WEBINAR INFORMATION
May 2026 (Thu)
June 2026 (Thu)
September 2026 (Thu)
October 2026 (Thu)
November 2026 (Thu)
December 2026 (Thu)
Format : Online
The official language of the webinar is English.
Whilst every attempt has been made to ensure that all aspects of the summit announced will take place as scheduled, we reserve the right to make changes at any time should the need arise.
Exploring MagIC Microbiome Series
The MagIC Microbiome Webinar Series 2026 brings together global and regional experts to explore the cutting-edge intersection of the microbiome with health across the lifespan. Hosted by the InnoHK Microbiota I-Center (MagIC) — Hong Kong’s leading microbiome research hub — this series highlights our commitment to translating microbiome discoveries into personalized diagnostics, therapeutics, and improved health outcomes. Through four engaging virtual sessions, we aim to foster interdisciplinary dialogue, spark new collaborations, and advance understanding of the microbiome’s profound influence on human development and wellbeing.
Who should attend?
Researchers and Scientists
Students
Medical Academic and Healthcare Professionals
Healthcare, Innovation, and Technology Start-Ups and Entrepreneurs
Exploring Area
Gut-Brain Axis
Healthy Aging with Microbiome
Early Life with Microbiome
Neurodevelopment and Microbiome
AI and Microbiome
First Impressions & Repair: Early Life Microbiome and Gut Repair Strategies
Moderator
Prof. Jose Clemente
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, US
Jose C. Clemente is an Associate Professor in the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and Co-Director of the Microbiome Translational Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, NY (USA). He received his B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Seville (Spain), and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Bioinformatics from the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Japan). He did his postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Genetics in Japan and at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His laboratory at Mount Sinai has made seminal contributions to characterize the microbiome of different human populations, its relation to immune and autoimmune disorders, and has pioneered interventions to manipulate the microbiome. His current work is focused on understanding temporal dynamics of the microbiome and how its interaction with the host modulates disease risk.
Speaker
Dr. Megan Kennedy
University of Chicago, US
TBC
Speaker
Dr. Peng Ye
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Dr. Ye Peng is a microbiome scientist specializing in the gut microbiome’s role in early-life health and disease. He completed his PhD at the University of Hong Kong and received postdoctoral training at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where his cohort studies revealed how perinatal exposures shape gut microbiota development and influence childhood obesity, food sensitization, immune responses to vaccines and colonization resistance against AMR bacteria. Dr. Peng’s interdisciplinary research integrates multi-omics, epidemiology, and machine learning to advance microbiome science and combat antimicrobial resistance. His long-term vision focuses on defining “healthy microbiomes” and translating discoveries into personalized therapies to improve health from early childhood to aging populations.
Gut-Brain Axis
Moderator
Prof. Yeong Yeh Justin Lee
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Yeong Yeh LEE, MD, Ph.D., FACP, FRCP, FACG, FAMM, AGAF, FASc is Professor of Medicine and Consultant of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Internal Medicine at Universiti Sains Malaysia. He is currently the Adjunct Professor at Universitas Airlangga. He has authored more than 340 papers in high-impact journals including Gastroenterology and Gut, several book chapters and textbooks, and listed in the Stanford’s Top 2% in the World in their respective field (citation impact in a single year). JCI Malaysia awarded him the Outstanding Young Malaysian Award in 2015 and the Top Research Scientist of Malaysia by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia in 2018. He is senior editor of a number of journals including the Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences. He is Past President of the Malaysian Society of Gastroenterology & Hepatology (MSGH), Past Scientific Chair of Asia Pacific Digestive Week (APDW) 2021 and committee member of numerous international societies including the World Gastroenterology Organization.
Speaker
Prof. LuLu Xu
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Zhilu Xu, Lulu, is a project leader at Microbiota I-Center. Her research focuses on the gut microbiome in relation to obesity and metabolic diseases. She investigates multi-omics changes in these conditions, seeking to identify specific microbes and metabolites that promote metabolic health and understand their roles and underlying mechanisms through in vitro, in vivo, and human clinical trials. Furthermore, she examines the effects of gut microbiome manipulation techniques such as prebiotics, probiotics, and fecal microbiota transplantation on the composition and function of the human gut microbiome. She received her PhD in medical sciences from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2019. Her work has led to over 20 scientific publications and several licensed patents. Her inventions have led to royalty income and an award-winning synbiotic formulation, demonstrating her ability to translate research into innovative products and technologies.
Speaker
Prof. Qi Su
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Dr. Su Qi is an assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is an expert in molecular biology, neuroscience and bioinformatics with deep expertise in the gut-brain axis. As a lead or corresponding author, Dr. Su has published original research in prestigious high-impact journals, including Nature Microbiology, Cell Host & Microbe, The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Nature Communications, and Gut. His significant contributions to the field have been recognized through numerous accolades, such as the Hong Kong Young Scientist Award and inclusion in the World's Top 2% Scientists list. Furthermore, he has secured competitive funding from GRF, HMRF, NSFC, SMRF and others. He actively serves the academic community as an editorial board member for iMeta and a reviewer for leading journals, including Nature Medicine, Nature Microbiology, and Gut.
Neurodevelopment with Microbiome
Moderator
Prof. Erika C. Claud
University of Chicago, US
TBC
Speaker
Dr. Oscar Wong
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Dr. Oscar Wong obtained his medical degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 2010 and was conferred the Fellowship of the Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists in 2017. He joined the Department of Psychiatry of CUHK as Clinical Assistant Professor in 2019, and his research interest is in child and adolescent psychiatry, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and neurocognitive function of psychiatric disorders. In 2021, Dr. Wong led the establishment of the “HATCH” (Hub of Advanced Technology for Child Health) cohort, involving over 2,500 children with and without ASD, with the primary aim of developing translational microbiome medicine for children with ASD. From the HATCH cohort, Dr. Wong and his team identified a panel of microbial markers and a novel synbiotic formula (SCM06), which received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation and a Gold Medal at the 50th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva. Furthermore, Dr. Wong is the lead inventor of two mobile phone applications aiming to empower and support parents' mental health in Hong Kong.
Speaker
Prof. Hein Tun
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Prof. Hein Tun is a public health veterinarian and microbiome scientist, currently an Associate Professor at the JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Associate Director of the Microbiota I-Center (MagIC). Prof. Tun has been a key member of several microbiome innovations that have significant potential for clinical applications and commercialization. He has published more than 100 original research articles in high-impact journals such as Gut, Gastroenterology, Lancet Microbe, Nature Communication, JAMA Pediatrics, etc. Prof. Tun has received several international research awards and fellowships including the 2023 Molecular Cloud Most Social Impact Teams Award, the Gold Medal at the International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva 2021 and Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellowship in 2016. Prof. Tun also serves as an editorial board member of Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences and Frontiers in Microbiology. In addition, he has been serving as an expert reviewer for local and international funding schemes and now serves as a member of various international committees such as the Quadripartite (WHO/OIE/FAO/UNEP) and the scientific steering committee of Pasteur Network (COS-PN).
22 OCT 2026 20:00 HKT
AI and Microbiome
Moderator
Prof. James Kinross (TBC)
Imperial College London, UK
TBC
Speaker
Prof. Huang Shi
The University of Hong Kong
Dr. Jotham Suez is a Feinstone Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. His systems microbiology group combines computational and experimental approaches to understand the role of the microbiome in human health. Dr. Suez is fascinated by the potential of harnessing microbiome heterogeneity to resolve public health challenges and inform precision medicine. His work on non-nutritive sweeteners was instrumental in understanding how these popular food additives can counterintuitively disrupt glycemic control in a person-specific, microbiome-dependent manner. Similarly, Dr. Suez's research on probiotics offers an opportunity to resolve the contradictory literature on their efficacy. His work highlighted the microbiome’s importance in modulating probiotics colonization and downstream impacts on the host, microbiome, and antibiotic resistance. Dr. Suez is a recipient of the NIH Director's Early Independence Award (2020), a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher, and was recently included in Nature Medicine’s list of Trailblazing Early-Career Researchers (https://go.nature.com/3C8xLYS).
Speaker
TBC
TBC
TBC
19 NOV 2026 20:00 HKT
Early-Life Microbiome
Moderator
Prof. Geoffrey Alan Preidis
Baylor College of Medicine, US
TBC
Speaker
Dr. Alice Cheng
University of Chicago, US
TBC
Speaker
Prof. Lin Zhang
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Dr. Lin Zhang is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care and one of the scientific leaders of the MOMMY early-life multi-omics cohort at the Microbiota-I Center (InnoHK). A PhD graduate of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, she has built a career at the forefront of host–microbe research, from pioneering discoveries in intracellular pathogen immune evasion to her current contribution in the landmark multi-regional initiative investigating early-life gut microbiome development across China. With over 7400 citation across 146 publications (H-index 42) and 11 competitive grants. Honors include the CUHK Young Researcher Award (2025), a Silver Medal at the Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions (2025), and consecutive recognition as a Top 2% Scientist in Clinical Medicine (2023–2025).
18 DEC 2026 20:00 HKT
Healthy Aging with Microbiome
Moderator
Dr. Christophe Lay
The National University of Singapore
Prof. Hein Tun is a public health veterinarian and microbiome scientist, currently an Associate Professor at the JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Associate Director of the Microbiota I-Center (MagIC). Prof. Tun has been a key member of several microbiome innovations that have significant potential for clinical applications and commercialization. He has published more than 100 original research articles in high-impact journals such as Gut, Gastroenterology, Lancet Microbe, Nature Communication, JAMA Pediatrics, etc. Prof. Tun has received several international research awards and fellowships including the 2023 MolecularCloud Most Social Impact Teams Award, the Gold Medal at the International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva 2021 and Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellowship in 2016. Prof. Tun also serves as an editorial board member of Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences and Frontiers in Microbiology. In addition, he has been serving as an expert reviewer for local and international funding schemes and now serves as a member of various international committees such as the Quadripartite (WHO/OIE/FAO/UNEP) and the scientific steering committee of Pasteur Network (COS-PN).
Speaker
TBC
TBC
TBC
Speaker
Prof. Hein Tun
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Prof. Hein Tun is a public health veterinarian and microbiome scientist, currently an Associate Professor at the JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Associate Director of the Microbiota I-Center (MagIC). Prof. Tun has been a key member of several microbiome innovations that have significant potential for clinical applications and commercialization. He has published more than 100 original research articles in high-impact journals such as Gut, Gastroenterology, Lancet Microbe, Nature Communication, JAMA Pediatrics, etc. Prof. Tun has received several international research awards and fellowships including the 2023 MolecularCloud Most Social Impact Teams Award, the Gold Medal at the International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva 2021 and Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellowship in 2016. Prof. Tun also serves as an editorial board member of Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences and Frontiers in Microbiology. In addition, he has been serving as an expert reviewer for local and international funding schemes and now serves as a member of various international committees such as the Quadripartite (WHO/OIE/FAO/UNEP) and the scientific steering committee of Pasteur Network (COS-PN).
On-Demand Library
27 JUN 2024
Microbiome in Early Life
Prof. Jakob Stokholm & Prof Lin Zhang joined us for an insightful webinar, where they explored how the microbiome in pregnancy and early life was shaped and affected by environmental factors, and whether these factors could change the risk of childhood disease.
Keynote Speech by
Prof. Jakob Stokholm
University of Copenhagen
Topic
Early life environment, microbiome maturation and the risk of disease in childhood
Keynote Speech by
Prof. Lin Zhang
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Topic
Early life microbiome from the MOMMY Cohort: Lessons from COVID-19 pandemic
Jakob Stokholm, MD, is an associate professor at COPSAC and University of Copenhagen. Jakob Stokholm’s research area can be described as clinical translational research combining basic research methodologies and bioinformatics approaches mainly from the microbiology field with clinical data from birth cohort studies. The research has especially contributed to the understanding of how the microbiome in pregnancy and early life is shaped, and affected by factors such as antibiotics and delivery mode, and whether these factors as well as the microbiome and virome can change risk of asthma and allergy. He is leading the microbiome group at COPSAC.
Lin Zhang is Assistant Professor at the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care (by courtesy) of the Faculty of Medicine and Project Leader in Microbiota I-Center (MagIC) at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She began her research in gut microbiota and host interactions a decade ago, after obtaining her PhD from School of Biomedical Sciences of CUHK in 2013. Dr. Zhang joined the CUHK as faculty in 2017 and has published over 120 full scientific articles (28 of them as the first, co-first or corresponding author) and 3 book chapters, including papers in Annals of Oncology, Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, Cell Host & Microbes, Gut, EClinicalMedicine, Autophagy. Dr Zhang also has assisted in the InnoHK Health initiative for the MagIC Center for Microbiota Medicine and is the project leader in Early Life Microbiome. Additionally, she has been invited to deliver > 20 lectures, including Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2023, 2024, Microbiome Medicine Program at University of Chicago 2023, and UNSW Medicine & Health, St George/Sutherland, Research in Progress Meetings 2022.
