Feature Story Research & Innovation
Our Research Assistant Professors Share their Career Paths to Becoming Independent Academics
Dr. Xiucong Bao
supervisors about research or career, attending research conference, involving the management of research team, organizing events in/outside of laboratory. Definitely, those things will take your time, but it’s all relative and worthful. Moreover, you can learn a lot about yourself, you will find out whether you care more about your experiments than about your team, whether you can manage a research group, whether you are good at training people, and whether you can be a good mentor.
Learning from my previous experiences as a graduate student and a postdoc, I found that in addition to become an expertise in the field where you attempt to solve some of the most pressing problems in the world, it is also important to develop skills to talk, share and present your research ideas and findings at disciplinary conferences and meetings to a much broader audience. In addition to working at the bench for experimental research, you also need to show initiative and develop a network of contacts, which will greatly expand your options for the future, talking with research students, postdoctoral researchers and
Being a researcher or scientist, you have to prepare yourself from all aspects for your future career.
Dr. Xiucong Bao’s webpage
Dr. Chi Ping Chan
has not and will not surrender. With the great effort of the whole academic community, we have obtained a better understanding of SARS-CoV-2 biology and even developed vaccines and antivirals against it within months. This is a fascinating achievement and has saved lots of lives. Today, as a molecular virologist and biologist, I am glad that I can apply what I learnt to my work and help contribute to the battle towards COVID-19. We are now working very hard towards the development of live attenuated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Hopefully, we can develop a more efficient vaccine that could help to end the pandemic in no time!
Science has always been so amazing for me. Lots of mysteries are still waiting to be solved. With a strong interest in science, I started off with a Bachelor in Biochemistry at HKU. At that time, I did not know how far I could go. I would just sometimes imagine how cool it could be as a Scientist. Throughout the years, I have continued to learn and stepped into academia. Pursuing a PhD degree and doing post-doctoral training at HKU, I can say I am purely locally trained. It is really an exciting learning journey that I believe will continue in my life. This is also what I enjoy.
Humankind is vulnerable in front of Nature. The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has further attested this. However, human
Dr. Chi Ping Chan’s webpage
Dr. Carol Tong
I had a strong interest in science and biology when I was young, and I knew that I wanted to build my career on science. I obtained my BSc degree on Biotechnology and PhD degree from this university. My research interest on cancer biology stemmed from the final year project that I worked on during my undergraduate study, which was about the development of a novel monoclonal antibody to treat liver cancer. From then, I was more assured that I wanted to pursue my career in the academic field. My PhD project was on the study of molecular determinants of liver cancer stem cells and the development of novel therapeutic strategies for liver cancer patients, under the supervision of Dr. Stephanie Ma from our School. I am beyond grateful for the support and opportunities given so that I can
continue my research after graduation. A lot of freedom and opportunities were also provided so that I can develop my own research interests in the lab. As I progressed through my postdoctoral fellow and RAP training, I diverted my research focus and efforts from cancer stem cell biology towards an understanding of an intertwined relationship between metabolic heterogeneity, cellular stress responses in response to therapy and remodeling of tumor microenvironment in liver cancer, with the vision and mission to develop innovative, efficacious and durable therapeutic strategies to help cancer patients. Being able to build my career on science is one of the most rewarding things in my life. I really enjoy learning new knowledge, doing new experiments, and making new discoveries every day.
Dr. Carol Tong’s webpage
Dr. Eric Wong
Learning. A key part in science. At every stage of my scientific career, from undergraduate to postgraduate, from postdoctoral training to where I am now, I have been learning new skills and techniques. Nanoparticle preparation, molecular biology, PET-MRI, Next generation sequencing, bioinformatics, scientific writing, public engagement and more to name. Some of the skills may not be used ever again after you finish the experiment, however, the process of learning, understanding the theory and troubleshooting builds the skillset for the next stage and future. I spent one year in a lab working on development of a nanoparticles for biological uses on my work placement year during undergraduate period. I learned lots of chemistry and modelling at that time, but after I left the lab, I have not made nanoparticles again. Yet, the chemistry and modelling knowledge I learned and the experience of
communicating with experts from different fields are critical for my research now and contribute to one of my recent publications. The pyrosequencing I learned as a final year project student, also gave me an opportunity for my first postdoctoral position a few years back. Without a doubt, science is moving in an incredible pace with new technologies and discoveries publishing every month if not week. Doing research is very time consuming, let alone catching up with publications and new techniques. But acquiring new skills are beneficial and helpful, and will get you prepared when opportunity comes. The skills I learned at each stage of my scientific career have prepared me for the next stage and extended my reach to other possibilities. Learning has shaped who I am now and allowed me to stay in science to explore the world.
Dr. Eric Wong’s webpage
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