Natural Drug Discovery and Development Group I Group Members

Prof. Kwok is an active and experienced scientist working in the areas of proteins (antigens), peptides (venom-based) and antibodies (targeted therapy/immunotherapy) in the battle against infectious diseases and cancer for novel drug discovery, development and treatment.

He obtained his 1st class (Hons) B.Sc. in Biotechnology and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences in the United Kingdom. His extensive body of research in the last 15 years has allowed him to occupy a number of respectable positions in a variety of fields, such as being a Senior Scientist in the Queen’s University Belfast spinout company -- Fusion Antibodies Ltd., which was recently listed on the FTSE All-Share AIM index on the London Stock Exchange as Fusion Antibodies Plc. (FAB), and a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Oncology at the University of Cambridge.

Presently, Prof. Kwok holds a position of Professor & Head of Department of Biomedical Sciences, and also serves as a Consultant of Histopathology Core in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Macau. In addition, he is a Visiting Mentor/Scientist in the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute at the University of Cambridge since 2014. In 2022, Prof. Kwok has been elected as a Fellow of Royal Society of Biology (FRSB) and a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) to recognize his work in biomedicinal chemistry for peptide-based/antibody prototype drug discovery & development and chemical-based immunosensor/immunoassay development for cancer diagnostics/biomarker.

Dr. Haixin Qin obtained her Bachelor's degree from the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, majoring in Traditional Chinese Medicine. In June 2022, she completed her PhD at the Queens University Belfast with the research topic of 'Exploration of the structure-function relationships of two novel antimicrobial peptides from amphibian skin secretion through rational design and in vitro studies'. Currently, she works in Prof. Kwok's research group and continues the research on discovering anticancer/antimicrobial peptides from natural resources.

Dr. Weimin Zuo was born in Guangdong Province, China. She obtained her Bachelor degree in Clinical Medicine from the Southern Medical University and Master degree in Oncology from the Xiamen University. She joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory in September 2020 as a PhD student involving in a research project which focused on venom-based peptides drug development for cancer and stem cells therapy.

Ms. Jing LI obtained her BSc degree in the Guangdong Pharmaceutical University and her MSc degree in the Jinan University. She joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory in August 2020 as a PhD student, and is currently working on understanding the relationship/role(s) of RCC1 and Ran protein in cancer biology.

Ms. Sin Wa (Connor) WONG obtained her BSc degree of Science in Biomedical Technology (Medical Laboratory Technology) from the Macao Polytechnic Institute and her MSc degree of Science in Medical Laboratory and Biotechnology from the Taiwan Chung Shan Medical University. She joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory in November 2017 as a visiting scientist, and is currently involving in two cancer research projects on the development of venom-based peptide drug and anti-ADAMTS5 antibody. She registered as a PhD student in Prof. Kwok’s laboratory since August 2021

Mr. Ziqi Lin obtained his BSc degree in Clinical Medicine from the Jilin University and a Master degree in Immunology from the Wenzhou Medical University. During his study for the Master degree, he was working on tumor molecular biology and has been engaged in investigating the biological mechanism of alpha-fetoprotein in gastric and liver cancers growth. He joined Prof. Kwok’s laboratory as a PhD student of Biomedicine since August 2021.

Dr. Zhongliang Li graduated with a Bachelor degree in Clinical Medicine and a Master degree in Oncology from the Guangzhou Medical University and the Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute respectively. In his postgraduate life, he had participated in several scientific projects, including multi-centric clinical studies. Longing for a solid foundation for future scientific research, he embraced the opportunity to work in Prof. Kwok’s laboratory as a PhD student in Biomedicine since August 2021.

Mr. Siyuan Luo graduated with a Master degree in Botany from Sichuan Agricultural University. During his postgraduate study, he was familiar with extracting plant bioactive compositions and evaluating their bio-activities using cells and C. elegans. He joined Prof. Kwok’s laboratory as a PhD student in August 2022.

Mr. Jiasheng Zhang graduated from the Shantou University Medical College, focusing on identifying and characterising cancer-related genes in esophageal cancer. After graduation, he worked as a Research Assistant at the First Affiliated Hospital Sun Yat-sen University for several years. To further improve his scientific research ability, Jiasheng joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory as a PhD student in August 2022.

Mr. Weijian Li graduated from the School of Medicine Wuhan University with a Bachelor's degree in Medical Laboratory. He obtained a Master's degree in Clinical Laboratory diagnostics from the Xiamen University. After graduation, he entered the Institute of Basic Medicine and Cancer (IBMC) Chinese Academy of Sciences as a Research Assistant, where he conducted research on nucleic acid markers in tumor liquid biopsies. Weijian joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory as a PhD student in August 2022 via the joint doctoral program of the IBMC Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Macau.

Ms. Jane Peng obtained her BSc degree in Pharmacy from the Shanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and her MSc degree in Molecular Medicine from the Sun Yat-Sen University. She joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory in August 2023 as a PhD student.

Ms. Yan Zhu was born in Jiangsu Province, China. She obtained her BSc from Guangxi Medical University and MSc degree from Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her master project is working on exploring the anti-tumor immunity effects of Brusatol (small molecular drug) in hepatoma. She joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory in August 2023 as a PhD student of Biomedicine.

Mr. Denggui He obtained his BSc degree at the Wuhan University, where he learned fundamental biological knowledge and received training in scientific research. In order to improve his research ability, he joined Professor Kwok's research group in Aug 2023 as a PhD student. He is currently studying toxins/peptides from animals and is committed to discovering the mechanisms underlying their caused pain.

Ms. Shiling Zhang graduated with a MSc degree in Ecology from the Shenzhen University, focusing on active secondary metabolites produced by marine bacteria. After graduation, she entered the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology as a Research Assistant, where she focused on her research regarding intracellular polymerization in bacteria. She joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory as a PhD student in August 2023.

Ms. Jinyu Li obtained her BSc degree in Clinical Medicine from the Zhengzhou University and a Master degree in Immunology from the Zhengzhou University. During her study for the Master degree, she was working on screening tumor markers and evaluate their diagnostic value for breast and lung cancer. She joined Prof. Kwok’s laboratory as a PhD student of Biomedicine since August 2024.

Mr. Xiaohe Xu was born in Nanjing, China. He obtained his Bachelor degree of Pharmacy and Master degree of Medicinal Chemistry both from China Pharmaceutical University. He joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory in August 2024 as a PhD student, via the joint doctoral program between Hangzhou Institute of Medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau. His research orientations are Artificial Intelligence Drug Design (AIDD) and Bioinformatics.

Mr. Miao Jing was born in Anhui Province, China. He graduated from the University of Sussex, UK. In August 2024, he became a PhD student jointly trained by the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau and the Hangzhou Institute of Medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research interests are artificial intelligence drug design and the development of therapeutic tumor vaccines.

Ms. Jiahui Li obtained her MSc degree at Anhui University of Science and Technology and East China Normal University. During her master's degree, her research project was the design and development of tumor small molecule inhibitors. She joined Prof. Kwok’s lab in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau in August 2024 as a joint PhD student with the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT).

Ms. Jenny Leong completed her Bachelor of Biomedicine degree at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She later did her Honours project, which was about the phosphorylation status of the microprocessor complex in the hematopoietic lineage, at St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research, Australia, and obtained 1st class Honours for her Honours degree. She joined Prof. Kwok’s laboratory at the University of Macau in Nov 2021 until June 2022 as a Research Assistant. Currently, Ms. Leong is studying her PhD degree at the University of Melbourne. 

Dr. Ran Wei obtained her PhD degree from the School of Pharmacy, Queen’s University Belfast on the topic of “Peptidomic and Bioinformatic Studies on Neuroendocrine Tumour Cells”. This project was supervised by Prof. Chris Shaw and mainly focused on the molecular inventory of the secretory peptidome of tumour cells by application of high-throughput LC/MS/MS techniques and bioinformatics techniques. After her PhD, she joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory since 2016 as a Postdoctoral Fellow and worked on a number of cancer research projects. Dr. Wei has been promoted to Senior Postdoctoral Fellow in Aug 2019 and left Prof. Kwok's laboratory in Jan 2021. Currently, Dr. Wei holds a Lectureship in the School of Pharmacy & Medicine at the Changzhou University and continuously collaborates with Prof. Kwok and his PhD student on investigating the prognostic and therapeutic potential of ADAMTS5 in different types of cancer for prototype drug development.

Dr. Janet Wong graduated with Honors in Resource Chemistry, Major Natural Product Chemistry from the University of Malaysia Sarawak. She later obtained her PhD from the University of Nottingham. Her research involved discovering, identifying and evaluating secondary metabolites from medicinal plants found in Malaysia; particularly ones that target the HMG-CoA reductase pathway of cholesterol synthesis. Dr. Wong was a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Kwok's laboratory from 2016 - 2019. Dr. Wong was working in a pharmaceutical company in Macau -- Hovione until 2022 and currently based in Singapore. She continuously collaborates with Prof. Kwok and his PhD student on the anticancer biomolecules discovery project.

Dr. Xinping Xi was born in the Jiangsu province, China. He obtained his B.Sc. degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine from the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, and received his PhD on the topic of “Venom-Based Peptides” from the Queen’s University Belfast, one of the top pharmacy schools in the United Kingdom. Dr. Xi was a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Kwok's laboratory, and he also served in the Proteomics Core as a core manager during that period of time. Now Dr. Xi is based in UK, he continues his research work with Prof. Kwok as a collaborator on the discovery of anti-cancer peptide drugs from animal venoms.

Dr. Peng Lyu has obtained his PhD from the Nature Drug Discovery group in the School of Pharmacy at the Queen’s University Belfast, UK. Dr. Lyu’s PhD research is in the areas of functional peptide discovery from the skin secretion of frogs. He joined Prof. Kwok’s research group in early April 2016 as a postdoctoral researcher. Currently, Dr. Lyu holds a Lectureship in the College of Biological Science and Engineering at the Fuzhou University.

Dr. Ravikiran Mahadevappa has obtained his PhD from Aarhus University, Denmark. He has previously worked in the Kidney Physiology group, Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University under the guidance of Prof. Henrik Birn. Dr. Mahadevappa was a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Kwok's research group from Oct 2015 until Oct 2017. He is currently based in USA, and he continuous his research work with Prof. Kwok as a collaborator on analyzing the MCM protein family and its role in cancer.

Dr. Qiushuang Wu obtained her BSc degree in Chinese Medicine Resources and Development from the China Pharmaceutical University and her MSc degree in Chinese Medicine Science from the University of Macau. She joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory in May 2019 as a Research Assistant, and was a PhD student involving in a research project which focused on isolating natural products and screening their anti-cancer activities. Dr. Wu completed her PhD study in Prof. Kwok's laboratory at the University of Macau in June 2023 and is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow in the Shenzhen Bay Laboratory in Shenzhen, China.

Dr. Junnan LI obtained her BSc degree in Traditional Chinese Pharmacy from the China Pharmaceutical University and her MSc degree in Pharmacology from the Jilin University. She joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory in August 2019 as a PhD student and was involving in a research regarding the novel combination treatment strategy for tackling EGFR drug resistance in lung cancer. Dr. Li completed her PhD study in Prof. Kwok's laboratory at the University of Macau in Dec 2022 and currently holds a Lectureship in the College of Life Science at the Hunan Normal University.

Dr. Libin Guo obtained her BSc degree in pharmaceutical engineering from the Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and her MSc degree in developmental biology from the Fujian Normal University. She joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory at the Faculty of Health Sciences University of Macau in August 2016 as a PhD student, and graduated in June 2022. Currently, Dr. Guo is continuing her research as a postdoctoral scientist in Prof. Kwok's laboratory which focuses on understanding the relationship/role(s) of PD-L1 and other related transcription factors in cancer biology. Dr. Guo currently holds a Lectureship in the College of Life Sciences at the Longyan University.

Dr. Pengchen Chen obtained a BSc degree in Biotechnology from the Wenzhou University and a Master’s degree in Cytobiology from the Fujian Normal University. Upon completing his study for the Master’s degree, he embraced the opportunity to work in Prof. Kwok’s laboratory as a PhD student of Biomedicine since August 2017. He was working on cell functional studies in gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma and completed his PhD study in Prof. Kwok's laboratory at the University of Macau in Nov 2021. Currently, Dr. Chen is working as a postdoctoral fellow in the Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China.

Dr. Muhammad Jameel Mughal obtained his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the Sindh Agriculture University, Pakistan. He later pursued his MPhil degree from the Sichuan Agricultural University, China. He worked under the supervision of Dr. Xi Peng and did his research on Aflatoxin B1 induced apoptosis in Chicken hepatocytes via death receptor pathway. His passion for biomedical sciences led him to join the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, for a PhD program in Biomedicine, under the supervision of Prof. Kwok in September 2017. He was working on the molecular mechanisms of MCM protein family and its interactome in promoting breast cancer progression and completed his PhD study in Prof. Kwok's laboratory at the University of Macau in Dec 2021. Currently, Dr. Muhammad Jameel Mughal is working as a postdoctoral fellow in the George Washington University, USA.

Dr. Rui Ma obtained his BSc degree in Biotechnology from the Inner Mongolia University For The Nationalities and his MSc degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Shenyang Pharmaceutical University. After that, Rui worked at the Zhuhai United Laboratories Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd as the Insulin Aspart project manager for 5 years. Upon completing the project, Ma embraced the opportunity to work in Prof. Kwok’s laboratory as a Research Assistant from 2015 to 2016. He completed his PhD study in Prof. Kwok's laboratory at the University of Macau in January 2020. Currently, Dr. Ma is working in a venture capital/private equity investment pharmaceutical company in Shenzhen, China. 

Dr. Bin Li studied her PhD degree in Prof. Kwok's laboratory at the University of Macau from Aug 2014 to Nov 2017. She currently holds a Lectureship in the School of Medicine & Life Sciences at the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine.

Dr. Henrique Neves studied his PhD degree in Prof. Kwok's laboratory at the University of Macau from Aug 2014 to Jan 2018. He is currently receiving his postdoctoral training at the King's College London, UK.