News & Stories
2016

News
New Discovery Gives Hope for Central Nervous System Repair
HKUST scientists along with colleagues from the Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai and Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou have discovered a strategy for repairing injured neurons through the regeneration of axons, a normally rare occurrence. This raises the exciting possibility of reversing injuries to the central nervous system.
Led by Dr. Kai Liu, Assistant Professor at HKUST’s Division of Life Science, the team recently demonstrated that damaged optic nerves that transmit visual information from neurons in the eye to other neurons in brain could regenerate when treated with either an optical or a chemical stimulant. In mouse experiments they achieved this through the overexpression of both the light-sensing molecule melanopsin and that of Designer Receptor Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADD), a tool normally used to enhance neuronal activity.

News
Breakthrough Discoveries at HKUST Offer New Hope for Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease
A research team led by scientists from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has discovered that a protein found in the human body could be potentially developed as an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
The team, led by Prof Nancy Ip, Dean of Science, Director of the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience and The Morningside Professor of Life Science at HKUST, in collaboration with Prof Eddy Liew from the University of Glasgow and Prof Baorong Zhang from Zhejiang University, has found that the protein interleukin-33 (IL-33) ameliorates cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease-like pathology. The groundbreaking study was conducted at HKUST and the results have just been published in the prestigious scientific journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS).

News
Transforming Lives: An Exhibition for HKUST's 25th Anniversary
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) holds an exhibition that tells the stories of the University’s impactful inventions and innovative ideas in teaching, research and societal engagement.
Titled “Transforming Lives”, the exhibition features science discoveries, objects, videos and materials of over 50 stories under six categories: building capacity, developing talents; enhancing communication technology; innovating materials; solving medical mysteries; sustaining environment, renewing energy; and engaging society, nourishing culture.

News
HKUST Physicist Prof Gyu Boong Jo Wins Croucher Innovation Award 2016
Prof Gyu Boong Jo, Assistant Professor of the Department of Physics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), was honored with the prestigious Croucher Innovation Award 2016 by the Croucher Foundation for his distinguished scientific research achievements. The award carries a value of HK$5 million over a span of five years. Prof Rosie Young, GBS, JP, officiated at the award presentation ceremony yesterday.

News
CRISPR-Cas9 Genome Engineering Technology Inventor Prof Emmanuelle Charpentier Explores New Opportunities in Biomedical Gene Therapies at HKUST 25th Anniversary Distinguished Speakers Series
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) hosted the 25th Anniversary Distinguished Speakers Series on 11 April, featuring Prof Emmanuelle Charpentier, inventor and co-owner of seminal intellectual property comprising the CRISPR-Cas9 technology that is revolutionizing life sciences research.
In her talk titled “The Transformative CRISPR-Cas9 Technology in Genome Engineering: Lessons Learned from Bacteria”, Prof Charpentier, Director of Department of Regulation in Infection Biology at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, told the audience the latest development of her discoveries. She said the RNA-programmable CRISPR-Cas9 system had recently emerged as a transformative technology in biological sciences, allowing rapid and efficient targeted genome editing, chromosomal marking and gene regulation.