H.Y. Edwin Chan

Professor, School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Ho Yin Edwin CHAN is Professor at the School of Life Sciences at CUHK, and Deputy Director of the Bachelor of Science Degree Natural Sciences Programme, Faculty of Science, CUHK.

Edwin has been involved in a wide spectrum of services in the university. In particular, he was Associate Vice-President and University Dean of Students of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2017-2019), Associate Head (2016-2017) and Dean of General Education (2014-2017) of Chung Chi College, CUHK. He served as Director of the Master of Science Degree Programme in Biochemical and Biomedical Sciences from 2010-2016.

Edwin obtained undergraduate training in biochemistry from CUHK, doctoral training in genetics from The University of Cambridge (UK), and postdoctoral training in neuroscience from The University of Pennsylvania (USA). Throughout the years, he received scholarship and fellowship awards in support of his research training, these include a Croucher Foundation Scholarship, Wellcome Trust International Traveling Research Fellowship, Human Frontier Program Long-Term Research Fellowship, Huntington’s Disease Society of America Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, and Hereditary Disease Foundation John J. Wasmuth Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Since 1999, Edwin investigates pathogenic pathways of triplet repeat expansion diseases, including spinocerebellar ataxias, Huntington’s Disease and myotonic dystrophy, which belong to a group of rare neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases. He takes a multi-disciplinary approach to identity new disease loci, and to develop therapeutics for triplet repeat expansion diseases.

Edwin’s contribution to the field is recognized. He received various research prizes, including the 2010 CUHK Young Researcher Award, and the Genetics Society of China 13th Ju-Chi Li Animal Genetics Prize in 2011. In 2014, he was awarded a Churchill College Visiting By-Fellowship to study pathogenesis of spinocerebellar ataxias at the Department of Genetics, The University of Cambridge (UK). Edwin established an intercontinental research collaboration network, and co-manages research programs with collaborators from Denmark, France, Italy and USA.

To date, Edwin’s research has attracted over HK$20M (~US$2.5M) of external funding, and he has published over 90 scientific articles. Edwin currently holds 5 US patents. He published his autobiography 毋忘初心的科學家 in June 2017. Edwin is Founding Member of The Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences (YASHK), and serves in the YASHK Executive Committee (2018-2021). He is consultant of the Hong Kong Spinocerebellar Ataxia Association and Chairperson of the Association’s Scientific and Medical Advisory Committee/ He is also advisor of Hong Kong Alliance for Rare Diseases.

He served on the Asia-Pacific Drosophila Board as the founding representative of Hong Kong, and was the Organizing Committee member of the inaugural and 2nd Asia-Pacific Drosophila Research Conference in 2011 and 2013 respectively, and the Inaugural Asia-Pacific Drosophila Neurobiology Conference in 2017.

He also serves as editorial board member of peer-reviewed journals including Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience; and ad hoc reviewer for scientific journals, including Biochimica et Biophysica Acta – Molecular Basis of Disease, Cell Research, Developmental Biology, Disease Models & Mechanisms, EMBO Journal, EMBO Reports, Human Molecular Genetics, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Neurochemistry, Neurobiology of Aging, and international funding agencies, including Medical Research Council (UK), Neurological Foundation of New Zealand, Wellcome Trust (UK) and Telethon Foundation (Italy).