Hong Kong Oyster Hatchery and Innovation Research Unit (HKO-HIRU)
The University of Hong Kong

Our interdisciplinary collaborative team is primarily interested in applied marine research topics such as multiple stressors in coastal ecosystems, oyster aquaculture, food quality, and biomineralization. Our core research focus is on the identification of adaptive mechanisms in commercially important edible oysters that facilitate tolerance to novel climate change stressors in coastal oceans such as ocean acidification, warming and freshening. Recently we are specifically interested in looking at the transgenerational inheritance of stress tolerance mechanisms and rapid selection of tolerant genotypes for aquaculture using big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Importantly, we are using our research knowledge to build powerful new tools that help local growers and government authorities to make more economically sustainable oyster aquaculture policy decisions through various knowledge exchange projects. Last but not least, we have designed undergraduate curriculum to disseminate our research knowledge and practical experience to students using variety of experiential learning tools.