I am writing this reference at the request of Fanny Ma, who is applying for the Pasteur-Asia 1 st

Immunology Course provided by the Pasteur Research Centre at The University of Hong Kong
Fanny was a summer student in my laboratory last year working for her final year project on
human fetal pancreatic progenitor cells (PPCs) and recently she was admitted as a mphil student and
become a keen member of the stem cell team in my laboratory. She has started planning and working
on the immunology of PPCs, Embryonic Stem Cells (ESCs), and also PPCs derived Islet-like cell
clusters (ICCs) for three months and she has already proposed to investigate the immunogenicity of
PPCs or ICCs derived from early trimester of human fetal pancreas. This in-depth coverage on the
innate immunity, certain cytokines signaling mechanisms, not to mention the interferon system in
which she is now working on, would be indispensably related to her project and would also provide her
with much stronger foundation on the research in immunology.
Concepts in immunology should be one of those critical factors in governing the feasibility of
every stem-cell based therapy. For a junior post-graduate student like Fanny who focuses on immunal
research in stem cell biology, this course would be a prefect platform for her not only to grasp the latest
knowledge in immunology, but also to acquire different hands-on experimental skills to enhance her
research.
Fanny is now a freshman of her postgraduate studies but she has already one abstract admitted in
an international conference for poster presentation. This is due to her dedication and keenness towards
her research. Her high proficiency in English and excellent presentation and organization skills enables
her to deliver her research achievements clearly in her final year research seminar. Fanny also
demonstrates strong leadership traits and independence. As far as I know she is also a friendly
individual who is bright and motivated and always willing to learn and develop. Clearly she would
cherish the chance to attend your course and make full use of it.
I am thrilled to see that Fanny is so enthusiastic to learn from your course. Willingness to learn
and the curiosity to explore new things are always good traits for young scientist like her. Hence, I
would highly recommend Fanny to be selected to be one of the participants of this Pasteur Research
Center’s immunology course.

__________________
Po Sing LEUNG
Professor
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2609 6879
Fax: +852 2603 5022
E-mail: psleung@cuhk.edu.hk