Stephen Wong, Ph.D., P.E. Senior Member Chief Research Informatics Officer Director, NCI Center for Modeling Cancer Development (CMCD) Director, The Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Center for Bioinformatics Research and Imaging for Neurosciences (BRAIN) Director, Center for Bioengineering and Informatics The Methodist Hospital Research Institute John S Dunn Distinguished Endowed Chair in Biomedical Engineering Vice Chair and Chief of Medical Physics, Department of Radiology The Methodist Hospital Professor of Radiology, Neurology, and Neurosciences Weill Medical College of Cornell University E-mail: stwong@tmhs.org Phone: 713-441-5883 Fax: 713-441-8699
Education B.E.   (Hons). University of Western Australia, Perth, AU (Electrical Engineering) M.S.   Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA (Computer Science & Engineering) Ph.D.   Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA (Computer Science) Postdoctoral Training Japan Program Fellow, National Science Foundation, , ICOT, The Fifth Generation Computer Systems Project, MITI, Tokyo, Japan Science and Technology Agency Fellow, Science and Technology Agency, Japan

Biography

Stephen Wong, Ph.D., P.E. was recruited to head up Bioengineering and Informatics for The Methodist Hospital Research Institute in May of 2007. He also serves as Chief of Medical Physics and Vice Chairman of Radiology for The Methodist Hospital. Dr. Wong is the former Director of the Center for Bioinformatics, Harvard Center of Neurodegeneration and Repair (HCNR, now Harvard Discovery Center), founding Executive Director of Functional and Molecular Imaging Center, Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Associate Professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School. His research theme has been focused on the application of advanced technology to pragmatic biomedical problems and is based on the belief that problems of importance involve the interplay between theory and application. His research interest is to solve neurological and oncological problems via imaging, biosensing, and systems biology methods.

Dr. Wong is a hybrid scientist. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers, 4 books, and several journal issues in biomedical technology, served on several journal editorial boards and conference program committees, and holds six patents in biomedical technology. He has also served on NIH and NSF review panels. Stephen has broad R&D and executive experience for more than two decades with HP, Bell Labs, Japanese Fifth Generation Computer Systems project, Royal Philips Electronics, Charles Schwab, UCSF, and Harvard. His earlier research involves the pioneering work in optoelectronics and VLSI chip automation before moving into the fields of biomedical informatics and imaging. He was the database architect of UCSF PACS program, headed product development departments of AT&T and Philips Medical Systems, and directed the Web trading development of Schwab.com, one of the largest secured eCommerce sites. Stephen received his B.E. in electrical engineering from the University of Western Australia and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from Lehigh University. He has executive education from MIT Sloan School of Management, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Description of Research

Dr. Wong's research focuses on new approaches of combining bioinformatics, biophysics, and imaging for developing new biomarkers, drug cocktails, and on-the-spot diagnosis and therapy in neurological disorders and cancer. Examples of his group's current research projects include systems biology approach for biomarker and drug cocktail development for neurological disorders and cancer; the development of image-guided cancer therapy platforms; the development of disease biomarkers for early detection, diagnosis, and treatment response of neurodegeneration such as Alzheimer's disease and post-stroke treatment; the development of point-of-care molecular diagnosis and monitoring devices using nanotechnology and biosensing; and understanding the mechanisms of Alzheimer's and tumor metastasis.

Major Areas of Research

Biomedical imaging and informatics, drug cocktail development, image-guided therapy, on-the-spot diagnosis, mechanisms of cancer and neurological disorders.

Recent Publications

Zhao H, Zhu J, Cui K, Xu X, O'Brien M, Wong KK, Kesari S, Xia W and Wong ST. Bioluminescence Imaging Reveals Inhibition of Tumor Cell Proliferation by Alzheimer's Amyloid beta Protein. Cancer Cell International, accepted for publication, 2009.

Yang X, Zhou X, Huang WT, Wu L, Monzon FA, Chang CC, and Wong ST. Pattern-selection Based Power Analysis and Discrimination of Low- and High-Grade Myelodysplastic Syndromes Study Using SNP Arrays. PLoS ONE 4(4), April 2009.

Zhou X, Wang H, Wang J, Wang Y, Hoehn G, Azok J, Brennan ML, Hazen SL, Li K, Chang SF, Wong ST. Identification of biomarkers for risk stratification of cardiovascular events using genetic algorithm with recursive local floating search. Proteomics. 2009 Mar 31. [Epub ahead of print]

Zhao H, Tang C, Cui K, Ang BT, and Wong ST. A screening platform for glioma growth and invasion using bioluminescence imaging, J Neurosurg. 2009 Feb 6. [Epub ahead of print]

Wong KK, Tam CP, Ng M, Wong ST, Young GS. Improved residue function and reduced flow dependence in MR perfusion using least-absolute-deviation regularization. Magn Reson Med. 2009 Jan 22;61(2):418-428.

Chahrour M, Jung SY, Shaw C, Zhou X, Wong ST, Qin J, and Zoghbi HY. MeCP2, a Key Contributor to Neurological Disease, Activates and Represses Transcription. Science, 2008 May 30;320(5880):1224-9.

Zhou X, Wong STC. Computational systems bioinformatics, World Scientific Publisher, Feb., 2008.

Evans C, Xu X, Kesari S, Xie S, Wong S, Young G. Chemically-selective imaging of brain structures with CARS microscopy. Optical Express. 2007;15(19):12076-12087.

Mok V, Liu T, Lam WWM, Wong A, Hu X, Guo L, Chen XY, Wong KS, Wong STC. Neuroimaging predictors for cognitive impairment in confluent white matter lesion: Volumetric analyses of 99 brain regions. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders. 2007;25(1):67-73

Zhao H, Wong STC. Progress of engineered antibody-targeted molecular imaging for solid tumors. Molecular Medicine Reports, accepted for publications, 2007 Chen J, Wong STC. Nanotechnology for genomic signal processing in cancer research. Signal Processing Magazine, 2007; 24(1):111-121.

Yan PK, Zhou X, Shah M, Wong STC. Automatic Segmentation of High Throughput RNAi Fluorescent Cellular Images, IEEE Trans IT in Biomedicine, accepted for publication, 2007.

Li FH, Zhou X, Wong STC. An automated feedback system with the hybrid model of scoring and classification for solving over-segmentation problems in RNAi high content screening. Journal of Microscopy. 2007;226(2):121-132.

Zhang Y, Zhou X, Degterev A, Lipinski M, Adjeroh D, Yuan J, Wong STC. Automated neurite extraction using dynamic programming for neuron assays based high-throughput screening. Neuroimage. 2007;35(4):1502-15.

Liu KY , Zhou X, Kan K, Wong STC. Bayesian variable selection for gene expression modeling with regulatory motif binding sites in neuroinflammatory events, Neuroinformatics, 2006;4(1):95-117.

Levy M, Tabor J, Wong STC. Taking pictures with E. Coli: DSP using synthetic biology. IEEE Signal Processing Society Magazine. 2006;23(3): 141-144.

Zhou XB, Chow J, Wong STC. Protein structure similarity from principle component correlation analysis. BMC Bioinformatics. 2006; 25;7-40.

Wong STC. Bioinformatics of high-content screening. Screening Trends in Drug Discovery. Jan. 2006:18-20.

Liu KY , Lin J, Zhou X, Wong STC. Boosting Alternating Decision Trees (ADTrees) Modeling of Disease Trait Information. BMC Genetics, 2005; 30(6) Suppl 1:S132.