Dr Lui, PhD., is Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology and
Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Western Ontario,
Canada. He received his education and research training in Pharmacy, Pharmacology, and
Toxicology from Dalhousie University and the National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences. He is the President of the Canadian Institute of Chinese Medicinal Research (a
non-profit national organization that promotes collaborative research at the national and
international level: www.bepress.com/jcim), and the Founding Editor of the Journal of
Complementary and Integrative Medicine (Berkeley Electronic Press; www.bepress.com/jcim).
He served on the Expert Advisory Committee on Complementary Medicine of the Therapeutic
Product Programme of Health Canada (1997-2000). He has provided consultation to the
Natural Health Products Directorate of Health Canada concerning research in Traditional
Chinese Medicines in Canada. Currently, he is a member ad hoc of the Scientific Advisory
Committee on Respiratory and Allergy Therapies, TPD of Health Canada. 

Dr. Lui’s research focuses on elucidating the mechanisms of action of herbal products to
provide the pharmacological plausibility for their medicinal use. Research is targeted at
herbal medicines for the treatment of cancer, arthritis and cardiovascular diseases.
Various in vitro (cell/organ culture, organ-bath) and in vivo experimental models are
used to study treatment effects on angiogenesis, metastasis, inflammation, immunological
functions, atherosclerosis, and vascular reactivity. Chemical, biochemical, histological,
intravital videomicroscopic and molecular biological techniques are used to examine the
sites and mechanisms of action of selected products. These studies contribute to the
evidence-based practice of herbal medicine as well as the development of pharmacological
markers or bioassays for the standardization of natural health products. His research is
funded the Seed Funding Initiative of the NHPD of Health Canada and the Wai King Funds
for Research and Education in Medicinal Use of Chinese Herbs. Currently, he is organizing
a multi-centred research proposal for the validation of product quality and efficacy of
North American ginseng. 

Dr. Lui has been active in the educational aspects of complementary medicine in
undergraduate medical curriculum and he is currently a member of the Executive Committee
of the National Working Group on Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Undergraduate
Medical Education in Canada. He is responsible for organizing CAM for UME. He also offers
a course entitled: Pharmacology and Toxicology of Natural Sourced Medicines to 4th year
medical science students at the University of Western Ontario. He also provides
leadership in establishing the Integrative Health Network at UWO. There are more than 30
members which consist of faculty members from UWO and community CAM practitioners. The
mandate of this organization is to promote networking and collaboration in research and
education in complementary medicine and to provide outreach to community in South Western
Ontario.

Articles

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The Yin and Yang Actions of North American Ginseng Root in Modulating the Immune Function of Macrophages (with Chike Godwin Azike, Paul Abrahams Charpentier, Jirui Hou, Hua Pei, and Edmund Man King Lui), Chinese Medicine (2011)

BACKGROUND: Immuno-modulatory effects of ginseng, including both immuno-stimulatory and immuno-suppressive effects, have been widely reported....

 

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De Novo Sequencing and Analysis of the American Ginseng Root Transcriptome Using a GS FLX Titanium Platform to Discover Putative Genes Involved in Ginsenoside Biosynthesis (with Chao Sun, Ying Li, Qiong Wu, Hongmei Luo, Yongzhen Sun, Jingyuan Song, and Shilin Chen), BMC Genomics (2010)

BACKGROUND: American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) is one of the most widely used herbal remedies...

 

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A Dominant Loss-of-Function GJA1 (Cx43) Mutant Impairs Parturition in the Mouse (with Dan Tong, Xuerong Lu, Hong-Xing Wang, Isabelle Plante, Dale W. Laird, Donglin Bai, and Gerald M. Kidder), Biology of Reproduction (2009)

Expression of GJA1 (commonly known as connexin43 or Cx43), a major myometrial gap junction protein,...

 

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Antioxidant Effect of Zinc and Zinc-metallothionein in the Acute Cytotoxicity of Hydrogen Peroxide in Ehrlich Ascites Tumour Cells (with Zacharias E. Suntres), Chemico-biological Interactions (2006)

This study was concerned with the role of zinc (Zn) and zinc-metallothionein (Zn-MT) in oxidative...

 

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Prooxidative Effect of Copper-metallothionein in the Acute Cytotoxicity of Hydrogen Peroxide in Ehrlich Ascites Tumour Cells (with Zacharias E. Suntres), Toxicology (2006)

This study was concerned with the role of copper (Cu) and Cu-metallothionein (Cu-MT) in oxidative...