Research at FAST

69 Representative Publications • Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 2020 , 314, 128075 • Bioorganic Chemistry, 2020 , 99, 103821 • Current Pharmaceutical Design, 2019 , 25, 3740–3750 • Journal of Luminescence, 2019 , 205, 367–373 • Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 2018 , 262, 386–394 • Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 2017 , 250, 543–551 • ACS Chemical Biology, 2016 , 11, 1019–1029 • Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 2016 , 81, 373–381 • Chemical Communications, 2015 , 51, 15241–15244 Dr WONG Wing Leung Research Assistant Professor Research Overview My research mainly focuses on the development of novel small-molecule based fluorescent binding ligands, which are able to function as biosensors and inhibitors, targeting the unique nucleic acid structures such as RNA and DNA G-quadruplexes and drug target proteins including telomerase, NDM-1, and peptidoglycan glycosyltransferase. The development of highly selective and sensitive fluorescent probes to detect nucleic acids is extremely important for the study of chemical biology, biochemistry and clinical diagnosis. The prototypical nucleic acid DNA, for example, apart from forming primarily double helical structures, is able to adopt higher-ordered and functionally-useful structures. G-quadruplex molecule is one of such distinctive structures, which forms a four-stranded structure containing guanine-rich nucleic acids sequences. These unique sequences can be found in some important genomic regions, such as telomere, ribosomal DNA, promoter regions of some oncogenes, and the untranslated regions of mRNA. Currently, G-quadruplex structures have received great attention because their unique structural features are believed to be able to provide biological significance in telomere maintenance, transcription regulation, and anti-tumor chemotherapy. We believe that the understanding of fundamentals on the relationship of specific-interactions and signaling between the small-sized fluorescent binding ligands targeting G-quadruplexes (DNA and RNA) or other potential druggable protein structures at molecular level is critically important for structure-based probe design for real-time in vivo bio-sensing and drug target applications. Our research activities are focused on these cutting-edge areas. Some of our recent research results are selected and depicted in figures 1-3 (Molecular modeling study; Imaging of RNA in live cancer cells; BG4-ligand co-localization images targeting c-MYC DNA G-quadruplexes). Qualification BSc (PolyU) PhD (CityU) ORCID ID 0000-0001-7191-7578 Patents • US Patent granted: US9637384B2, Wing Leung Wong , Lai To Leung, Liang Zhang, Chi Mei Chow, Haojun Zhu, Lai Fan Lai, Kwok Keung Paul Ho, “Fullerene derivatives and their applications in organic photovoltaics”, Patent granted on 2017 -05-02 • US Patent granted: US9583711B2, Kwok Keung Paul Ho, Wing Leung Wong , “New conductive and photosensitive polymers”, Patent granted on 2017 -02-28 • US Patent granted: US8318498 B2, Kwok-Yin Wong, Dik- Lung Ma, Wing-Leung Wong , Wai-Hong Chung, Fung- Yi Chan, “Luminescent protein staining and method for detecting poly (amino acid) in a mixture”, Patent granted on 2012 -11-27 Department of Applied Biology & Chemical Technology Department of Applied Biology & Chemical Technology