- Senior Research Fellowship in 2002 at University of Hong Kong
Currently
Professor Lee has been working on the cell and molecular biology of blood-tissue barrier. He is using mammalian testis as a model. The human testis is able to produce 200 million of sperm per day. He is keen to disclose the two mysteries about mammalian spermatogenesis -- how are germ cells translocated across the blood-testis barrier without affecting the barrier functions and how are different events of spermatogenesis coordinated to give a timely process? The blood-testis barrier is one of the tightest blood-tissue barriers in mammals. It poses a challenge to deliver any drugs to the testis. To circumvent this problem, his group has launched study to use a genetically-engineered follicle-stimulating-hormone mutant as a testis-specific carrier, conjugating to an occludin peptide, to transiently open the blood-testis barrier for drug delivery. This effect is limited to the blood-testis barrier without compromising the barrier integrity in other organs. The device will lead similar studies on targeted drug delivery across other blood-tissue barriers and likewise to develop efficient way to increase drug uptake in the intestine.