DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED BIOLOGY & CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY 42 Email thomas.yun-chung.leung@polyu.edu.hk Qualification BSc (Imperial College, London) DPhil (University of Oxford) ORCID ID 0000-0003-3590-7027 Prof. LEUNG Yun-chung Thomas Professor Director of University Research Facility in Life Sciences Research Overview Prof. Leung’s research focuses on the development of anti-cancer drugs for cancer treatment and cancer prevention. A wide range of amino acid-depleting enzymes have been developed for various difficult diseases such as cancer and metabolic diseases that are untreatable by other drugs. The main areas of research are as follows: (1) study the molecular mechanisms underlying amino acid depletion in cancer treatment and prevention (2) preclinical drug development projects particularly in our patented technology of using amino acid depleting enzymes in combination with FDA approved drugs in treating difficult-to-treat cancers and metabolic diseases (3) based on our pioneering work indicating that human arginase can starve cancer cells to death, we successfully invented three different drugs which are all currently in clinical trial stages (4) rational design of ultra-sensitive rapid biosensors for antibiotics, amino acids and metabolites Representative Publications • Invest New Drugs. 2022, 40, 895-904 • RSC Adv. 2022, 12, 6248-6254 • J Biol Chem. 2022, 298, 102235 • Mol Cancer Ther. 2021, 20, 2218-2227 • Cancer Lett. 2021, 502, 58-70 • Int J Biol Macromol. 2020, 165, 472-482 • Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2020, 104, 3921–3934 • Int J Mol Sci. 2020, 21, 7445 • Int J Mol Sci. 2020, 21, 4234 • PLoS One. 2020, 15, e0241594 • PLoS One. 2020, 15, e0231633 • J Physiol Biochem. 2020, 76, 73-83 • J Am Chem Soc. 2020, 142, 13756-13767 • ACS Omega. 2019, 4, 20493-20502 • Biotechnol J. 2016, 11, 257-265 • Biotechnol J. 2015, 10, 126-135 • J Am Chem Soc. 2012, 134, 2589-2598 • Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. 2011, 24, 366-376 Awards and Achievements • PolyU Distinguished Knowledge Transfer Award, 2017 • PolyU Outstanding Professional Service Award, 2017 • Lo Ka Chung Charitable Foundation Endowed Professorship in Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2015 • Second Class Prize in Natural Science Award of the Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards (Science and Technology) from the Ministry of Education, 2013 • High Impact Achievement Award for Research Achievement, 2009 • Prize of the State of Geneva, 2009 Patent • Granted patent US9803185, 2017 Pegtomarginase BCT-100 and BCA-PEG20 Technology Transfer Award
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