Congratulations to Johnny Lew and Celina Chong for passing their Preliminary Exams.

Congratulations to Arya Wu and Anna Zhang for passing their Qualifying Exams.

-Summer 2025-

Heartfelt congratulations to Johnny Lew for winning the Outstanding Full Talk Award two years consecutively at the Graduate Student Pathobiology EXPO 2025.

Our review paper titled ‘Pseudomonas aeruginosa-derived metabolites and volatile organic compounds: impact on lung epithelial homeostasis and mucosal immune response,’ authored by Shanny Kuo, has been published in Frontiers in Immunology.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2025.1553013

Our research article, “Comparative analysis of the Streptococcus pneumoniae competence development in vitro versus in vivo during pneumonia-derived sepsis“, by Celina Sook Yin Chong has been published in Frontiers in Microbiology, shedding light on the differences in pneumococcal competence development between lab settings and host infections. Additionally, our review paper, “Modulation of Pulmonary Immune Functions by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa Secondary Metabolite Pyocyanin“, by Johnny Shi Qian Lew is published in Frontiers in Immunology, exploring how bacterial metabolites influence host immune responses in respiratory infections.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2025.1540511

https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2025.1550724

-March 2025-

Shanny Hsuan Kuo defended her thesis on October 28 and started a Comparative Anatomic Pathology Fellowship at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.

Our joint paper with labs of Drs. Ling Peng (Aix-Marseille University) and Leo Lee (University of Macao) has been published in Science Advances: “Targeting the phosphatidylglycerol lipid: An amphiphilic dendrimer as a promising antibacterial candidate“. Shanny, Johnny, Whan, and Celina all contributed to the paper. Dr. Lau serves as one of the co-corresponding authors.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adn8117

-September 2024-

Huge congratulations to Shanny for successfully passing the 2024 American College of Veterinary Pathologists Phase II Certifying Examination in Veterinary Anatomic Pathology!

-September 2024-

Johnny wins Outstanding Full Talk award at the Graduate Student Pathobiology EXPO 2024

Celina wins Outstanding Lightning Talk award at the Graduate Student Pathobiology EXPO 2024

🎉 Congratulations on winning the awards 🎉

-August 2024-

Our research on “Signal recognition particle RNA is critical for genetic competence and virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae” is published at Journal of Bacteriology!

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.00004-24

-August 2024-

We are excited to announce that both Celina (on March 26, 2024) and Johnny (April 2024) have successfully passed their qualifying exams and are now officially PhD candidates!