Research

Our interdisciplinary research team of graduate students and post-docs from marine biology, mechanical engineering, molecular biology and materials science background work together with various collaborators to understand adaptive and tolerance mechanisms of marine biofouling and oyster aquaculture species to multiple climate change stressors such as coastal acidification (OA), warming and freshening. From 2008 to 2020, we have got >10 Million HKD from HKSAR-RGC (our grant application success rate is almost 100%) to pursue cross-disciplinary in OA research. With this platform, we have 1) used variety of developmental and physiological end-points and tools to determine the impact of OA on commercially important biofouling and edible oysters species, 2) identified novel proteins, metabolic pathways and protein-protein networking involved in adaptive responses of oysters to OA, and 3) understood the OA triggered changes in biomineralization mechanisms and its ultimate impact on shell structural mechanics using both biofouling and edible oysters as models. Now our focus is on transgenerational inheritance of commercially important traits such as meat quality along with OA stress tolerant pathways through epigenetic mechanisms in edible oysters. With this foundation in basic research, we have confidentiality started our new project on the application of big-data and machine learning for rapid screening of commercially important traits in oysters during the process of molecular breeding in our Hong Kong oyster hatchery.

Our symposiums

Interview in media

Current Projects

Project 1

Ocean Acidification and Multiple Stressors

Project 2

Biomineralization and Adaptation

Project 3

Oyster Food Safety and Quality

Project 4

Oysters Hatchery and Aquaculture

Project 5