Rate My Professor Alan Wong

Professor Alan Siu-lun Wong is an Associate Professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the LKS Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, with a joint appointment in the School of Biomedical Engineering. He earned his BSc and MPhil in Biochemistry from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2005 and 2007, respectively, and his PhD in Biochemistry from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2011. Following his doctoral studies, he conducted postdoctoral research at the MIT Synthetic Biology Center from 2012 to 2016. Upon returning to Hong Kong, he joined the University of Hong Kong, advancing through academic ranks. Currently, he also serves as Team Leader in Functional Genomics at the Centre for Oncology and Immunology, Health@InnoHK. His career includes receiving the Early Career Award from the Research Grants Council in 2016/2017 and serving on the Advisory Board of Cell Systems since 2022. He is a member of the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences since 2026.

Wong's research focuses on developing and applying technologies in CRISPR-based genome engineering, protein engineering, high-throughput screening, synthetic biology, functional genomics, and combinatorial genetics to study complex biological systems and engineer therapeutics, particularly for cancer neuroscience and combination therapy. Notable contributions include engineering highly accurate SaCas9 enzymes, platforms for accelerating protein engineering, and identifying metabolic vulnerabilities in gastric cancer using enteric neuron-gastric tumor organoids. Key publications encompass 'Rapid customization of base editors via machine learning-powered combinatorial mutagenesis' in Molecular Cell (2026), 'A combined enteric neuron-gastric tumor organoid reveals metabolic vulnerabilities in gastric cancer' in Cell Stem Cell (2025), 'High-throughput screening of genetic and cellular drivers of syncytium formation induced by the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2' in Nature Biomedical Engineering (2024), and 'Machine learning-coupled combinatorial mutagenesis enables resource-efficient engineering of CRISPR-Cas9 genome editor activities' in Nature Communications (2022). His work has garnered major awards, including the BOCHK Science and Technology Innovation Prize in Life and Health (2023), HKU Outstanding Young Researcher Award (2023), Faculty Outstanding Research Output Award (2020), and NSFC Excellent Young Scientists Fund (2020). Wong's innovations have received media coverage from outlets such as HOY TV, TVB, and Sing Tao Daily, and his team earned recognition at the 49th International Exhibition of Inventions in 2024.