HKU-Pasteur’s Ruopeng Xie was awarded the YS and Christabel Lung Postgraduate Scholarship 2022/23.
Based on academic merit, this scholarship rewards Ruopeng for the excellence of the research he has been conducting at the HKU-Pasteur Research Pole under the supervision of Dr Vijay Dhanasekaran.
During the past year, his research projects mainly focused on genomic epidemiology and molecular evolution of respiratory viruses under public health and social measures (PHSMs) related to COVID-19. He applied advanced phylodynamic frameworks to massive and timely sequencing data to investigate the dynamics of five SARS-CoV-2 waves in Hong Kong under an elimination strategy and described the circulation and evolution of other major respiratory viruses, including human influenza virus and Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
About the Scholarship:
In 2004, the late Madame Christabel Chu Tsuk-Lim (an HKU alumna) left a legacy to The University of Hong Kong in memory of her husband, the late Professor Y S Lung (a HKU engineering professor) and herself.
The "Y S and Christabel Lung Fund" was then set up as a perpetual endowment to support scholarships in the Faculty of Engineering and the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine. Only the annual investment income generated from the endowment will be used to award the scholarships.