Dr. Hor’s scientific training began in a molecular neurobiology lab at the National University of Singapore, under the guidance of Professor Bor Luen TANG. She then pursued her PhD majoring in developmental genetics at The University of Hong Kong, studying hindbrain neural tube patterning and Hedgehog signaling under the supervision of Professor Mai Har SHAM and Professor Chi Chung HUI at the Department of Biochemistry. Upon graduation, she joined Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore as a postdoctoral research fellow, pursuing research topics in the realm of developmental and regenerative neuroscience. 

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In 2018, Dr. Hor obtained her first independent research grant, which is a prestigious and competitive national level research fund for young investigator-Young Individual Research Grant (YIRG) funded by the Ministry of Health, Singapore. In 2019, Catherine joined HKBU and established her lab as a faculty member of the Department of Chemistry. In 2021, Dr. Hor was granted one of the most competitive major research grants in Hong Kong, the Collaborative Research Fund (CRF). Leading a team of international scientists from Hong Kong, Singapore, and mainland China, she delves into the cellular and neurobiology of viral infections. This accomplishment also marked her as the youngest Principal Investigator at the university to secure this prestigious funding.

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Her research strives to understand the molecular and cellular pathology of hereditary neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, with particular interest in deciphering the neurochemistry and neurological roles of an under-appreciated but instrumental cell-cell signaling organelle, the primary cilium. Her current projects involve mouse disease models, and human induced-pluripotent stem cells disease modeling of ciliopathy-like disorders. Her cross-disciplinary collaborative projects with local and international scientists focus on the development of non-invasive biomarkers and therapeutics targeting pediatric neuropsychiatric disorders.

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~~~Poem Sharing~~~

You're not Late, You're not Early

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New York is 3 hours ahead of California,

but it does not make California slow.

Someone graduated at the age of 22,

but waited 5 years before securing a good job!

Someone became a CEO at 25,and died at 50.

While another became a CEO at 50,and lived to 90 years.

Someone is still single,while someone else got married.

Obama retires at 55,but Trump starts at 70.

Absolutely everyone in this world works based on their Time Zone.

People around you might seem to go ahead of you,

some might seem to be behind you.

But everyone is running their own RACE, in their own TIME.

Don’t envy them or mock them.

They are in their TIME ZONE, and you are in yours!

Life is about waiting for the right moment to act.

So, RELAX.

You’re not LATE. You’re not EARLY.

You are very much ON TIME, and in your, TIME ZONE Destiny set up for you.

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Chinese Version：

纽约时间比加州时间早三个小时，

但加州时间并没有变慢。

有人22岁就毕业了，

但等了五年才找到好的工作！

有人25岁就当上CEO，

却在50岁去世。

也有人迟到50岁才当上CEO，然后活到90岁。

有人依然单身，同时也有人已婚。

奥巴马55岁就退休，川普70岁才开始当总统。

世上每个人本来就有自己的发展时区。

身边有些人看似走在你前面，也有人看似走在你后面。

但其实每个人在自己的时区都有自己的步伐。

不用嫉妒或嘲笑他们。他们都在自己的时区里，你也是！

生命就是等待正确的行动时机。

所以，放轻松。你没有落后。你没有领先。

在命运为你安排的属于自己的时区里，一切都准时。

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