identification of two novel chicken GHRH receptor splice variants: implications for the roles of aspartate 56 in the receptor activation and direct ligand receptor interaction." J Endocrinol. 2007 Dec;195(3):525-36[PUBMED] Yeung YS, Yip CW, Hon CC, Chow KY, Ma IC, Zeng F, Leung FC. "Transcriptional profiling of Vero E6 cells over-expressing SARS-CoV S2 subunit: Insights on viral regulation of apoptosis and proliferation." Virology. 2008 Feb 5;371(1):32-43. [PUBMED] Wong RT, Hon CC, Zeng F, Leung FC. "Screening of differentially expressed transcripts in infectious bursal disease virus-induced apoptotic chicken embryonic fibroblasts by using cDNA microarrays." J Gen Virol. 2007 Jun;88(Pt 6):1785-96.[PUBMED] Ma CM, Hon CC, Lam TY, Li VY, Wong CK, de Oliveira T, Leung FC. "Evidence for recombination in natural populations of porcine circovirus type 2 in Hong Kong and mainland China." J Gen Virol. 2007 Jun;88(Pt 6):1733-7.[PUBMED] Wang Y, Li J, Ying Wang C, Yan Kwok AH, Leung FC. "Epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor ligands in the chicken ovary: I. Evidence for heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor (HB-EGF) as a potential oocyte-derived signal to control granulosa cell proliferation and HB-EGF and kit ligand expression." Endocrinology. 2007 Jul;148(7):3426-40. [PUBMED] 　 Wang Y, Li J, Wang CY, Kwok AH, Leung FC. "Identification of the endogenous ligands for chicken growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) receptor: evidence for a separate gene encoding GHRH in submammalian vertebrates." Endocrinology. 2007 May;148(5):2405-16.[PUBMED]