About Hui
Biography
Hui grew up in Taizhou, Jiangsu, China. He studied chemistry at Fudan University, earning both his B.S. and M.S. degrees. He received his PhD in organic chemistry in 2021 from National University of Singapore, supervised by Prof. Jie Wu. His growing fascination with radical chemistry led him to the group of Prof. Armido Studer in Germany, where he developed methdologies for pyridine functionalization. Seeking to bridge synthetic chemistry with biology, Hui moved to Switzerland to work with Prof. Thomas Ward. There, he worked on artificial hydrogen atom transfer enzymes. In 2025, Hui joined the Department of Chemistry in HKUST as an assistant professor. He leads a research group focusing on biocatalysis with designer enzymes. Outside the lab, Hui enjoys outdoor activities, nice food, and good music.
Email huicao@ust.hk
Office CYT-6012, Cheng Yu Tung Building
Links Google Scholar
Teaching
CHEM5140 Chemical Biology
Employment History
09/2025 – present Assistant Professor, The Hong Kong University of Science of Technology
05/2023 – 08/2025 Postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Thomas Ward, University of Basel, Switzerland
10/2021 – 04/2023 Postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Armido Studer, University of Münster, Germany
Academic Qualifications
08/2016 – 06/2021 PhD in Organic Chemistry with Prof. Jie Wu, National University of Singapore
09/2008 – 07/2015 B.S. in Chemistry & M.S. in Inorganic Chemistry with Prof. Xiu-Feng Hou, Fudan University, China
Academic Awards
Chinese government award for outstanding self-financed students abroad, 2020
Top graduate researcher (Faculty of Science, NUS), 2020
Best graduate researcher (Department of Chemistry, NUS), 2020
Best poster award (Chemistry Graduate Symposium, NUS), 2019
Anexus poster prize (SICC-10, Singapore), 2018
SNIC poster prize (SICS-2018, Singapore), 2018