With undergraduate training in
Molecular Cell Biology and master in Pathology, my current research focus on
the role of gut microbiota in sustaining host metabolic homeostasis in
Drosophila. The Drosophila system has an advantage of harboring a low
diversity gut bacterial community, consisting of ~20 bacterial taxa including 5
readily culturable dominant species (Wong et al., 2011). This offers an
excellent opportunity to couple host physiology to gut bacteria at
high-resolution taxonomic level. 
In particular, I am interested in
the molecular communications between the gut bacteria and its distal organs. By
linking specific microbiota-organ interactions to systemic physiology, my
studies will provide useful insights in the mechanisms of metabolic diseases
associated with microbiota perturbation.
While investigating the microbial diversity of the Drosophila gut using highthroughput 454 pyrosequencing, I developed a bioinformatics tool in collaboration with Patrick Ng, Cornell Department of Computer Science. By determing the minimum sequence percentage identity (%ID) of the full 16S rRNA sequences and individual hypervariable (V) regions through all possible pairwise alignments, the software can help delineating the species boundaries of different bacteria when interpreting genomic data. More about the bioinformatics tool here.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
2002 – 06 BSc Molecular Cell Biology. University of York, UK
2006 – 08 MPhil Pathology. University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (advisor: Prof John Nicholls)
Thesis title: “Analysis of viral cytopathnic effects of influenza infection on human”
I examined localized immune responses (in particular, cytokine production and apoptosis) of human lung tissues after infection by different influenza strains and revealed correlation between virulence and host responses.
2009 – present PhD Entomology and Microbiology. Cornell University, NY (advisor: Prof Angela Douglas)
Thesis title: “The Drosophila gut microbiota”
Using Drosophila as a model I investigate the role of gut microbiota in modulating the metabolic homeostasis, linking organ-specific responses to microbiota alteration that leads to changes in overall host physiology
Employment
2004 – 05 One-year internship. GlaxoSmithKline R&D Ltd, UK
I optimized the production of several recombinant proteins in different bacteria (including E coli. and Bacillus subtilis) through genetic engineering and manipulating growth conditions.
May – Aug 2006 Research assistant. Department of Biology, University of York, UK
I studied the genome organization and copy numbers of Buchnera (an obligate beneficial symbiont) in response to the physiological conditions of pea aphid (the host), using a variety of microscopic techniques.
Sep – Dec 2008 Research assistant. Department of Pathology, University of Hong Kong
In collaboration with NextBio, I evaluated the potential side effects of a novel anti-viral drug that protects against broad spectrum influenza infection by cleaving off sialic acid receptor in the human host tissues.
Publications
Wong, A.C., Ng, P. and Douglas, A.E. (2011) Low diversity bacterial community in the gut of the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster. Environmental Microbiology. 13: 1889-1900.
This study revealed the composition of the gut microbiota throughout all life stages of the fruitfly Drosophila model in the laboratory. It illustrated the low diversity and uniformity of this system, and showed dynamic change of the microbiota in response to developmental age.
Triana-Baltzer, G., Chan, M.C., Babizki, M., Wong, A.C., Aschenbrenner, L.M., Campbell, E.R., Li, Q.X., Chan, R.W., Peiris, J.S.M., Nicholls, J.M. and Fang, F. (2010) DAS181, a sialidase fusion protein, protects human airway epithelium against influenza: An in vitro pharmacodynamic study. J. Antimic. Chemother. 65(2): 275-84.
I conducted the apoptosis arrays on human lung tissues after treatment with the drug DAS181.
Chan, R.W., Chan, M.C., Wong, A.C., Karamanska, R., Dell, A., Haslam, S.M., Sihoe, A.D., Chui, W.H., Triana-Baltzer. G., Li, Q., Peiris, J.S., Fang, F. and Nicholls, J.M. (2009) DAS181 inhibits H5N1 influenza virus infection of human lung tissues. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 53(9): 3935-41.
I examined influenza virus infection level in human lung tissues after treatment with the drug DAS181, through immunohistochemical analysis and RT-qPCR.
Presentations
Oct 2011 Invited speaker on “The Gut Microbiota and Drosophila Nutrition”. The Patton Symposium on Insect Nutrition, Cornell University.
Sep 2011 Invited speaker on “The Drosophila Gut Microbiota”. The Symbiosis and Cooperation Group Meeting, Cornell University.
Oct 2010 Poster presentation on “Diversity of the Gut Microbiota in Drosophila”. The 3rd ASM Beneficial Microbe Meeting, Miami, Florida.
Aug 2009 Poster presentation on “Diversity and Significance of Gut Symbionts in Drosophila. The 6th International Symbiosis Society (ISS) Congress at Wisconsin-Madison.
Oct 2008 Poster presentation on “Analysis of Viral Cytopathnic Effects of Influenza Infection Using Experimentally Infected Human Tissues”. The 9th International endotoxin and innate immunity society (IEIIS) conference, Edinburgh, UK.
Research support
2011 - 2012 NIH Graduate Studentship
Oct 2010 W. Arthur and Alma D. Rawlins Graduate Student Endowment for Travel
Oct 2010 American Society of Microbiology (ASM) Student Travel Grant
Jun 2009 & Oct 10 Cornell Graduate Student Conference Travel Grant
2009 – 10 Daljit S. and Elaine Sarkaria Graduate Student Fellowship
Non thesis research and extension
Sep 2009, 10 & Oct 11 Helper. “Insectapalooza”, a departmental Open Day to public
Aug – Dec 2010 Helper. The Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers (CIBT)
2010 – 2011 Developer. 16Speb: a bioinformatics tool for defining bacterial species boundaries by minimum intra-species 16S rRNA gene sequence identity
In collaboration with Patrick Ng (Computer Science, Cornell), we have developed a bioinformatics tool to determine the minimum % sequence identity of 16S rRNA gene that defines bacterial species. This tool facilitates interpretation of 16S sequence data, especially the large datasets obtained on the 454 or Illumina platforms, and is now freely available online at http://www.angeladouglaslab.com/16speb.html. A manuscript is submitted.
Teaching experience
Jan – May 2010 “Alien Empire”. Insect diversity and behavior.
Aug – Dec 2010 “Integrated Pest Management”. Current pest control practice and strategies.
Professional society memberships
Member of the Entomological Society of America (ESA, 2011 - present), American Society of Microbiology (ASM, 2010 - present), International Symbiosis Society (ISS, 2009 - present) and American Genetic Association (AGA, 2009 - 2010).