News & Stories

As governments worldwide are planning to gradually ease lockdown or social distancing measures after months of life disruptions due to COVID-19, an interdisciplinary study co-convened by a Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) computer scientist has recently found that universal face mask wearing is an urgent non-pharmaceutical intervention to suppress the spread or second waves of the disease before effective vaccines or treatments are available.

A recent Consumer Council survey has found that only two out of eight tested anti-bacterial handwash products can live up to their claims of having 99.9 percent efficacy in killing germs, sparking worries amongst the public. Advertisements often imply that bacteria in homes are harmful and must be eliminated by using any antibacterial or antimicrobial products available. However, Boston University's School of Public Health suggests only about 5 percent of bacterial species are disease-causing, in other words pathogenic. In fact, the pursuit of a germ-free environment is futile. Some bacteria are just impossible to eliminate with chemicals in the cleansing agents, or at the concentrations level of the chemicals we are commonly using. Even the so-called 99.9 percent efficacy must rely on perfect usage of the product.

Air pollution is a major environmental and health concern in Hong Kong and the largest environmental health risk, according to the World Health Organization, tying it to seven million premature deaths globally in 2016. Yet many of us accept it as part of city living. In a bid to help city dwellers take their health into their own hands, HKUST's Institute for the Environment recently launched a game-changing mobile app that lets users monitor air quality to reduce their exposure to air pollution. Titled PRAISE-HK (Personalized Real-time Air-quality Informatics System for Exposure), the app provides real-time air quality and health risk information and forecasts, down to the street you are at, up to two days in advance, helping Hongkongers live a smarter and healthier life. One of the world-leading technologies behind the app is our dynamic transport modeling.

A research team consisting of scientists from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Jinan University discovered a new mechanism that could delay the degeneration of injured nerves, bringing new hope to the treatment of nerve damage and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).Axon is the long projection of a neuron/nerve cell that transmits electrical impulses to muscles and other nerve cells.  How nerves, bundles of axons and often meter-long processes of neurons maintain their integrity has been one of the fundamental questions in neuroscience, as failure of axonal integrity may cause axonal dying back or retrograde degeneration of nerves – a process very similar to the injury-induced Wallerian Degeneration.  For years, NMNAT-related signaling pathway was the only mechanism known to have deterrent effect against this process.

Researchers from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) credited with important translational science and early discovery work Significant opportunity to replicate collaborative model to develop pipeline of extracellular tRNA synthetase therapeutics

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) together with Boston Children’s Hospital – a Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital (Harvard), the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Stanford University School of Medicine (Stanford), and University College London (UCL) today, signifying a partnership to engage in advanced translational neuroscience research. The momentous occasion was witnessed by The Hon Mrs. Carrie LAM Cheng Yuet-Ngor, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR); Mr. Andrew LIAO Cheung-Sing, Council Chairman of HKUST; Prof. Wei SHYY, President of HKUST; Mr. Nicholas W YANG, Secretary for Innovation and Technology; and diplomatic representatives including Mr. Andrew HEYN, British Consul General in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is joining forces with Haven of Hope Christian Service (HOHCS) to gain further understanding and to develop solutions that could improve the quality of life for the elderly and their caregivers.  The two parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today to forge their partnership.

A research team consisting of scientists from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and Beijing Tiantan Hospital have uncovered the mutational mechanism of how a rare and deadly brain cancer –secondary glioblastoma (sGBM) – progresses from its less lethal type.  The groundbreaking finding has provided a therapeutic lead which may develop into a new kind of treatment for chemo-resistant patients.