In 1989, Lap-Chee Tsui made a major breakthough in human genetics when he identified the defective gene that causes cystic fibrosis (the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane conductance Regulator (CFTR)). Dr. Tsui directs the Genome Research Centre at the University of Hong Kong, and his current research continues to focus on cystic fibrosis and other genetic and disease gene analysis.
Prior to his current appointment at the University of Hong Kong, Dr. Tsui was Geneticist-in-Chief and Head of the Genetics and Genomic Biology Program of the Research Institute, at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He was also the holder of the H.E. Sellers Chair in Cystic Fibrosis and University Professor at the University of Toronto. He is the Immediate Past President of HUGO, the international organization of scientists involved in the Human Genome Project.
Dr. Tsui earned his B.Sc. in 1972 and his M. Phil. in 1974 in Biology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Pittsburgh in 1979.
Information as of 1992