Biography
Professor Billy Ng completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School and the University of Oxford (as a Croucher Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow), following his Ph.D. (with Hong Kong PhD Fellowship) and B.Sc. (1st Hons) in Chemistry from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). During his graduate studies, he was also a Fulbright Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research has been funded by diverse sources, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, US National Academy of Medicine (NAM), the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF), and Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong.
Billy NG
Associate Professor, School of Pharmacy
Research Interests
Professor Ng’s research interests are chemical biology, drug discovery, and medicinal chemistry. The Ng uses chemical and biological tools to develop novel small molecules for the treatment of various diseases, including cancers, infectious and neurodegenerative diseases. He has co-authored more than 30 papers in prestigious journals such as Science, Nature Chemical Biology, Molecular Cell, J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., and ACS Central Science and also serves as a reviewer for more than 30 journals including Science Translational Medicine, Nature Chemical Biology, and Nature Communications.
Awards
- 2025 SH Ho Visiting Professorship at Stanford University
- 2024 Academic Young Investigator Award, ACS Division of Organic Chemistry
- 2022 Healthy Longevity Catalyst Award, US National Academy of Medicine (NAM)
- 2022 Young Global Leader (YGL), World Economic Forum
- 2022 Biomedicines Young Investigator Award
Selected publications
Programmable PTM editing and induced-proximity chemical biology
- “Rewiring c-Myc transcriptional activity with an O-GlcNAcylation targeting chimera (OGTAC)” Xu, T., Guo, Z., Khan, K. S., Huang, Y., Ma, B., Liu, J., Felsher, D. W. & Ng, B.W.-L.#
Cell Chem. Biol., in revision. Preprint: bioRxiv, https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.04.722559 (2026).
- “Ligand-directed self-assembling chimeras for targeted protein O-GlcNAcylation” Guo, Z., Xu, T., Khan, K., Scheeff, S., Qin, Y., Yu, S.-Y., Lo, R., Li, Y., Xie, Y., Ma, B., Huang, Y., Yan, H., Chung, C.Y.-S., Tamura, T., Hamachi, I. & Ng, B.W.-L.# ACS Chem. Biol. 20, 2907–2916 (2025).
- This article was ranked among the “Most Read articles” of the journal.
- “Targeted O-GlcNAcylation of CK2α triggers its ubiquitin-proteasome degradation and alters downstream phosphorylation” Xu, T., Ma, B., Li, Y., Guo, Z., Zhang, M. & Ng, B.W.-L.# ACS Chem. Biol. 20, 1646–1659 (2025).
- This article was ranked among the “Most Read articles” of the journal.
- “Targeted protein O-GlcNAcylation using bifunctional small molecules” Ma, B., Khan, K.S., Xu, T., Amada, J.X., Guo, Z., Huang, Y., Yan, Y., Lam, H., Cheng, A.S.-L. & Ng, B.W.-L.# J. Am. Chem. Soc. 146, 9779–9789 (2024).
Natural product molecular editing and therapeutic scaffold discovery
- “Molecular editing of bilobalide: regioselective C-ring lactam formation” Wang, W., Scheeff, S., Hau, S. C.-K., Qin, Y., Sillapachaiyaporn, C. & Ng, B.W.-L.# Org Lett ASAP (2026).
- “Lactone-to-lactam editing alters the pharmacology of bilobalide” Jiang, X., He, X., Wong, J., Scheeff, S., Hau, S.C.K., Wong, T. H., Qin, Y., Fan, C. H., Ma, B., Chung, N. L., Huang, J., Zhao, J., Yan, Y., Xiao, M., Song, X., Hui, T., Zuo, Z., Wu, W.K.K., Ko, H., Chow, K. H.-M. & Ng, B.W.-L.# JACS Au 4, 3537–3546 (2024).
- This article was featured as a cover art (supplementary).
- Press release: CU Medicine modifies Gingko tree extract with innovative molecular editing
- This article was highlighted in Synfacts, 2024, 20, 1091.
- “Palladium-catalyzed arylation of carbasugars enables the discovery of potent and selective SGLT2 inhibitors” Ng, W.-L., Lau, K. M., Lau, C. B. & Shing, T. K. M. Angew Chem Int Ed 55, 13818–13821 (2016).
- This article was highlighted in Synfacts, 2017, 13, 17.
- Press release: CUHK Scientists Successfully Synthesize New Carbasugars as Antidiabetic Agents
Antiviral medicinal chemistry and noncanonical nucleoside scaffolds
- “Antiviral profiling and cellular activation of carbobicyclic nucleoside analogues” Scheeff, S., Baguio, J.M.J., Liang, B.Z., Amada, J.X., Tao, K.P., De Jonghe, S., Persoons, L., Chow, T.H.-Y., Tse, C.K.M., Wu, R.Y., Xu, X., Zuo, Z., Cheung, P.P.-H., Chan, R.W.Y. & Ng, B.W.-L.# Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 69, 5501–5539 (2026).
- Press release: CUHK develops a novel antiviral molecular scaffold, enabling safer and more efficient antiviral drug design against viral mutations
- “Design and synthesis of bicyclo[4.3.0]nonene nucleoside analogues” Scheeff, S., Wang, Y., Lyu, M.-Y., Ahmadabadi, B.N., Hau, S.C.K., Hui, T.K.C., Zhang, Y., Zuo, Z., Chan, R.W.Y.# & Ng, B.W.-L.# Org Lett 25, 9002–9007 (2023).
- “Simeprevir potently suppresses SARS-CoV-2 replication and synergizes with remdesivir” Lo, H. S., Hui, K. P. Y., Lai, H.-M., He, X., Khan, K. S., Kaur, S., Huang, J., Li, Z., Chan, A. K. N., Cheung, H. H.-Y., Ng, K.-C., Ho, J. C. W., Chen, Y. W., Ma, B., Cheung, P. M.-H., Shin, D., Wang, K., Lee, M.-H., Selisko, B., Eydoux, C., Guillemot, J.-C., Canard, B., Wu, K.-P., Liang, P.-H., Dikic, I., Zuo, Z., Chan, F. K. L., Hui, D. S. C., Mok, V. C. T., Wong, K.-B., Mok, C. K. P., Ko, H., Aik, W. S., Chan, M. C. W.# & Ng, W.-L.# ACS Cent Sci 7, 792–802 (2021).
- This article was selected as part of “Examples of the Exceptional, COVID19 Special Collection” of ACS Cent Sci.
- Press release: A Global Study Led by CU Medicine and HKUMed Discovers a Hepatitis C Virus Drug as Potent Treatment for COVID-19
- “Coronavirus RNA proofreading: molecular basis and therapeutic targeting” Robson, F., Khan, K.S., Le, T.K., Paris, C., Demirbag, S., Barfuss, P., Rocchi, P., Ng, W.-L.# Molecular Cell 79, 710–727 (2020).
- This article was recognized as a “Highly Cited Paper” by Clarivate Web of Science (Top 1% in Molecular Biology & Genetics). It was also highlighted by The Scientist, 2021, July issue.
(# Denotes corresponding author)
