Prof. NG, Wai-Lung Billy

Assistant Professor

Personal Information

Assistant Professor at the School of Pharmacy

Email: billyng@cuhk.edu.hk
Address: Room 801P, 8/F, Lo Kwee-Seong Integrated Biomedical Science Building, Area 39, CUHK
Website: https://www.ngwailung.com/

Biography

Professor Ng’s research interests are chemical biology, drug discovery, and medicinal chemistry. The Ng lab uses chemical, biological, and bioinformatics tools to develop novel small molecules for the treatment and diagnosis of various diseases, including cancers, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases. He has co-authored more than 20 papers in prestigious journals such as Science, Nature Chemical Biology, Molecular Cell, J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., and ACS Central Science and also serves as a reviewer for more than 15 journals including Science Translational Medicine, Nature Communications, and Science Advance.

Professor Ng obtained his B.Sc. degree in Chemistry (1st Class Hons.) and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). During his graduate study, he was a Fulbright Scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), under the generous funding supports from the Lee Hysan Foundation and the Fulbright Program. From 2014 – 2016, he joined the University of Oxford as a Croucher Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow. He was then recruited to Harvard Medical School / Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as a research fellow from 2016 – 2019.
***The Ng lab is currently recruiting talented postdoctoral fellows / PhD students / research assistants / visiting scholars. Background in organic synthesis / chemical biology/ cancer biology / pharmacology / molecular biology would be an advantage. Outstanding PhD and postdoc applicants will be nominated for the prestigious HKPF Scheme and RGC Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme respectively. Please send your CV and cover letter to billyng@cuhk.edu.hk

Research Interests

  1. Development of small-molecule inhibitors for the understanding, treatment, and diagnosis of human diseases (e.g. cancers, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease);
  2. Development of novel chemical biology tools for probing the posttranslational modifications (PTMs) of gene regulatory proteins;
  3. Using an integrated chemical biology approach to understand the interplay between epigenetics and metabolism, and to explore epigenetics- and metabolism-associated genes as therapeutic targets.

Selected Publications

  1. Therapeutic science:
    1. Lo, H. S., Hui, K. P. Y., Lai, H.-M., He, X., Khan, K. S., Kaur, S., Huang, J., Li, Z., Chan, A. K. N., Cheung, H. H.-Y., Ng, K.-C., Ho, J. C. W., Chen, Y. W., Ma, B., Cheung, P. M.-H., Shin, D., Wang, K., Lee, M.-H., Selisko, B., Eydoux, C., Guillemot, J.-C., Canard, B., Wu, K.-P., Liang, P.-H., Dikic, I., Zuo, Z., Chan, F. K. L., Hui, D. S. C., Mok, V. C. T., Wong, K.-B., Mok, C. K. P., Ko, H., Aik, W. S., Chan, M. C. W.# & Ng, W.-L.# Simeprevir potently suppresses SARS-CoV-2 replication and synergizes with remdesivir. ACS Cent Sci (2021) In press. doi: 1021/acscentsci.0c01186. First available on bioRxiv, doi: 10.1101/2020.05.26.116020. (#Corresponding authors)
    1. Le, T.K., Paris, C., Khan, K.S., Robson, F., Ng, W.-L.# & Rocchi, P.# Nucleic acid-based technologies targeting coronaviruses. Trends Biochem Sci 46, 351-365 (2021). (#Corresponding authors)

    *This article was selected as a cover art.

    1. Robson, F., Khan, K.S., Le, T.K., Paris, C., Demirbag, S., Barfuss, P., Rocchi, P., Ng, W.-L.# Coronavirus RNA proofreading: molecular basis and therapeutic targeting. Mol Cell 79, 710-727 (2020). (#Corresponding author)
    1. Li, F.*, Ng, W.-L.*, Luster, T. A., Hu, H., Sviderskiy, V.O., Dowling, C.M., Hollinshead, K.E.R., Zouitine, P., Zhang, H., Huang, Q., Ranieri, M., Wang, W., Fang, Z., Chen, T., Deng, J., Zhao, K., So, H.C., Khodadadi-Jamayran, A., Xu, M., Karatza, A., Pyon, V., Li, S., Pan, Y., Labbe, K., Almonte, C., Poirier, J.T., Miller, G., Possemato, R., Qi, J. & Wong, K.K. Epigenetic CRISPR screens identify Npm1 as a therapeutic vulnerability in non-small cell lung cancer. Cancer Res 80, 3556-3567 (2020).

    *Co-first authorship; #This article was selected as a cover art.

    1. Li, F., Huang, Q., Luster, T. A., Hu, H., Zhang, H., Ng, W.-L., Khodadadi-Jamayran, A., Wang, W., Chen, T., Deng, J., Ranieri, M., Fang, Z., Pyon, V., Dowling, C. M., Bagdatlioglu, E., Almonte, C., Labbe, K., Silver, H., Rabin, A. R., Jani, K., Tsirigos, A., Papagiannakopoulos, T., Hammerman, P. S., Velcheti, V., Freeman, G. J., Qi, J., Miller, G. & Wong, K.-K. In vivo epigenetic CRISPR screen identifies Asf1a as an immunotherapeutic target in lung adenocarcinoma. Cancer Discov 10, 270-287 (2020).

    *This article was highlighted in the spotlight, see Cancer Discov 10, 179-181 (2020).

    Medicinal chemistry:

    1. Ng, W.-L. & Shing, T. K. M. Synthetic and biological studies of carbasugar SGLT2 inhibitors. Syn. Org. Chem. Jpn., 1215-1222 (2018).

    *This is an invited review article.

    1. Ng, W.-L., Li, H. C., Lau, K. M., Chan, A. K. N., Lau, C. B. & Shing, T. K. M. Concise and stereodivergent synthesis of carbasugars reveals unexpected structure-activity relationship (SAR) of SGLT2 inhibition. Sci Rep 7, 5581 (2017).
    1. Ng, W.-L., Lau, K. M., Lau, C. B. & Shing, T. K. M. Palladium-catalyzed arylation of carbasugars enables the discovery of potent and selective SGLT2 inhibitors. Angew Chem Int Ed 55, 13818-13821 (2016).

    *This article was highlighted in Synfacts, 2017, 13, 17.

    1. Shing, T. K. M., Ng, W.-L., Chan, J. Y. & Lau, C. B. Design, syntheses, and SAR studies of carbocyclic analogues of sergliflozin as potent sodium-dependent glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors. Angew Chem Int Ed 52, 8401-8405 (2013).

    *This article was highlighted in Synfacts, 2013, 9, 1147.

    Chemical biology:

    1. Imiolek, M., Isenegger, P., Ng, W.-L., Khan, A., Gouverneur, V. & Davis, B. G. Residue-selective protein C-formylation via sequential difluoroalkylation-hydrolysis. ACS Cent Sci 7, 145-155 (2021).
    1. Galan, S. R. G., Wickens, J. R., Dadova, J., Ng, W.-L., Zhang, X., Simion, R. A., Quinlan, R., Pires, E., Paton, R. S., Caddick, S., Chudasama, V. & Davis, B. G. Post-translational site-selective protein backbone alpha-deuteration. Nat Chem Biol 14, 955-963 (2018).
    1. Imiolek, M., Karunanithy, G., Ng, W.-L., Baldwin, A. J., Gouverneur, V. & Davis, B. G. Selective radical trifluoromethylation of native residues in proteins. J Am Chem Soc 140, 1568-1571 (2018).
    1. Wright, T. H., Bower, B. J., Chalker, J. M., Bernardes, G. J., Wiewiora, R., Ng, W.-L., Raj, R., Faulkner, S., Vallee, M. R., Phanumartwiwath, A., Coleman, O. D., Thezenas, M. L., Khan, M., Galan, S. R., Lercher, L., Schombs, M. W., Gerstberger, S., Palm-Espling, M. E., Baldwin, A. J., Kessler, B. M., Claridge, T. D., Mohammed, S. & Davis, B. G. Posttranslational mutagenesis: A chemical strategy for exploring protein side-chain diversity. Science 354, 597 (2016).

    *This article was highlighted in C&EN News, 2016, vol. 94, issue 38, and was also featured in Science, 2016, 354, 553 & Nature Method, 2016, 13, 907.