2024-09-02 “Wash off Depressive Mood”

Dr Sonata Suk-yu YAU, is currently working as an Associate professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), and adjunct Associate professor in Division of Medical Science, University of Victoria (British Columbia), Canada. She obtained her Bachelor degree in biochemistry at HKUST in 2005, followed by a PhD degree in neuroscience at LKS Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong (HKU) in 2009. Before joining PolyU as an Assistant professor in 2016, she obtained her postdoctoral training with research fellowships funded by HKU and Canadian Institute of Health Research in Canada, respectively.  She was a short-term visiting scholar in School of Medicine at Yale University in 2018. She did her sabbatical leave investigating ageing-related factor on synaptic function with Noble Laurate Prof. Thomas Südhof at Stanford University in 2022. Her research focuses on molecular mechanisms and blood biomarkers of physical exercise-promoted brain plasticity in diseased animal models including depression, diabetes and autism. Her research is also centered in identifying environmental risk factors (e.g. air pollutant, high linolic acid diet) for neurodevelopmental disorders, and functional roles of hippocampus in regulating learning and memory, as well as mood regulation. She is actively collaborating with local and international researchers from mainland China, US, Canada, and Australia. Since 2016, her research is supported by external grants from Hong Kong Research Council, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Innovation Technology Commission and other open grants from mainland China and Hong Kong. She has published over 60 research articles and reviews, and 4 book chapters with H index 26 (Aug 2023) and serve as guest editors and reviewers for many international peer-review journals.