News & Events

YAM Laboratory

2023

In the recent 2-day Faculty Research Postgraduate Symposium, our students actively participated in various capacities. Kelly, Charlotte, and Samuel served as valuable members of the student organizing committee, contributing significantly to the event’s success. Additionally, Kelly, Cherlie, Zhixian, and Samuel excelled in their poster presentations, showcasing their hard work and dedication. Lastly, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to Kelly and Cherlie for receiving the Best Poster Presentation Award. Well done to all!
*November 2023*

Xu Yi, a dedicated postdoctoral fellow, shared his research findings at the annual State Key Laboratory of Liver Research Symposium. His research focused on the delivery of CLTA through small extracellular vesicles, which are known to play a crucial role in intercellular communication. He unraveled the mechanisms by which CLTA promotes angiogenesis within the liver tumor microenvironment.
*November 2023*

Samuel, our PhD student, delivered an insightful presentation sharing his valuable research experience and offering advice to students who are planning to gain research exposure. His talk kicked start the 2023-24 Research Platform: Talk Series on Scientific Research, an event organized by the Hong Kong Student Association of Neuroscience.
*November 2023*

I am deeply honored to have been awarded the Research Fellowship Scheme, and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the RGC for their invaluable support of our research. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to work with such a dedicated and hardworking research team, whose unwavering dedication has contributed to our success. Today, I am overjoyed to share this moment of happiness with my PhD supervisor, Professor Hsiao.
*November 2023*

**Our postgraduate students, Kelly and Samuel, gave a poster presentation to share their research works at the Annual General and Scientific Meeting of the Hong Kong Society of Flow Cytometry.**
*October 2023*

We attended the 7th National Conference on Extracellular Vesicles held in Shanghai from October 20 to 22. During the conference, Xu Yi, a Postdoctoral fellow, and Samuel, a PhD student, delivered exceptional presentations. Their hard work and dedication were recognized, and they both received well-deserved presentation awards. We also took the opportunity to visit Jiao Tong University. During our visit, we had an interactive meeting with a research team from the university. It was a valuable experience to connect with fellow researchers and learn from their expertise. We look forward to building upon these experiences and further advancing our research in the future.
*October 2023*

Our team members are going to attend the 7th National Conference on Extracellular Vesicles to be held in Shanghai from October 20-22, 2023. This conference is organized by the Chinese Society for Extracellular Vesicles. **Stay tuned!**
*October 2023*

**HKUMed press release on our study about the tumor-endothelial communication induced by vWF delivered by small extracellular vesicles recently published in *Advanced Science*.**
*August 2023*

https://www.med.hku.hk/en/news/press/20230830-HKUMed-uncovers-a-novel-intercellular-interplay-mediated

https://www.med.hku.hk/zh-hk/news/press/20230830-hkumed-uncovers-a-novel-intercellular-interplay-mediated

**A group of young interns spent their summer holiday in our laboratory. We hope they will continue to excel in their scientific pursuits.**
*August 2023*

**We appreciate the efforts put forth by our MPhil student, Kelly, in writing this comprehensive review on dendritic cell vaccines.**
*August 2023*

Our latest work focused on the delivery of CLTA by small extracellular vesicles (sEV) and its impact on various processes including angiogenesis, trans-endothelial invasion, and vascular leakiness. We found that sEV-CLTA plays a crucial role in inducing these processes by stabilizing BSG (Basigin). From a clinical perspective, we observed an elevated level of circulating sEV-CLTA in liver cancer patients. We also discovered that the inhibition of BSG effectively attenuates tumor growth. Well done Xu Yi and Yao Yue!
*August 2023*

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jev2.12359

**I am deeply honored to receive the Research Grants Council Research Fellow Scheme. Thank you RGC for the continual support to our research.**
*July 2023*

https://www.hku.hk/press/news_detail_26387.html

https://www.hku.hk/press/c_news_detail_26387.html

Xu Yi obtained the Best Oral Presentation Award at the Hong Kong Scholars Annual Symposium last year. He was invited to talk at the sharing session about his experience and advice in conducting research in Hong Kong in this year annual symposium.
*July 2023*

Our paper describes how tumor small extracellular vesicle-derived von Willibrand factor mediates intercellular communication between tumor and endothelial cells to promote angiogenesis and metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma is online today. Big congrats to Samuel on his achievement. Well done!
*June 2023*

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/21983844

Xu Yi, our Postdoctoral Fellow who is recruited through the Hong Kong Scholars Program, published his work about the role of clathrin light chain A in the uptake of small extracellular vesicles by mediating actin protein gelsolin-like expression.
*June 2023*

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12072-023-10562-5

Our postgraduate students, Samuel, Cherlie and Kelly participated in the Hong Kong Inter-University Postgraduate Symposium in Biochemical and Life Sciences at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Thank you for their hard work in the preparation for the event. Also, big congratulations to Samuel and Cherlie for obtaining the poster presentation award.
*June 2023*

We attended the 2023 International Society for Extracellular Vesicles Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington from May 18-21. Samuel and Kelly did a great job in their poster presentation, and had a chance to talk to the pioneers in the field. It was an eye opening, informative and interactive meeting. It’s great to get new insights into directions of our future EV research.
*May 2023*

**We paid a 3-day visit to our collaborators at Southern Medical University, Guangzhou and Sun Yet-sen University, Shenzhen. It is great to reconnect with our collaborators after covid pandemic.**
*May 2023*

We are delighted to receive the Faculty Research Output Prize 2021-2022 at the Faculty Prize Presentation Ceremony today. It is really wonderful to have a great team to work together and get fruitful outcome. Thank you all for your hard work:)
*April 2023*

**Nicholas, our MBBS final year project student, shared his research findings at the Undergraduate Research Fellowship Programme (URFP) Poster Session held on April 19, 2023. Well done Nick!**
*April 2023*

**Adryan and Jeremy, two high school students, spent their Easter holiday working in lab. Hope they enjoyed and gained research experience which is beneficial to their future studies.**
*April 2023*

**This review is written by our BBMS Final Year Project student, Nicholas. The review is very well written and the diagrams are nicely drawn.** **Well done Nick!**
*April 2023*

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/15/7/1992

**We appreciate the organizing committee for organizing such a wonderful event. **APSEV meeting was a great success.** Also, congratulations to Cherlie for winning the poster presentation award.**
*April 2023*

Judy and Cherlie are going to attend the 2023 Asia Pacific Societies for Extracellular Vesicles (ASPEV) Conference from March 31 to April 1, 2023 in Taipei, Taiwan. It has been almost 4 years since the last APSEV meeting. We are looking forward to meet investigators working in the related field.
*March 2023*

**Cherlie was interviewed by HKUMed and shared her views as a medical researcher to mark the International Women’s Day. What to know more? Please follow the link below.**
*March 2023*

View at Medium.com

https://medium.com/hkumed/3-hkumed-women-scientists-on-what-drives-their-success-69a26df59fd3

A huge congratulations to Judy for her well-deserved promotion. What a great start to 2023! February 2023

**Two collaborative studies have been recently published.** One study revealed how hypoxia-induced CaMK2A/NRF2/GSTP1 pathway regulates cancer stem cells and resistance to targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors of lung adenocarcinoma. Another study uncovered the role of S100A10 in promoting hepatocellular carcinoma via its transfer in extracellular vesicles and regulation of protein cargoes of extracellular vesicles.
*January 2023*

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202205262

https://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2023/01/11/gutjnl-2022-327998

2022

2022 has been a wonderful year with many fruitful work! Our lab look forward to more amazing discoveries in 2023.
December 2022

Our newly published short article to discuss the controversy about the role of TMPRSS2 within
small extracellular vesicles in SARS-CoV-2 infection.
*December 2022*

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jev2.12296

**Congratulations to Samuel for receiving the Poster Presentation Award in the annual Research Postgraduate Symposium, LKS Faculty of Medicine, HKU. Keep up the good work! Well done!**
*December 2022*

**Samuel is going to present his work on the second day of Research Postgraduate Symposium. Cherlie is the Chairperson of the organizing committee. Thank you for the hard work.**
*December 2022*

**Cherlie presented her latest work at the State Key Laboratory of Liver Research Tripartite Joint Forum (滬港(兩地三方)肝病高峰論壇).**
*November 2022*

**Our study is featured as one of the hero banners of HKU’s cancer-fighting research on HKU website.**
*October 2022*

**Samuel presented the study of EV-pIgR at today’s State Key Laboratory of Liver Research (HKU) Symposium. A well spent Saturday at an informative and interactive meeting.**
*October 2022*

Our PhD students, Zhixian, Cherlie and Samuel participated in the Annual Scientific Meeting of Hong Kong Society of Flow Cytometry. Thank you for their effort in the preparation of poster and presentation. They all did a good job! Congratulations to Cherlie for winning the Best Poster Award!
*October 202*2

Samuel, our PhD student, is going to share the study of pIgR-enriched small extracellular vesicles in liver cancer stemness and metastasis at the upcoming State Key Laboratory of Liver Research Symposium on October 29, 2022. Stay tuned!
*October 2022*

This is a new review article written by our PhD student Zhixian. The paper describes the recent advancement in using circulating tumor cells, exosomes and cell-free nucleic acids as biomarkers of cancer. Well done Zhixian!
*August 2022*

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ctd2.111

Our PhD student Samuel shared his research findings at the annual internal research meeting of State Key Laboratory of Liver Research . Congratulations to Samuel for obtaining the Best Oral Presentation Award. Proud of you!
*August 2022*

**MPhil student Tingmao published his first paper about the functional roles of small extracellular vesicles in liver diseases. Well done!**
*August 2022*

https://www.xiahepublishing.com/2310-8819/JCTH-2022-00008

**Five students from local and UK secondary schools joined our lab as summer interns.**
**They are able to master some technical skills and have a chance to get involved in research projects.**
**We hope their lab experience can foster their interest in conducting research.**
*June-August 2022*

Samuel, our PhD student, gave an oral presentation about his study on EV-vWF at the Departmental Research Postgraduate Students Retreat. Our congratulations to Samuel for getting the Most Innovative Award!
*July 2022*

Our PhD students Zhixian, Samuel and Cherlie presented their posters in the 2022 Hong Kong Inter-University Postgraduate Symposium in Life Science. What a fun, enjoyable and interactive way using the Virbela virtual platform!
We look forward to next years’ participation.
*June 2022*

Xu Yi was selected as one of the oral presenters to give a talk on his research project at the Hong Kong Scholars Annual Symposium. It was an interactive meeting with all Hong Kong Scholars of different disciplines. Xu Yi gave an excellent presentation and obtained the Best Oral Presentation Award. **Congratulations!!!**
*June 2022*

**In collaboration with Department of Microbiology HKU, we have extended our work on extracellular vesicles**
**in the area of infectious disease. This study reveals the role of ACE2 receptor localized on the surface of small extracellular vesicles in enhancing the entry of SARS-CoV-2 into the host cells.**
**We thank Dr Kelvin To’s group for performing the infectivity assay using SARS-CoV-2 live virus.**
*May 2022*

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jev2.12231

This collaborative study with Professor Gao of Southern Medical University is now published online. The work is mainly conducted by Professor Gao’s student, Xiaomei, who attached to our lab last year. Thank you Sze Keong for supervising Xiaomei and team members for assistance in the study. Well done Xiaomei!
*May 2022*

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12072-022-10338-3

This is a continual study of our previous work on nuclear Met receptor. This study reveals how nuclear Met provokes liver cancer metastasis by the release of extracellular vesicles enriched with translation regulatory proteins.
*May 2022*

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jex2.39

**Please read this comprehensive review written by Cherlie. The figures are nicely drawn. Well done Cherlie!**
*February 2022*

h ttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1044579X22000402?via%3Dihub

**Coverage of our study on patient-derived polymeric immunoglobulin receptor-enriched extracellular vesicles**
**in HKUMed press release.**
*January 2022*

http://www.med.hku.hk/en/news/press/20220126-ev-pigr-and-liver-cancer

http://www.med.hku.hk/zh-hk/news/press/20220126-ev-pigr-and-liver-cancer

https://www.hku.hk/press/news_detail_23986.html

https://www.hku.hk/press/c_news_detail_23986.html

**Our study “Patient pIgR-enriched extracellular vesicles drive cancer stemness, tumorigenesis and metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma” was commented in Editorials of the same issue**. *January 2022*

https://www.journal-of-hepatology.eu/article/S0168-8278(22)00070-8/fulltext

This study demonstrated the functional role of pIgR carried by extracellular vesicles in promoting cancer stemness, tumor development and metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma. The level of pIgR is elevated in circulating extracellular vesicles of liver cancer patients, and reduced in patients after surgery. From the clinical perspective, pIgR is a potential non-invasive biomarker and therapeutic target of liver cancer. *January 2022*

https://www.journal-of-hepatology.eu/article/S0168-8278(21)02245-5/fulltext

2021

Goodbye 2021.
This has been a challenging yet fruitful year. Thank you my amazing team who is committed and dedicated to our research work. There are difficulties and failures along the way, but we will persevere, strive and solve each problem ahead. 2022- we are ready for a fulfilling and meaningful year!
December 2021

**Congratulations on your graduation Janice!**
**We are delighted to see you again and thank you for those delicious cakes!**
*December 2021.*

**Congratulations on your graduation Nansen!**
*December 2021*

Our MPhil student Cherlie presented her poster at the SKLLR/TRS Internal Meeting. It’s always eye-opening to learn from other teams who also work on liver cancer research. A Saturday morning well-spent!
*December 2021.*

Our PhD student Samuel and MPhil student Cherlie presented their posters at the 26th RPG Symposium. A stimulating 2-day event full of new ideas and inspiring discussions. Thank you for their hard work in preparing the presentation. Both did a very good job! Cheers on Cherlie for winning the poster presentation award!
*December 2021*

Invitation by the Department of Ophthalmology, HKU to give a talk on grantsmanship for the preparation of GRF application. I am looking forward to this rewarding visit.

August 2021

Our latest study is now published online. This study revealed the deregulation of Rab20 in HCC cells resulted in the release of EVs with reduced level of TPI-1. The outcome of this study provides a mechanistic link between tumor cell-derived EVs and glucose metabolism in liver cancer. Congratulations to Bonnie! Thank you for the contributions of other team members.
*August 2021*

Click to read: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jev2.12135

Tiffany joined the HKU 2021 Summer Research Programme and conducted a research project in our lab. She was awarded the conditional offer of the HKU Presidential PhD Scholar Programme for her outstanding performance. Congratulations to Tiffany!
*August 2021*

**Our MPhil student Cherlie shared her project in the Departmental Research Postgraduate Retreat and was awarded the Best Presentation Award. Very well done!**
**It was the first department retreat since the outbreak of COVID-19……**
**A great reminder to never take little things for granted and cherish every opportunity to participate in scientific discussion.** *July 2021*

**Congratulations on Susan for her promotion as Research Assistant Professor!**
*July 2021*

This year we held our annual retreat at HKSTP InnoCell, in collaboration with Dr. Maria Wong’s team. An inciting day of learning outside the lab. We shared our latest working progress and ended the night with a delicious BBQ dinner.
Fun and laughter overloaded!
June 2021