RESEARCH & CONSULTANCY

Research in the Department of Biology is focused on Bioresources and Agriculture and Environmental Health, which are in line with our university’s strategic plan on developing the research cluster of health and drug discovery and the Faculty’s niche research area of Environment and Health. The main research areas include bioresource management and plant/crop responses to adverse environments for enhanced crop production.

• The research team led by Prof. Jonathan Wong has achieved wide recognition academically and socially for their research in food waste treatment and organic farming. Under Prof. Jonathan Wong’s leadership, the Hong Kong Organic Resource Centre has developed the certification system, provides certification service and educates the public on organic living.

• The teams of Prof. Jianhua Zhang, Prof. Yiji Xia and Prof. Liming Xiong are working on plant-environment interactions. These research teams established extensive collaborations among the team members and with other local and overseas scientists. The teams have taken integrated genetic, physiology, and molecular approaches to understand mechanisms of plant stress responses and apply the knowledge to improve food production.

• Prof. Jianwen Qiu’s research team gains significant recognition with their works on deep-sea biodiversity and population connectivity, shallow-water biodiversity and ecology, as well as the application of genomic and proteomic tools in non-model organisms.

• Dr. Jill Chiu’s original research on marine environmental science and ecotoxicology has had A global impact and attracted worldwide attention, as reflected in her publications and social services for Hong Kong and the region.

• Dr. Liao’s group works on the biosynthesis, transport, release, metabolism, and metabolic engineering of health-promoting and value-added natural products. They aim to use the obtained knowledge to generate novel strategies to produce them and/or increase their production. They are also interested in developing new ways to protect plants against stresses and increase seed yield or nutrition.

• Dr. Jun ZHAO's team is committed to the sustainable utilization of biomass resources by applying advanced catalytic technology in the preparation and production of bio-based chemicals, bio-based materials and biomass energy. The team has built a comprehensive biomass conversion platform based on biomass thermal catalysis, photocatalysis, and microbial fermentation technologies to contribute to the development of renewable energy and the mitigation of climate change.

• Dr. SS Chung’s research has been focused on waste management with recycling behaviour, pharmaceutical waste and e-waste being the specific areas in her research. She also has research experience in scuba diving and eco-tourism.