System Microbiology & Antimicrobial Resistance @Tun (SMART) Lab
Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Hein Tun is a public health veterinarian and currently an Associate Professor at the JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Nanjing Medical University and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong. His research interests range from studies on the mechanistic and functional roles of microbiome in health and diseases to One Health surveillance of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria and the resistome. His major research focused on the impact of the early-life exposome on the development of gut microbiome and the associated risks for allergic, metabolic, and immune-mediated diseases. He is the young scientist member of the Scientific Steering Committee of the Pasteur Network. He has published more than 75 original peer-reviewed articles in high impact journals such as Gut, Gastroenterology, Nature Communication, Microbiome, JAMA Pediatrics, Journal of Travel Medicine, Environment International, and Gut Microbes.  Moreover, he has received several international research awards and fellowships including the Gold Medal at 2021 Inventions Geneva Evaluation Days, Canadian Institute of Health Research Fellowship, and the Dik Zwart Award.

​Dr. Ye Peng is a microbiome scientist specializing in the gut microbiome's role in early-life health and disease. He completed his PhD at the University of Hong Kong and received postdoctoral training at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where his cohort studies revealed how perinatal exposures shape gut microbiota development and influence childhood obesity, food sensitization, immune responses to vaccines and colonization resistance against AMR bacteria. Dr. Peng's interdisciplinary research integrates multi-omics, epidemiology, and machine learning to advance microbiome science and combat antimicrobial resistance. His long-term vision focuses on defining "healthy microbiomes" and translating discoveries into personalized therapies to improve health from early childhood to aging populations.

Suisha received her Bachelor's degree in Biomedical engineering in Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan; Master's degree in Bioengineering in South China University of Technology (SCUT), Guangzhou. She worked as an intermediate bioinformatics analysis engineer at BGI-Research for more than 9 years before joining the Tun lab at the University of Hong Kong, in which she obtained her Ph.D in Microbiome in Health and Disease. Now she is a Post-doctoral fellow studying the correlation between mental health and microbiome.

Dr. Sam Chendi Zhu is a microbiologist and bioinformatics specialist currently employed at the JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He holds a bachelor's degree in medicine from the School of Public Health at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, with a specialization in biostatistics and behavioral health. Dr. Zhu pursued his Doctor of Philosophy in microbiology at the Department of Microbiology, CUHK. His research interests revolve around combating antimicrobial resistance through the application of molecular and genomic methodologies, with a particular focus on the One Health perspective.

Dr. Subhankar Mukhopadhyay is a pharmacist and microbiologist currently serving as a postdoctoral researcher at the JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He earned his bachelor's degree in pharmacy from BCDA College of Pharmacy and Technology in Kolkata, India, before receiving a prestigious scholarship from the Chinese government to pursue a Master’s degree in Pharmaceutics at the China Pharmaceutical University in Nanjing, China. Dr. Mukhopadhyay specializes in pharmaceutical and microbiological research, focusing on antimicrobial resistance, innovative bacteriophage therapy, formulation science, novel drug delivery, and nanotechnology. He holds a PhD in Pharmacy from CUHK, awarded under the prestigious Hong Kong PhD Fellowship. Throughout his career, he has authored numerous articles in esteemed peer-reviewed journals and has successfully secured multiple grants to present his research at international conferences. Currently, he is dedicated to developing novel bacteriophage-based antimicrobial strategies to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance.

Dr. Dengwei Zhang completed his undergraduate and graduate training in Biotechnology and Biochemistry at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), and obtained his doctoral degree in Chemical Biology from The University of Hong Kong (HKU). Building upon a diverse, multidisciplinary background spanning bioinformatics, biochemistry, and molecular biology, his research program focuses on deciphering the molecular mechanisms by which gut microbiota communicate with and modulate host health via bacterial metabolites. A central theme of his work involves the discovery and functional characterization of human microbiome-derived peptides. Dr. Zhang is skilled in implementing integrated multi-omics strategies to systematically identify critical bacterial-derived metabolites and define their specific roles in host immunology and physiology, employing a combination of in vitro and in vivo systems for functional validation.

Yiming Meng received her bachelor’s degree in Medical Laboratory Science from Dalian Medical University (2010), and her Ph.D. in Immunology from China Medical University (2015). Her current research focuses on the correlation between microbiota and immune regulation.”

Shilin graduated with a master's in Public Health from the University of Hong Kong and a
bachelor's in Health Inspection and Quarantine at Guangdong Medical University. He
worked as a data analyst before joining the Tun lab. His research focus is in
epidemiological methods and mental health.

Xueqi received both her Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in Public Health Laboratory Sciences at West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University in 2020 and 2023, respectively. She has previously worked on gut microbiome dysbiosis in HIV-infected individuals. Funded by a prestigous Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme(HKPFS), Xueqi is now a Ph.D. student in the Tun lab, where she is focusing on early-life environmental exposures on infants gut microbiome and related health outcomes.

Guanwen is a recent graduate of Zhejiang University, where he received his Bachelor's degree in Veterinary Medicine in 2022. He was an intern at Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ZJCDC) in 2020. During his undergraduate studies, his research mainly focused on Salmonella spp. Currently, he is now a PhD student in the Tun Lab, focusing on bacteriophage therapy and AMR projects.

Yuzhou received his Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering at Beihang University (BUAA) in 2022; Master's degree in Biomedical Data Science at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in 2023. He is now a PhD student at the TUN Lab and focusing on microbiome AI model development and application. 

His master's degree is from the Pathology Immunology Research Department of the Robinson Research Center in Australia. He is currently engaged in respiratory related research in Professor Tun's laboratory.

Xin Liu received a BSc in Bioinformatics from Hunan University and currently focuses on bacterial genomic analysis in the Tun Lab. 

Li Hang received his bachelor's degree from Shantou University majoring in Marine Science (2018), and MSc Environmental Health & Safety from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2022). His current research focuses on keystone bacteria species that may contribute to the occurrence of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD).

Zhou Shihao received his bachelor’s degree in Preventive Medicine from Guangdong Medical University and his master’s degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the School of Public Health at Sun Yat-sen University. His current work investigates how early-life environmental exposures shape the gut microbiome and phage communities, and how these changes in turn influence immune development and a range of health outcomes.His long-term goal is to define robust signatures of a “healthy” microbiome and to translate these discoveries into actionable, personalized approaches to disease prevention and clinical management, thereby improving health in target populations.

Mahkawnghta Awng Shar is a public health professional with an MPH from the University of Melbourne, specializing in epidemiology and global health. He has extensive experience leading humanitarian health and nutrition programs with UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA, the Australian Embassy, and other international organizations across Myanmar. His work includes designing and managing large‑scale assessments, overseeing disease surveillance, and coordinating multisectoral responses in complex emergency settings. He has contributed to international research on neurological and maternal health. His interests lie at the intersection of health, crisis-affected populations, and systems strengthening. He joins the laboratory as a PhD candidate to advance research within the One Health framework.

​Yang Yang graduated from Sichuan University and Southwest University, where he obtained his master's and bachelor's degrees, respectively. He is now a research assistant in Prof. Tun's lab, engaging in animal and cell experiments related to gut micrbiota and metabolism, immunity, as well as neurodevelopental disorders.

Whitney received a BA in International Studies from Takushoku University in Japan and an MA in Sociology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is responsible for administrative work.

Brian received a BSc in Information Systems from the University of New South Wales and an MSc in Genomics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Prior to joining the Tun Lab, he worked on cancer genomics. He is now focusing on microbiome data analysis, AI and cloud computing.