1. Home
  2. About Us
  3. Divisions / Centres / Units
  4. Respiratory Medicine and Critical Care Medicine
  5. Research

RESEARCH

Introduction Staff list Research Publications Education Clinical service
Current Research Interests of the Division
Lung cancer
  1. Molecular markers for early detection of bronchial dysplasia and lung cancer in high risk population
  2. Factors associated with progression/regression of pre-cancerous lesion
  3. Expression and functional assessment of antioxidants and biomarkers in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
  4. Oncogenomics and proteomics: microarray analysis in relation to clinical parameters
  5. Establishment and characterization of lung cancer cell lines from Chinese patients, as models for studying gender and smoking differences and for prediction of responses to therapeutic agents
  6. Endobronchial treatment of early lung cancer
  7. Clinical trials of chemotherapy and novel molecular targets as anti-cancer agents for the treatment of NSCLC
  8. Epidemiology, pathology and treatment of lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma of the lung
  9. Pre-clinical models of novel lung cancer therapeutics: arsenic trioxide, autophagy inhibitors, arginase
  10. Genetic risks associated with development of lung cancer among never-smokers
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)
  1. OSA and cardimetabolic regulation -  vascular function, glucose metabolism, metabolic syndrome
  2. Interactions of OSA and adiposity on cardiometabolic function
  3. OSA and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
  4. OSA and normal tension glaucoma 
  5. Clinical trials on treatment of OSA with CPAP, oral appliances and others
  6. Role of patient education in improving CPAP adherence
  7. Sleep disordered breathing in renal failure
  8. Intermittent hypoxia as a model for studying cellular and biochemical sequelae of OSA
Asthma
  1. Role of natural products having antioxidant or/and anti-inflammatory effects in the treatment of asthma
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
  1. Genetics of COPD: phenotype-genotype correlation of candidate genes
  2. Role of oxidants/antioxidants and cytokine network in pathogenesis and pathophysiology of COPD
  3. Role of natural products having antioxidant or/and anti-inflammatory effects in the management of COPD
  4. The cellular mechanisms of adipokine and serotonin function in COPD
  5. Modulation of protease -antiprotease activity in COPD
Animal model of cigarette smoke (CS)-induced lung injury
  1. Cellular and molecular mechanisms of oxidants/antioxidants and cytokine network
  2. Airway remodeling
  3. Role of nicotine and nicotine acetylcholine receptors
  4. Screening of natural products or Chinese herbal medicines in the management of CS-induced lung injury 
Other airway and parenchymal diseases
  1. Bronchiolitis obliterans and other pulmonary complications in bone marrow transplant  recipients
  2. Translational research using therapeutic compounds including pure EGCG (the major catechin in Chinese green tea) as an antioxidant in human primary cells and then to various rodent models in vivo to identify new targets and pathways
  3. The molecular link between aging and lung function decline
  4. Novel therapeutic strategy in bronchiectasis with modulation of protease - anti-protease activity 
  5. Interstitial lung disease