JUSTL participant: Dr Edward Tak Chuen Lau
Dr Edward Lau obtained his PhD from the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Hong Kong. He then continued to work at The University of Hong Kong, first in the Freshwater Ecology and Conservation Laboratory, working on a project on wetland biodiversity and ecosystem services, and then he worked on a coastal rehabilitation project.
Current Work
At the end of 2018, Dr Lau started working in the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, HKSAR as an Endangered Species Protection Officer, where his main focus now is on the international trade in plants.
JUSTL Programme
I enjoyed the freedom and intellectual exchange at Woods Hole.
Dr Lau attended the 2013 JUSTL programme. His mentor was Dr Marko Horb, Senior Scientist and Director of the National Xenopus Facility at the MBL. Dr Lau created two transgenic lines of Xenopus laevis (African clawed frog) during his time at the MBL. Both lines were engineered to express the protein part of the bioluminescent reporter, aequorin, which generates light in the presence of calcium ions. One line expressed aequorin in all the cells whereas the other line expressed the reporter specifically in the neural cells.
Dr Lau considers his time at the MBL as “a breath of fresh air to my research life in Hong Kong. The environment was beautiful and I enjoyed the freedom and intellectual exchange at Woods Hole.” While Dr Lau did not keep in touch with his JUSTL mentor, he is still in contact with the other JUSTL participants from his year and the research assistants in the lab where he worked. One event that stood out for Dr Lau was the ‘Happy Hour’. This event took place every Friday afternoon, starting at around 4:00 pm, and it gave people from the various laboratories (who were mainly visiting from different parts of the world), the opportunity to get together for a drink and to have a chat about science as well as learning about each other’s cultures. “It was not only about having a good time, but also about creating an amiable environment for people in different research teams to mingle and exchange ideas.” Dr Lau said that he was inspired by having the opportunity to talk to people and finding out about different research areas. All in all, he found the JUSTL programme to be a “remarkable experience”.