Dr Mak received his Ph. D degree from The University of Hong Kong and trained as a postdoctoral fellow in the National Institute of Health, US. He then started as Assistant Professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Prior to joining City University, he was a Principle Investigator in the Guangzhou Regenerative Medicine and Health, Bioland Laboratory and the Guangzhou National Laboratory. He was trained as a developmental biologist, dissecting differential roles of signaling networks in regulating endochondral bone formation and bone remodeling.
Currently, Dr Mak and his team study the dynamic interactions of cell lineages in the skeletal system and how they contribute as integral players in whole body physiology and energy metabolism. He is also interested in dissecting the mechanisms for cell fate determination aiming to develop new strategies for tissue repair and regeneration. Dr Mak is also interested in studying the pathogenesis of degenerative diseases related to the skeleton such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. These research focuses are important to establish the foundation for better therapeutic designs for treatment of these currently uncurable diseases.
Energy metabolism plays important roles in the formation and functions of all cells in our body, including bone cells. Dysregulation of energy metabolism in bone cells consequently disturbs the balance between bone formation and bone resorption and thus bone homeostasis. Our recent works uncovered the active involvement of bone tissues in whole body metabolism and revealed the unexpected connections between bones and glucose metabolism. Our findings shed new insights to the treatment of diabetic-induced bone loss. Interestingly, metabolic diseases have been also reported to affect bone homeostasis and this further demonstrates the active crosstalk between the skeleton and other organs. We will discuss the underlying mechanisms of some critical factors in regulating these dynamic processes. These findings may help to improve the treatment of abnormal skeletal status during ageing and in certain bone disorders, which may also be applied to bone regeneration.