Profile

I have had a very British Commonwealth upbringing: born in Canada, raised in Hong Kong, graduated in Scotland and is now doing research in England. Although I no longer brag about it, I hold a licentiate diploma in piano solo recital from Trinity College London. I am a massive fan of J. R. R. Tolkien’s universe. I am also an enthusiast in politics, history, gadgets, tech and ACG (anime, comics & games) culture. Through traveling with my partner, I have also developed an interest in (amateur) photography.

The bacteria Neisseria meningitidis is a serious, deadly pathogen that affects the very young, very old and those with weakened immune systems. It colonizes the human throat and waits for the perfect opportunity to invade us, potentially entering our bloodstream and infect our brain. Although easily treatable with antibiotics, it can exacerbate within a very short time frame if not treated promptly. Survivors of meningitis are also affected by irreversible neurological damages.

In the genome of N. meningitidis as well as its pathogenic cousin N. gonorrhoea,  9 “islands” of genes not present in harmless, commensal strains are found to be conserved. As a result, there is good reason to believe they contribute to their abilities to cause disease despite the fact that many of their predicted functions have not yet been experimentally characterized.

A substantial number of them are, however, not the classical repertoire of virulence genes we’re accustomed to, but rather involved in cellular maintenance and metabolism. Arguably these are equally important to invasive bacteria where there is a need to acquire vital resources as well as out-compete other microorganisms in their immediate microenvironment. This ability to adapt to a pathogenic lifestyle is sometimes called “nutritional virulence” and is often overlooked by researchers. My work is to undercover some of their functions and present a case for their roles in pathogenicity.

Without giving away too much preliminary, unpublished data, my work mostly involves the observation of bacterial growth phenotypes as they react to various experimental conditions. Molecular techniques are also used to create knockout mutants, clone and complement genes, as well as expression quantification through real-time PCR. Other techniques such as mass spectrometry using labelled isotopes and enzymatic coupled reactions are also used to strengthen experimental support. Last but not least, bioinformatics is a helpful but somewhat hit-and-miss tool to provide some clues as to the predicted functions of purely hypothetical genes.