Prof. CHENG Shuk Han (鄭淑嫻)

Prof. Shuk Han Cheng received her BSc (Hons) from the University of Hong Kong, majoring in Zoology. She received her PhD from the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, which is now part of the Imperial College, University of London. Her PhD work was on the cellular immune response of BCG vaccination, under the supervision of Prof. Denny Mitchison in the Department of Bacteriology, Hammersmith Hospital. She did postdoctoral training under the supervision of Prof. Tak Mak on molecular immune response of T cells, at the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto. Before joining CityU in 1997, she worked in the Departments of Paediatrics, and Orthopaedics and Traumatology, at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

She has won many innovation awards at international exhibitions, including Grand Prix and Gold Medal as a co-inventor for the invention “in vivo testing without animal experimentation” at the 43rd International Exhibition of Inventions in 2015 and WIPO Medal for Inventors, “A World-leading Non-animal in Vivo Testing Method” presented by World Intellectual Property Organization at the 8th International Invention Fair in 2015. In addition, she has been awarded the Gold Medal at the 35th International Exhibition of Inventions, New Techniques and Products of Geneva in 2007, 2 gold awards from the Korean International Women’s invention Expositions in 2009 and 2010, Gold Award and also a Special Prize from the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland, for the invention of “Rapid-identification Kit for Meat Ingredients in Processed Food” and a Bronze Award for the invention “Transgenic fish for high-throughput biomonitoring of Toxicants” in 2011. She is the recipient of the 2015 CityU Outstanding Research Award.

She has published over 150 peer-reviewed research articles and some of them are among the Top 25 Hottest Articles in the Science Direct database. To date she has supervised 23 graduate students, with 9 awarded PhD and another 9 awarded MPhil. She has also supervised 16 postdoctoral fellows.

She takes great interest in teaching and mentoring undergrad students. She teaches the BSc course “Technology for Regenerative Medicine” and also coaches non-Biology major students on using biotechnology in business plans for entrepreneur competitions. She is on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Biotechnology company Vitargent.

She also holds the concurrent appointment as Chair Professor of Molecular Medicine in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and as the Associate Dean in the School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM).

Research Interests

Nature or nurture: molecular and chemical regulation of vertebrate embryonic development and adult organ regeneration

Research Projects

The primary focus of the Cheng lab is to investigate how molecules and chemicals interact in regulating the fascinating processes of embryonic development and adult organ regeneration. Specifically, we investigate the functions of a family of transcription factors, encoded by the Iroquois homeobox genes, in patterning and specifying the development and functions of the heart and retina. Using the transparent zebrafish embryos as our model organism, we develop computational tools to augment and quantify bio-imaging data of gene expression domains and biodistribution of novel chemicals and nanomedicine. We also adapt the Electrocardiogram (ECG) to measure electric conductance and charges in the 2 mm long zebrafish embryos. Our unique capacity to combine bio-imaging and electrophysiology enables us to correlate different parameters of the cardiovascular anatomy and physiology to altered gene expression or to exposure to chemicals, such as toxicants and drugs. Expanding from this set of tools, we are synthesizing and testing nanomedicine which can over come cancer drug resistance or exert anti-angiogenic actions. The zebrafish is also an amazing model of adult heart regeneration. We are currently using an interdisciplinary approach to extend this animal model for the development of novel cell- or nanomaterial-based therapeutics applicable for regenerative medicine. In collaboration with chemist, robotics engineer and nanomaterial scientist, we use emerging technologies to harvest and modify regenerating heart cells. Our long-term goal is to translate the zebrafish work back to mammals and contribute to the understanding and achievement of organ regeneration.