Our People
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
Assistant 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
- “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).
- “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).
- “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).
- “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).
- “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).
