RISA People

Prof. Philip HO completed Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry, and Master of Philosophy at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 1997 and 1999 respectively. Afterwards, he obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong (HKU) in 2004. Before joining the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in 2023 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, he had been a Research Assistant Professor and Scientific Officer in HKU.

Prof. Ho’s research focuses on pre-clinical investigation of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and various related neurological disorders, including elucidation of the pathogenic mechanisms related to mitochondrial dysfunction and impaired autophagy associated with LRRK2 mutations using in vitro and in vivo experimental models to develop novel neuroprotective strategies. Apart from his in-house generated LRRK2mutant mouse model, Prof. Ho developed PD patient-derived iPSCs as an alternative disease model. Moreover, he is actively participating in collaborative research projects as principal investigator (PI) on environmental risks of chemicals of emerging concern in the State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, the City University of Hong Kong. In particular, he has developed a novel human cell-based assay kit to assess level of estrogenicity induced by environmental xenoestrogens and various endocrine disruptive compounds. This novel assay has incorporated a novel patented protein tag as a major detection component of the assay kit. As a listed inventor, this invention is patented in the US, Europe and China since 2015.

Prof. Ho has published over 50 original research articles and invited reviews in prestigious peer-reviewed journals including Autophagy, npj Parkinson’s disease, and Translational Neurodegeneration. He obtained a number of competitive research grants including HMRF and RGC/GRF as PI/Co-I, supervised research postgraduate students in experimental neuroscience. Furthermore, he is invited as a review editor, editorial board member, and ad hoc reviewer of peer-reviewed journals such as Nature Communications, Translational Neurodegeneration, Journal of Neurology, Brain and Behavior and Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, demonstrating his active participation in the research field. By joining RISA, Prof. Ho hopes to 1) develop interdisciplinary research collaboration in PD and other related neurodegenerative diseases; 2) explore how ageing can affect neuronal resilience and susceptibility to neurodegeneration in human.

• Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• Master of Philosophy in Biochemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong