Dr. Hooi Yuan Teng graduated with a degree in Bioinformatics from the University of Malaya in 2011. She worked as a research assistant with neuropathologist Professor Dr. Wong Kum Thong in the Department of Pathology, University of Malaya, before pursuing her PhD under his supervision. Her doctoral research focused on developing an animal model for Coxsackievirus A16 infection, a primary cause of hand-foot-and-mouth disease, and investigating its infectious pathology and pathogenesis. She graduated in 2020 with enhanced expertise in cell culture, molecular biology techniques, animal infection studies, and histopathological analysis.

Currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia, Dr. Hooi works under Dr. Vinod RMT Balasubramaniam in the Infection and Immunity Cluster. Her research focuses on monoclonal antibody studies targeting Enterovirus D68, involving antibody characterization, neutralizing epitope mapping, and preclinical evaluations using self-developed animal models. She is proficient in histopathological techniques, including immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization, and virological methods such as virus culture, viral titration, and qRT-PCR.

Dr. Hooi has published several peer-reviewed articles. She has also presented her research at international conferences, earning the “Best Poster Prize” at the Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease International Conference 2016 in Singapore. She is an active collaborator on interdisciplinary projects within Monash University and with external partners, contributing to externally funded projects and co-authoring publications. Dr. Hooi combines her expertise in virology, cell biology, and immunology to advance impactful research, inspire students, and bridge fundamental science with translational applications.

Summary

Enteroviruses are associated with several human and mammalian diseases. Both Coxsackievirus A16 (CV-A16) and Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) from Enterovirus A species could cause hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) in human, which usually presents as a mild febrile exanthematous disease with vesicles/rashes on the palmar and plantar skin, and ulcers on the buccal mucosa and tongue. In contrast to EV-A71 encephalomyelitis, little is known about the central nervous system pathology in CV-A16 infection because to date there is no human autopsy study available on this important CV-A16 complication. In Dr. Hooi’s previous research project, she had developed CV-A16 animal models for pathogenesis and infectious disease pathology studies. The findings not only confirmed CV-A16 neurotropism, and suggested skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue as important viral replication sites. The kinetic studies suggested neuroinvasion is possibly via retrograde axonal transport in peripheral motor nerves.

Some of Dr. Hooi’s previous work include:

• Development of specific CV-A16 and EV-A71 DNA probes for in situ hybridization (ISH) in infected formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissues.
• Comparison of infectious disease pathology of CV-A16 and EV-A71 in mouse model.
• Development of an orally-infected CV-A16 HFMD hamster model for the study of viral distribution and tissue tropism, viral replication kinetics, viral shedding and transmission among host animals.
• Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of mouse adapted CV-A16 strains.

Currently, she is working on another species of enterovirus, EV-D68 which usually causes respiratory illness that resembles those of a cold, primarily in children. The infection ocassionally  associated with more severe clinical manifestations such as acute flaccid myelitis, aseptic meningitis and brainstem encephalitis. Research on EV-D68 has mainly focused on its epidemiology, the virologic characteristics and pathogenesis remain largely unknown and under investigated. In this project, Dr. Hooi will be involving in the development of EV-D68 animal model and histopathological experiments.