Dr. WAI, Yee Yan Christine

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Personal Information

Dr. WAI, Yee Yan Christine

BSc (First Class), PhD (CUHK)

Email: christineyywai@cuhk.edu.hk

 

Biography

Dr. Christine Wai graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong with first class honours in Biology in 2010. She pursued postgraduate studies and research at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and was awarded her Ph.D. in Biology in 2015. She then received her postdoctoral training at The School of Life Sciences, followed by the Department of Paediatrics in the same university. Dr. Wai’s research interest has been in the field of seafood allergy, specifically in designing diagnostic platforms, safe and effective therapies for the prevention and treatment of shellfish allergy and define the mechanisms of immunotherapy. Dr. Wai was awarded the AXA Post-Doctoral Fellowships 2017 campaign to conduct a project on elucidating the efficacy and modulatory mechanism of next generation hypoallergen DNA vaccines.

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Current appointments

• Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Paediatrics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (since 2017)

 

Previous appointments and awards

Previous Appointments

• Postdoctoral Fellow/Research Associate, School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2015-2017)

Awards

• Best Abstract Award, European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Congress 2017, Helsinki, Finland

• Postdoctoral fellowship, Faculty of Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2016

• Outstanding Abstract Award, XXIV World Allergy Congress, Seoul, Korea, 2015

• Dr. Ch’ien Mu Postgraduate Scholarship, New Asia College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015

• Best Paper Award, Asia Pacific Congress of Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology, Taipei, Taiwan, 2013

• Dean’s List, Faculty of Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010, 2009

 

Research Interest

• Allergy

1. Non-invasive diagnosis of shellfish allergy

2. Immunotherapeutic vaccines development

3. Bioinformatic analysis of shellfish allergy and immunotherapy

 

Recent Publications

1. Wai CYY, Leung NYH, Leung PSC, Chu KH. Immunotherapy of Food Allergy: a Comprehensive Review. Clinical Reviews in Allergy & Immunology 2017; doi: 10.1007/s12016-017-8647-y [Epub ahead of print]

2. Leung NYH, Wai CYY, Shu SA, Chang CC, Chu KH, Leung PSC. Low-dose allergen-specific immunotherapy induces tolerance in a murine model of shrimp allergy. International Archives of Allergy and Immunology 2017; 174: 86-96

3. Leung NYH, Wai CYY, Chu KH, Leung PSC. Seafood allergy – an update. Food allergy- Methods of detection and clinical studies. New Hampshire, USA: Taylor & Francis Inc. 2017

4. Leung NYH, Wai CYY, Ho MHK, Liu R, Wang JJ, Shu S, Chu KH, Leung PSC. Screening and identification of mimotopes of the major shrimp allergen tropomyosin using one-bead-one-compound peptide libraries. Cell & Molecular Immunology 2017; 14: 308-318

5. Wai CYY, Leung NYH, Leung PSC, Chu KH. T cell epitope immunotherapy ameliorates allergic responses in a murine model of shrimp allergy. Clinical & Experimental Allergy 2016; 46: 491-503

6. Wai CYY, Leung NYH, Ho MHK, Gershwin LJ, Shu S, Leung PSC, Chu KH. Immunization with hypoallergens of shrimp allergen tropomyosin inhibits shrimp tropomyosin specific IgE reactivity. PLos One 2014;9: e111649

7. Leung NYH*, Wai CYY*, Shu S, Wan J, Kenny TP, Chu KH, Leung PSC. Current immunological and molecular biological perspectives on seafood allergy: a comprehensive review. Clinical Reviews in Allergy & Immunology 2014;46: 180-197 (*co-first author)

8. Wai CYY, Leung NYH, Chu KH, Leung PSC. From molecule studies of allergens to development of immunotherapy of allergies. Journal of Allergy and Therapy 2012;3:124.
    

Patents

• US Non-provisional Patent (US15173467, filed on 2016-06-03), Mimotopes for use in immunotherapy for shellfish and/or arthropod allergy

• US Non-provisional Patent (US15284205, pending application), Met e 1 tropomyosin variants for use in allergen-specific immunotherapy