William Wu

Prof. William K.K. Wu
BSc (Hons), MMedSc (Distinction), MPhil, PhD, FRCPath, FRCP (Edin), FRCPS (Glasg)

Associate Professor (Non-clinical)
Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Principal Investigator
State Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases & Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Biography:
William KK Wu received basic medical science education from HKU during his MMedSc and MPhil studies and obtained his PhD in Medical Sciences from CUHK in 2009. He received post-doctoral training and was later appointed as Research Assistant Professor in the Institute of Digestive Diseases, CUHK. He joined the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care as Assistant Professor (Non-clinical) in 2014 and was promoted to Associate Professor (Non-clinical) in 2018. His research interests include cell biology, cancer biology and genomics, and recently evolutionary medicine. As of March 2020, he has published 284 peer-reviewed articles in international journals and 6 book chapters, with over 12,000 citations and an h-index of 51 (Scopus). He was conferred the Outstanding Research Postgraduate Student Award by HKU, the Young Researcher Award by CUHK, the First-class Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Award (Natural Science) by the Ministry of Education of China, and the Second-class State Natural Science Award. He was also admitted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists (FRCPath), the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (FRCP Edin), and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (FRCPS Glasg) in recognition of his contribution to medical sciences. In the capacity of Principal Investigator, he has obtained 12 external competitive grants, including 1 RGC-Early Career Scheme, 1 RGC-General Research Fund and 5 Health and Medical Research Fund, with a total amount of 13 million HK dollars.

Education
Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Medical Sciences
2006 – 2009

The University of Hong Kong
Master of Philosophy - MPhil, Pharmacology
2003 – 2005

The University of Hong Kong
Master of Medical Sciences - MMed, Medical Sciences
2002 – 2003

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Bachelor of Science - BSc, Occupational Therapy
1999 – 2002

Experience:
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Associate Professor (Non-Clinical)
Full-time
Jul 2018 – Present
Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care

Assistant Professor (Non-Clinical)
Full-time
Dec 2014 – Jul 2018
Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care

Assistant Professor
Dec 2011 – Nov 2014
Institute of Digestive Disease

Postdoctoral Fellow
Full-time
Apr 2009 – Nov 2011
Department of Medicine and Therapeutics

Honors & Awards
FRCPS (Glasg)
FRCP (Edin)
Second-class State Natural Science Award
CUHK Young Researcher Award
First-class Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Award (Natural Science)
FRCPath
Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fellowship
Wong Ching Yee Medical Scholarship
HKU Outstanding Research Postgraduate Student Award

Selected Publications:
1. Ho J, Chan H, Liang Y, Liu X, Zhang L, Li Q, Zhang Y, Zeng J, Ugwu FN, Ho IHT, Hu W, Yau JCW, Wong SH, Wong WT, Ling L, Cho CH, Gallo RL, Gin T, Tse G, Yu J, Chan MTV, Leung CCH, Wu WKK (2020) Cathelicidin preserves intestinal barrier function in polymicrobial sepsis. Critical Care 24(1):47.

2. Ho J, Li X, Zhang L, Liang Y, Hu W, Yau JCW, Chan H, Gin T, Chan MTV, Tse G, Wu WKK (2019) Translational genomics in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: a review with re-analysis of TCGA dataset. Seminars in Cancer Biology 55:70-77.

3. Wang X, Li X, Zhang L, Wong SH, Wang MHT, Tse G, Dai RZW, Nakatsu G, Coker OO, Chen Z, Ko H, Chan JYK, Liu T, Cheng CHK, Cheng ASL, To KF, Plewczynski D, Sung JJY, Yu J, Gin T, Chan MTV, Wu WKK (2018) Oncogenes expand during evolution to withstand somatic amplification. Annals of Oncology 29(11):2254-2260.

4. Zhang L, Hu W, Cho CH, Chan FK, Yu J, Ross Fitzgerald J, Cheung CK, Xiao ZG, Shen J, Li LF, Li MX, Wu JC, Ling TK, Chan JY, Ko H, Tse G, Ng SC, Yu S, Wang MH, Gin T, Ashktorab H, Smoot DT, Wong SH, Chan MT, Wu WKK (2018) Reduced lysosomal clearance of autophagosomes promotes survival and colonization of Helicobacter pylori. Journal of Pathology 244(4):432-444.

5. Wu WKK, Li X, Wang X, Dai RZW, Cheng ASL, Wang MHT, Kwong T, Chow TC, Yu J, Chan MTV, Wong SH (2017) Oncogenes without a neighboring tumor-suppressor gene are more prone to amplification. Molecular Biology and Evolution 34(4):903-907.

6. Ho J, Yu J, Wong SH, Zhang L, Liu X, Wong WT, Leung CCH, Choi G, Wang MHT, Gin T, Chan MTV, Wu WKK (2016) Autophagy in sepsis: degradation into exhaustion? Autophagy 12(7):1073-82.

7. Chan MTV, Peyton PJ, Myles PS, Leslie K, Buckley N, Kasza J, Paech MJ, Beattie WS, Sessler DI, Forbes A, Wallace S, Chen Y, Tian Y, Wu WKK (2016) Chronic postsurgical pain in the Evaluation of Nitrous Oxide in the Gas Mixture for Anaesthesia (ENIGMA)-II trial. British Journal of Anaesthesia 117(6):801-811.

8. Wong XJ, Yu J, Wong, SH, Cheng ASL, Chan FKL, Ng SSM, Cho CH, Sung JJY, Wu WKK (2013) A novel crosstalk between two major protein degradation systems: regulation of proteasomal activity by autophagy. Autophagy 9(10):1500-08.

9. Wu WKK, Sakamoto KM, Milani M, Aldana-Masankgay G, Fan D, Wu K, Lee CW, Cho CH, Yu J, Sung JJY (2010) Macroautophagy modulates cellular response to proteasome inhibitors in cancer therapy. Drug Resistance Updates 13(3):87-92.

10. Wu WKK, Cho CH, Wu YC, Yu L, Li ZJ, Lee CW, Wong CCM, Li HT, Zhang L, Ren SX, Che CT, Wu K, Fan D, Yu J, Sung JJY (2010) Macroautophagy and ERK phosphorylation counteract the anti-proliferative effect of proteasome inhibitor in gastric cancer cells. Autophagy 6(2):228-238.