Education

Current Positions

Professor, School of Life Sciences, CUHK

Program Director, Cell and Molecular Biology Programme, School of Life Sciences, CUHK

Research Interests

• Plant Cell Biology
  We examine the biogenesis and functional dynamics of secretory organelles, autophagic compartments, and plastids within plant cells. Our research integrates molecular biology techniques with diverse microscopy methods to investigate cellular processes from multiple directions.

• Advanced Electron Microscopy
  Our lab employs 3D electron microscopy and correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) to explore the architecture and macromolecular composition of membranous organelles in eukaryotic cells. These advanced microscopy techniques provide structural information of organelles at nanometer-scale in three dimension and enable precise molecular localization within the cellular context.

Representative Publications

1. Liu, Z., Wang, P., Goh, T., Nakajima, K., and Kang, B.H. (2024). Mucilage secretion from the root cap requires the NAC family transcription factor BEARSKIN2. Plant Physiol 196, 1180-1195. https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiae402
2. Zhou, J., Ma, J., Yang, C., Zhu, X., Li, J., Zheng, X., Li, X., Chen, S., Feng, L., Wang, P., et al. (2023). A non-canonical role of ATG8 in Golgi recovery from heat stress in plants. Nat Plants 9, 749-765. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-023-01398-w
3. Zhao, J., Bui, M.T., Ma, J., Kunzl, F., Picchianti, L., De La Concepcion, J.C., Chen, Y., Petsangouraki, S., Mohseni, A., Garcia-Leon, M., et al. (2022). Plant autophagosomes mature into amphisomes prior to their delivery to the central vacuole. J Cell Biol 221, e202203139. https://doi.org/
4. Liang, Z., Yeung, W.T., Ma, J., Mai, K.K.K., Liu, Z., Chong, Y.F., Cai, X., and Kang, B.H. (2022). Electron tomography of prolamellar bodies and their transformation into grana thylakoids in cryofixed Arabidopsis cotyledons. Plant Cell 34, 3830-3843. https://doi.org/
5. Kang, B.H., Anderson, C.T., Arimura, S.I., Bayer, E., Bezanilla, M., Botella, M.A., Brandizzi, F., Burch-Smith, T.M., Chapman, K.D., Dunser, K., et al. (2022). A glossary of plant cell structures: Current insights and future questions. Plant Cell 34, 10-52. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab247
6. Gao, P., Wang, P., Du, B., Li, P., and Kang, B.H. (2022). Accelerated remodeling of the mesophyll-bundle sheath interface in the maize C4 cycle mutant leaves. Sci Rep 12, 5057. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09135-7
7. Ma, J., Liang, Z., Zhao, J., Wang, P., Ma, W., Mai, K.K., Fernandez Andrade, J.A., Zeng, Y., Grujic, N., Jiang, L., et al. (2021). Friendly mediates membrane depolarization-induced mitophagy in Arabidopsis. Curr Biol 31, 1931-1944 e1934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.02.034
8. Mai, K.K.K., Gao, P., and Kang, B.H. (2020). Electron Microscopy Views of Dimorphic Chloroplasts in C4 Plants. Front Plant Sci 11, 1020. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.01020
9. Wang, P., Liang, Z., and Kang, B.H. (2019). Electron tomography of plant organelles and the outlook for correlative microscopic approaches. New Phytol 223, 1756-1761. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15882
10. Liang, Z., Zhu, N., Mai, K.K., Liu, Z., Tzeng, D., Osteryoung, K.W., Zhong, S., Staehelin, L.A., and Kang, B.H. (2018). Thylakoid-Bound Polysomes and a Dynamin-Related Protein, FZL, Mediate Critical Stages of the Linear Chloroplast Biogenesis Program in Greening Arabidopsis Cotyledons. Plant Cell 30, 1476-1495. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00972
11. Wang, P., Chen, X., Goldbeck, C., Chung, E., and Kang, B.H. (2017). A distinct class of vesicles derived from the trans-Golgi mediates secretion of xylogalacturonan in the root border cell. Plant J 92, 596-610. https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.13704
12. Zhou, Q., Li, H., Li, H., Nakagawa, A., Lin, J.L., Lee, E.S., Harry, B.L., Skeen-Gaar, R.R., Suehiro, Y., William, D., et al. (2016). Mitochondrial endonuclease G mediates breakdown of paternal mitochondria upon fertilization. Science 353, 394-399. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf4777

Research Grants

• 2026-2028, Research Grants Council (Hong Kong), Light-Activated Rapid Lipid Droplet Mobilization in De-etiolating Plant Cells
• 2025-2027, Research Grants Council (Hong Kong), Selective Autophagic Recycling of Golgi stacks in Plant Cells
• 2024-2026, Research Grants Council (Hong Kong), Regulation of Structural Homeostasis and Cell Turnover in the Root Cap
• 2023-2025, Research Grants Council (Hong Kong), Molecular Dissection of the Thylakoid Membrane Dynamics Involved in Plastid Differentiation
• 2022-2024, Research Grants Council (Hong Kong), Molecular Mechanisms of Selective Mitochondrial Recycling in Arabidopsis
• 2016-2019, Research Grants Council (Hong Kong), Electron Tomography Analysis of Chloroplast Biogenesis in the C3 Plant Arabidopsis and the C4 Plant Maize
• 2015-2019, Rural Development Administration (South Korea), Structural analyses of chloroplast differentiation in a single cell C4 plant
• 2011-2015, United States Department of Agriculture, Cell type-specific epigenetic gene regulation in developing maize endosperm

Awards

• Invited Foreign Scholar, Microscopy and Cell Science, Global COE program, Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (2010)
• Panel member, National Science Foundation, Major Research Instrument program (2010)
• Invited speaker, International Microscopy Congress 17 (2010)
• Finalist, Science in Art | Art in Science exhibition, University of Colorado Health Science Center and Denver Museum of Nature and Science (2006)
• B.S. Summa cum laude, Seoul National University (1994)

Professional Activities

• 2014 – Editorial Board, Journal of Plant Research
• 2011 – Review editor, Frontiers in Plant Science (Plant Cell Biology)
• 2007 – Member, Microscopy Society of America
• 2003 – Member, American Society of Cell Biology
• 2003 – Member, American Society of Plant Biology