Education

Current Positions

• Associate Professor, School of Life Sciences, CUHK
• Joint appointment with Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, CUHK
• Associate Director, Molecular Biotechnology Programme , CUHK
• Member, State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Health, City University of Hong Kong
• Fellow, Institute of Environment, Energy and Sustainability, CUHK

Research Interests

• Environmental pollution
• Ecosystem biogeochemistry
• Stable isotope applications
• Environmental molecular applications
• Environmental human health

Representative Publications

1. Tsui MTK (2025) Global biogeochemical cycle of mercury and critical factors in determining mercury levels in fish. In: Ecological and Human Health Impacts of Contaminated Food and Environments, edited by Wong MH. Chapter 13, CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group.
2. Tsui MTK, Wang S, Cheng MLH (2025) Review of mercury pollution research in Southeast Asian marine environments. Marine Pollution Bulletin 212: 117462.
3. Ku P, Tsui MTK, Uzun H, Chen H, Dahlgren RA, Hoang TC, Karanfil T, Zhong H, Miao A, Pan K, Coleman JS, Chow AT (2024) Dominance of particulate mercury in stream transport and rapid watershed recovery from preceding summer fires in northern California, USA. Environmental Science & Technology 58: 22159-22169.
4. Wang S, Tsui MTK, Li J, Pan K (2024) Biogeochemical controls on methylmercury distribution in a subtropical wetland ecosystem. Marine Pollution Bulletin 207: 116894.
5. Stinson I, Li H, Tsui MTK, Ku P, Ulus Y, Cheng Z, Lam HM (2024) Tree foliage as a net accumulator of highly toxic methylmercury. Scientific Reports 14: 1757.
6. Zhong H, Tang w, Li Z, Sonne C, Lam SS, Zhang X, Kwon SY, Rinklebe J, Nunes LM, Yu RQ, Gu B, Hintelmann H, Tsui MTK, Zhao J, Zhou XQ, Wu M, Liu B, Hao Y, Chen L, Zhang B, Tan W, Zhang X, Ren H, Liu YR (2024) Soil Geobacteraceae predict neurotoxic methylmercury in rice. Nature Food 5: 301-311.
7. Tsui MTK, Kwon SY, Li M, Bishop K (2023) Revisiting the relationship between mercury emission and bioaccumulation. Eco-Environment & Health 2: 1-2.
8. Ulus Y, Tsui MTK, Sakar A, Nyarko P, Aitmbarek NB, Ardón M, Chow AT (2022) Declines of methylmercury along a salinity gradient in a low-lying coastal wetland ecosystem at South Carolina, USA. Chemosphere 308: 136310
9. Li H, Tsui MTK, Ku P, Chen H, Yin Z, Dahlgren RA, Parikh SJ, Wei J, Hoang TC, Chow AT, Cheng Z, Zhu XM (2022) Impacts of forest fire ash on aquatic mercury cycling. Environmental Science & Technology 56: 11835-11844.
10. Li M, Kwon SY, Poulin B, Tsui MTK, Motta L, Cho M (2022) Internal dynamics and metabolism of mercury in biota: A review of insights from mercury stable isotopes. Environmental Science & Technology 56: 9182-9195.

Research Grants

• 2025-2027, Research Grants Council (RGC) Earmarked Grants, General Research Fund, Ecosystem controls on the production and degradation of highly toxic methylmercury in upland vegetated landscapes, $910,742 (HKD)
• 2025-2027, CUHK Strategic Seed Funding for Collaborative Research Scheme 2024-25, Impacts of rising biological activities on mercury toxicity in inland Antarctica, $500,000 (HKD)
• 2024-2026, Research Grants Council (RGC) Earmarked Grants, General Research Fund, Production of methylmercury and its linkage to biomagnification in food webs at a subtropical mangrove ecosystem, $877,079 (HKD)
• 2024-2025, Chinese University of Hong Kong, IdeaBooster Fund, A green solution to agriculture: Development of eco-friendly biochar and validation in local crop production, $100,000 (HKD)
• 2023-2025, Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF), Environmental Research, Technology Demonstration and Conference Projects, Baseline characterization of mercury levels and its potential toxicity in shorebirds in Mai Po Nature Reserve and Deep Bay, $495,200 (HKD)
• 2023-2025, State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, Examination of ecological, microbial, and geochemical factors in determining bioaccumulation of highly toxic methylmercury in natural mangrove ecosystems, $500,000 (HKD)
• 2023-2024, Worldwide Universities Network – Research Development Fund, Understanding levels and transformation of toxic mercury in mangrove ecosystems in different continents, £20,000 (GBP)
• 2019-2025, National Science Foundation (USA) Division of Earth Sciences, Collaborative Proposal: Response of mercury cycling to disturbance and restoration of low-gradient forested watersheds, $164,740 (USD) (formerly as PI)

Awards

• 2015, Candace Bernard & Robert Glickman Dean’s Professorship, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• 2011, Honorable Mention, Dissertation Award, Universities Council on Water Resources
• 2010, Turner Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Michigan
• 2009, Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, University of Minnesota
• 2009, Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, U.S. National Science Foundation
• 2007, Chris Lee Award for Metals Research, Society Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry

Professional Activities

Editoral Services

• Editorial Board member, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (2021-now)
• Associate Editor, Journal of Environmental Quality (2017-2022)

Research Proposal Review

• National Science Foundation (USA)
• Research Grant Council (Hong Kong)

Regulatory Proposal Review

• California Environmental Protection Agency (USA)

Manuscript Review (selected journals)

• Environmental Science & Technology, PNAS, Nature Geoscience, Science Advances, Nature Communications, Communications Earth & Environment, Science of the Total Environment, etc.