Biography

Vivian is currently reading Biochemistry at Brasenose College. Under the supervision of Prof. Colin Kleanthous, her project investigates how bacteriocins, a protein antibiotic naturally produced by bacteria, manipulate their target cells’ energy transduction systems to translocate across the cells’ membrane barrier, thus killing the target cell.

A graduate from St Stephen's Girls' College in Hong Kong, Vivian went on to pursue a MSci degree in Biochemistry with Professional Placement at the University of Birmingham. During her undergraduate studies, Vivian undertook a year-long industrial position as a Scientist at Sygnature Discovery Ltd, a Nottingham-based drug discovery company. She was involved in various capability-building projects and developed in vitro fibrosis organ models for high-throughput screening. The cellular assay she developed is illustrated here: https://www.sygnaturediscovery.com/drug-discovery/bioscience/cellular-assays/fibrosis/ 

For her MSci final year project, she researched with Dr Timothy Knowles’ group on phospholipid transfer by the Mla system in Gram-negative bacteria. There she developed an interest in studying protein-protein interactions within the multi-layered bacterial cell envelope.

Despite spending most of her recent days in the UK, Vivian very much considers Hong Kong as her home and where she belongs. She aspires to contribute to the research scene in Hong Kong.

This speaker will appear in:

Workshop C