Professor Kathryn Cheah Song-eng, Jimmy and Emily Tang Professor of Molecular Genetics and Chair Professor of Biochemistry, School of Biomedical Sciences, HKUMed, has been elected as Associate Member of EMBO, in recognition of her outstanding academic achievements in the field of biomedical sciences. The EMBO Membership consists of more than 2,000 leading researchers in Europe and around the world, including 91 Nobel laureates, and Professor Cheah is the first in Hong Kong to receive this merit.

Professor Kathryn Cheah said, ‘It is a great honour to me being elected as an Associate Member of the EMBO. This is a recognition of our contribution to understanding the molecular genetics of skeletal development and hearing and their disorders. This honour also belongs to my team of research trainees and their dedicated work over many years.

EMBO is an international institution comprised of top life scientists committed to advancing molecular biology research, promoting international exchange, and establishing a conducive research environment to continuously elevate scientific research standards. Candidates for EMBO Membership are exclusively nominated and elected by existing EMBO Members based on the nominated scientists’ research excellence and outstanding achievements.

As an internationally renowned developmental geneticist, Professor Kathryn Cheah joined HKU in 1983, with an emphasis on understanding gene regulation and function in the skeletal and inner ear development. She was awarded a Croucher Foundation Senior Fellowship in 2000 and was appointed Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) in 2013, and a Member of the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences in 2021, committed to promoting the development of science and technology research in Hong Kong. She and her team pioneered the introduction of transgenic and knockout mouse technology to Greater China and Hong Kong, and actively promotes public understanding of science in the region, with the aim of raising the international reputation of the scientific community in Hong Kong. Professor Cheah has also served on the editorial boards of international journals such as Matrix Biology, Annual Reviews of Genomics and Human Genetics, and BioEssays, as the Asian editor-in-chief of Development, Growth & Differentiation. She is currently Senior Editor of eLife.