Major Research Areas

Childhood cancers and thalassaemia syndromes:
Cytogenetic and molecular diagnosis of leukaemia and solid tumour; clinical and genetic studies on thalassaemia syndromes; in vitro study of traditional Chinese medicine on neurogenic tumours; haematopoietic stem cells differentiation.

Paediatric epidemiology and biostatistics :
Child health issues, including growth, obesity, asthma and clinical trials.

Growth and endocrine disorders :
Growth and follow-up studies in normal and small for gestational age babies; nutrition, lipids and growth; childhood diabetes and its complications; long-term health consequences of growth impairment in early life.

Paediatric cardiology :
Three-dimensional echocardiographic reconstruction for congenital heart disease; clinical applications of dobutamine stress echocardiography in children; assessment of diastolic function by colour tissue Doppler and acoustic quantification; long-term outcome studies after corrective and palliative surgery for congenital heart disease; clinical studies of interventional cardiac catheterization; non-invasive assessment of arterial distensibility and vascular endothelial function; ventriculo-arterial coupling in congenital and acquired heart disease.

Human molecular genetics :
Molecular genetics of sexual differentiation disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, diabetes mellitus and growth disorders.

Neural injuries and degeneration :
Molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in hypoxic-ischaemic and hyperbilirubinaemic neural injuries, and motor neuron degeneration and regeneration, including study of differential gene expressions and use of genetic manipulations to explore and test novel therapeutic strategies for these disorders.

Molecular developmental biology :
Characterization of genes involved in heart development and congenital heart defects; role of epidermal growth factor in development by transgenic mice; signal transduction pathways of RET receptor tyrosine kinase.

Child neurology :
Neurophysiological evaluation of peripheral and central nervous system; database on cerebral palsy, neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis, neuromuscular diseases, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autistic spectrum disorders; molecular genetic studies on various neurological disorders in Chinese; neurophysiological studies on neurodevelopmental disorders; comprehensive epilepsy programme including video-EEG monitoring and presurgical evaluation; use of functional independence measure (WeeFIM) as outcome measure for neurorehabilitation; integration of traditional Chinese medicine in neurohabilitation (tongue acupuncture and traditional Chinese and herbal medicine); neurohabilitation model; functional neuroimaging study, MRI and PST scan for brain plasticity.

Immunology :
Cord blood dendritic cell and T cell development; mannose-binding lectin; SNPs and STRs in immunological and infectious diseases; vaccines study disease; epidemiology of allergic diseases.

Cytokine biology and cancer virology :
Host response to virus infection (HIV and avian influenza viruses); biology of cytokine and interferon-signaling pathways and gene regulation; pathogenetic role of tumour viruses in cancer development.