Jakson C.H. Luk

  • Scholarship in 2017 at Institute Pasteur, Unité Dynamique des Interactions Hôte-Pathogène

Jakson has started his postdoctoral training in the team of Maximilliano GUTIERREZ at the Francis Crick Institute from Fall 2020. He completed his high school at St. Joseph's College in 2011. He received his B.Sc. degree in Biochemistry and Microbiology from the University of Hong Kong in 2014, completed his M.Phil. degree in Life Science (Molecular Medicine) under Prof. King L. CHOW at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2016. Jakson obtained his Ph.D. in Microbiology under Dr. Jost ENNINGA at the Institut Pasteur in 2020.

Currently

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of Tuberculosis, is a lethal pathogen leading to ~10 million infections and claimed 1.4 million lives in 2019 (CDC 2020). Jakson's research aims at understanding the complex interactions between the host and the pathogen at tissue and cellular levels, using Mycobacterium tuberculosis and cutting-edge human-induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived macrophage and alveolus-on-chip model systems. The team employs a multidiscipline approach, from genetics to biochemistry, microscopy to bioinformatics, to decipher the dynamic interplay between the host and the pathogen during infection. Jakson's work focuses on the engineering of an immunocompetent alveolus-on-chip derived from an isogenic iPSC source to better understand early interactions between tissue-resident immune cells and life-threatening respiratory pathogens, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis and SARS-CoV-2. Our ultimate goal is to offer an off-the-shelf model system for personalised medicine and abolish animal testing in drug screening pipelines.