Natural Drug Discovery and Development Group I Group Members

Prof. Kwok is an active and experienced scientist working in the areas of proteins (antigens), peptides (venom-based) and antibodies (targeted therapy/immunotherapy) in the battle against infectious diseases and cancer for novel drug discovery, development and treatment.

He obtained his 1st class (Hons) B.Sc. in Biotechnology and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences in the United Kingdom. His extensive body of research in the last 15 years has allowed him to occupy a number of respectable positions in a variety of fields, such as being a Senior Scientist in the Queen’s University Belfast spinout company -- Fusion Antibodies Ltd., which was recently listed on the FTSE All-Share AIM index on the London Stock Exchange as Fusion Antibodies Plc. (FAB), and a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Oncology at the University of Cambridge.

Presently, Prof. Kwok holds a position of Professor & Head of Department of Biomedical Sciences, and also serves as a Consultant of Histopathology Core in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Macau. In addition, he is a Visiting Mentor/Scientist in the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute at the University of Cambridge since 2014. In 2022, Prof. Kwok has been elected as a Fellow of Royal Society of Biology (FRSB) and a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) to recognize his work in biomedicinal chemistry for peptide-based/antibody prototype drug discovery & development and chemical-based immunosensor/immunoassay development for cancer diagnostics/biomarker.

Ms. Sin Wa (Connor) WONG obtained her BSc degree of Science in Biomedical Technology (Medical Laboratory Technology) from the Macao Polytechnic Institute and her MSc degree of Science in Medical Laboratory and Biotechnology from the Taiwan Chung Shan Medical University. She joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory in November 2017 as a visiting scientist, and is currently working on a project regard to the underlying biology of ADAMTS5 in cancer. She registered as a part-time PhD student in Prof. Kwok’s laboratory since August 2021.

Mr. Ziqi Lin obtained his BSc degree in Clinical Medicine from the Jilin University and a Master degree in Immunology from the Wenzhou Medical University. During his study for the Master degree, he was working on tumor molecular biology and has been engaged in investigating the biological mechanism of alpha-fetoprotein in gastric and liver cancers growth. He joined Prof. Kwok’s laboratory as a PhD student of Biomedicine since August 2021.

Dr. Zhongliang Li graduated with a Bachelor degree in Clinical Medicine and a Master degree in Oncology from the Guangzhou Medical University and the Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute respectively. In his postgraduate life, he had participated in several scientific projects, including multi-centric clinical studies. Longing for a solid foundation for future scientific research, he embraced the opportunity to work in Prof. Kwok’s laboratory as a PhD student in Biomedicine since August 2021.

Mr. Jiasheng Zhang graduated from the Shantou University Medical College, focusing on identifying and characterising cancer-related genes in esophageal cancer. After graduation, he worked as a Research Assistant at the First Affiliated Hospital Sun Yat-sen University for several years. To further improve his scientific research ability, Jiasheng joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory as a PhD student in August 2022.

Mr. Weijian Li graduated from the School of Medicine Wuhan University with a Bachelor's degree in Medical Laboratory. He obtained a Master's degree in Clinical Laboratory diagnostics from the Xiamen University. After graduation, he entered the Institute of Basic Medicine and Cancer (IBMC) Chinese Academy of Sciences as a Research Assistant, where he conducted research on nucleic acid markers in tumor liquid biopsies. Weijian joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory as a PhD student in August 2022 via the joint doctoral program of the IBMC Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Macau.

Ms. Jane Peng obtained her BSc degree in Pharmacy from the Shanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and her MSc degree in Molecular Medicine from the Sun Yat-Sen University. She joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory in August 2023 as a PhD student.

Ms. Yan Zhu was born in Jiangsu Province, China. She obtained her BSc from Guangxi Medical University and MSc degree from Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her master project is working on exploring the anti-tumor immunity effects of Brusatol (small molecular drug) in hepatoma. She joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory in August 2023 as a PhD student of Biomedicine.

Mr. Denggui He obtained his BSc degree at the Wuhan University, where he learned fundamental biological knowledge and received training in scientific research. In order to improve his research ability, he joined Professor Kwok's research group in Aug 2023 as a PhD student. He is currently studying toxins/peptides from animals and is committed to discovering the mechanisms underlying their caused pain.

Ms. Shiling Zhang graduated with a MSc degree in Ecology from the Shenzhen University, focusing on active secondary metabolites produced by marine bacteria. After graduation, she entered the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology as a Research Assistant, where she focused on her research regarding intracellular polymerization in bacteria. She joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory as a PhD student in August 2023.

Ms. Jinyu Li obtained her BSc degree in Clinical Medicine from the Zhengzhou University and a Master degree in Immunology from the Zhengzhou University. During her study for the Master degree, she was working on screening tumor markers and evaluate their diagnostic value for breast and lung cancer. She joined Prof. Kwok’s laboratory as a PhD student of Biomedicine since August 2024.

Mr. Xiaohe Xu was born in Nanjing, China. He obtained his Bachelor degree of Pharmacy and Master degree of Medicinal Chemistry both from China Pharmaceutical University. He joined Prof. Kwok's laboratory in August 2024 as a PhD student, via the joint doctoral program between Hangzhou Institute of Medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau. His research orientations are Artificial Intelligence Drug Design (AIDD) and Bioinformatics.

Mr. Miao Jing was born in Anhui Province, China. He graduated from the University of Sussex, UK. In August 2024, he became a PhD student jointly trained by the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau and the Hangzhou Institute of Medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research interests are artificial intelligence drug design and the development of therapeutic tumor vaccines.

Ms. Jiahui Li obtained her MSc degree at Anhui University of Science and Technology and East China Normal University. During her master's degree, her research project was the design and development of tumor small molecule inhibitors. She joined Prof. Kwok’s lab in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau in August 2024 as a joint PhD student with the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT).

Ms. Han Jiang obtained her Bachelor degree in pharmacy from Sichuan University and Master degree in Chinese medicinal science from University of Macau. During her master’s study, she focused on screening combination therapies for pancreatic cancer and identifying otoprotective agents against cisplatin-induced ototoxicity. To further her studies, she joined Prof. Kwok’s laboratory as a PhD student in August 2025.

Dr. Haixin Qin obtained her Bachelor's degree from the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, majoring in Traditional Chinese Medicine. In June 2022, she completed her PhD at the Queens University Belfast with the research topic of 'Exploration of the structure-function relationships of two novel antimicrobial peptides from amphibian skin secretion through rational design and in vitro studies'. After that, she joined Prof. Kwok's research group as a Postdcotoral Fellow from 2022-2024 and was working on the discovery and development of anticancer/antimicrobial peptides from natural resources. Currently, She holds the lectureship in Zhejiang University of Chinese Medicine.

Ms. Jenny Leong completed her Bachelor of Biomedicine degree at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She later did her Honours project, which was about the phosphorylation status of the microprocessor complex in the hematopoietic lineage, at St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research, Australia, and obtained 1st class Honours for her Honours degree. She joined Prof. Kwok’s laboratory at the University of Macau in Nov 2021 until June 2022 as a Research Assistant. Currently, Ms. Leong is studying her PhD degree at the University of Melbourne.