Cell scientist to watch – Mu He

Mu He is an Assistant Professor at The University of Hong Kong. She received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University in the USA and went on to pursue a PhD with Kathryn Andreson at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, USA, studying primary cilia in mammalian hedgehog signalling. Her postdoctoral work in Lily Jan's lab at The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), USA, led her to explore the role of Cl− channels in homeostasis and development of airway epithelial cells and sparked her interest in motile cilia. Mu moved to Hong Kong and started her own independent lab in 2021, retaining her focus on cilia and airway cells. Her team now works to understand motile cilia assembly and regulation while also trying to develop model systems of the human airway in which to study disease. We spoke to Mu over Zoom to talk about her research career, the challenges of establishing a lab under pandemic restrictions and the importance of balance in life.