Ka Yin Leung is a Professor of Microbiology in Biotechnology and Food Engineering Program at GTIIT. He received his BSA (Hons) and MSc from the University of Saskatchewan and PhD from the University of Guelph, Canada. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the University of Kentucky, USA, where he studied the secretion of proteins of bubonic plague and in the University of British Columbia, Canada, where he studied  Salmonella intracellular lifestyle. From 1994 to 2008, he took up a faculty position in the National University of Singapore and also served as Assistant Dean and Deputy Head in Faculty of Science, and Associate Director of Tropical Marine Science Institute. He went back to Canada in 2008 till 2017 and served as Dean for 8 years and as Professor of Biology in Trinity Western University.

Prof. Leung’s research focuses on the study of bacterial fish diseases and their key virulent mechanisms. He is a pioneer and a leader in the discoveries and studies of type III and type VI secretion system (T3SS and T6SS) in Edwardsiella tarda, and T3SS in Aeromonas hydrophila. These two bacteria are the major causes of systemic infections in marine and freshwater fish, respectively. The studies of these two pathogens can also be used as model organisms for food- and water-borne human diseases. Some of the highly cited papers are: Molecular Microbiology 66 (2007): 1192; Microbiology 151 (2005): 2301; Molecular Microbiology (2004) 53: 573; and Infection and Immunity (2004) 72: 1248. His work provides a platform for the studies of fish pathogens as well as the development of fish vaccines and disease resistance in fish. Prof. Leung has taught courses including microbiology and a popular course on biotechnology named Genes and Society, in Singapore, Canada, and China.

• Bacterial Fish Diseases 

• Pathogen-Host Interactions

• Type III and Type VI Secretion Systems

• Host Disease Resistance, Fish Microbiota

• Fish Vaccines