HKPFS Awardee
Assistant Professor,
School of Pharmacy,
CUHK
Breaking Boundaries: Pushing the Limits at CUHK
From an early age, Professor Billy Wai-Lung Ng already had a deep-rooted passion in chemistry. Whether he realised the nomenclature for the field or not, he was inspired by his own experiences to explore and make breakthroughs in the world of chemistry.
“I always loved chemistry – in particular the power of creating new medicines for treating human diseases and relieving the suffering for patients,” he said.
As a young child, the now renowned professor frequently fell ill and had to visit numerous doctors. He grew fascinated by how such small pills were able to cure his illnesses. That planted the seed for his later contribution to drug research and development.
While Professor Ng (left) was pursuing his PhD at CUHK, he received an invitation from Prof. Joseph SUNG (right), the University’s Vice-Chancellor and President at the time, to join a dinner gathering with Prof. Chen-Ning YANG (second from the right)
Growing up, Professor Ng’s thirst for knowledge in chemistry grew stronger and that eventually landed him at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) where he studied for his BSc in Chemistry gaining first-class honours.
But that was never going to be enough.
The Pursuit of Knowledge
With a genuine passion for chemistry, Professor Ng pushed on to get his further education and completed his PhD in Chemistry at CUHK where he received a Fulbright scholarship to attend the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for his final year and got to synthesise anti-diabetic drugs using organic chemistry.
Professor Ng’s thirst for knowledge then took him to Oxford University where he dove into chemical biology research. And that eventually landed him at the Harvard Medical School/ Dana Farber Cancer Institute where he combined his chemistry expertise with medical research and completed his postdoctoral training.
“I went overseas because I wanted to learn something new that no one in Hong Kong had done before,” he explained.
Inspired by Prof. Tony SHING (right), the Adjunct Professor of the Department of Chemistry, Professor Ng decided to continue his legacy in drug research
But despite all his overseas opportunities, he wanted to come home. Encouraged by his mentor to continue his legacy in small molecule drug research, as well as knowing that
CUHK could provide the right launching pad for what he wanted to do.
“It felt like the right path for me,” he said. “CUHK has a world-class School of Pharmacy, which I knew would be the best place to establish my research programme in chemical biology and drug discovery,”
Crossing Boundaries
Indeed, Professor Ng understood the power of crossing disciplinary boundaries, and he wanted to take advantage of CUHK’s interdisciplinary environment to pursue his research.
“I’ve always loved the challenge of using chemistry to create solutions for human health,” he said. “But during my doctoral studies, I realised that true breakthroughs happen at the intersection of different fields.”
Being able to collaborate with biologists, biochemists and pharmaceutical scientists, even through the University’s own Institute of Chinese Medicine, this interdisciplinary exposure allowed him to expand his skillsets beyond core chemistry and this was critical to delivering breakthroughs.
“Forget biology, chemistry or physics – the most exciting research is happening at the interface of the disciplines,” he asserts. “This mindset opens up possibilities. And the programme really broadened my horizons and showed me how complementary expertise from diverse backgrounds can drive innovative discoveries.”
As such, upon his return, he transitioned to become an Assistant Professor at CUHK’s prestigious School of Pharmacy, while also setting off to build his own research lab which focuses on using small molecule probes to study sugar chemistry and cellular processes, areas that are less understood compared to DNA and proteins. The lab’s success earned him a HK$2 million research grant from the Gates Foundation to develop nucleoside analog drugs in 2022.
Leading a team of chemists, biologists, pharmacologists and biomedical engineer, Professor Ng credits a lot of his successes to the various opportunities to work with other departments. “In chemical biology for instance, we can create unprecedented drug candidates or research tools by combining expertise from chemistry, biology and medicine.”
A Strong Supportive Culture
Professor Ng also cites CUHK’s collaborative culture and deep institutional knowledge as major contributing factors to his breakthroughs.
“Whenever I needed support, the friendly professors and researchers are always quick to lend a hand, and this has greatly accelerated my research breakthroughs,” he said.
Professor Ng (centre, front row) is currently recruiting PhD Students/Post-doc/Research Assistants/Visiting Scholars with backgrounds in organic synthesis, chemical biology, neuroscience, cancer biology, and pharmacogenomics to join his research team
Despite his achievements, Professor Ng remains grounded in his advice to fellow, prospective students: “There are no shortcuts to success. Behind every accomplishment is a long trail of failure and mistakes, but those are not terrible, they provide the opportunities to learn and grow.”
As such, he lauds CUHK’s nurturing environment that fosters curiosity and a questioning mind, and he believes that those will be the keys to truly excelling in scientific research.
