News

Prosthetics & Orthotics practitioners and researchers gather at P&O Forum

With aims to review the developments of prosthetics and orthotics in Hong Kong and the vicinity from different stakeholders (education, service & research), and to nurture more collaboration opportunities with different stakeholders, the Prosthetics & Orthotics Forum was organised by PolyU BME on 18 August 2023 on PolyU campus, and was attended by over 50 P&O practitioners, researchers and research students. Convened by Ir Professor Ming Zhang, Head of Department and Chair Professor of Biomechanics of BME, and Professor M. S. Wong, Professor of BME and President of the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics Hong Kong, the Forum began by having Prof. Zhang giving an overview of BME and introduction P&O developments in the Department to the participants. Ms Margaret Ho, P&O COC Coordinator of the Hospital Authority (HA), talked about the P&O developments in the public sector, and how it shifted the focus from survival to functional, then to the quality of life. She also introduced the clustering of P&O service in HA, and the advanced service developments in P&O and the advanced biomedical technology. Mr Mario Chan, Chief P&O of the Allied Health Rehabilitation Centre, was not able to join the Forum in person, but presented the P&O developments in the private sector through a vivid video. He shared how he started his career in the Mainland China in 2004 and the challenges he faced. He then moved back to Hong Kong in 2012 and applied his experience and skills to provide efficient services to patients in the private sector, who highly value quality, performance and effectiveness. Mr Wilson Chan, President of the Hong Kong Society of Certified Prosthetist-Orthotists (HKSCPO), talked about the P&O developments in the local professional society. He first introduced the Society, such as the certification requirement, membership growth, professional and academic trainings, CPD schemes, etc. Mr Chan also talked about the development trend in different aspects, including image/data capture, components, scope, manufacturing and materials. He also displayed the current applications of 3D printing in P&O which was regarded as a new trend. At last, Prof. M. S. Wong introduced the P&O developments in the international professional society. The vision, mission and recent activities of the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics were introduced. The recent conferences held in Asia via online meetings and the coming physical meetings were also mentioned and promoted. Some trends of P&O developments have been introduced such as application of big data analytics and artificial intelligence to P&O research and services. Close collaborations among different stakeholders have been highly recommended. After the presentations from the speakers, the participants were then engaged in an open discussion regarding the P&O practices in the public and private sectors and how different practices are in different countries and regions. The Forum was concluded with a dinner joined by the speakers and participants.

Faculty Awards for Outstanding Achievement 2023

The results of the Faculty Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching, Research and Scholarly Activities, Knowledge Transfer and Services 2023 were announced on 14 August 2023. The winners were chosen by a Faculty Assessment Panel, comprising Heads (or their delegates) and chaired by the Dean of Engineering, from amongst a pool of well-qualified nominees put forward by individual departments. The selection was made with reference to the indicative criteria for assessment as laid down by the University for the exercise.   BME is excited that the following colleagues are receiving the awards listed below: MERIT AWARDS Teaching: Outstanding Young Teacher - Ms Jessie KAR, Instructor Research and Scholarly Activities: Outstanding Researcher - Professor Lei SUN, Professor Research and Scholarly Activities: Outstanding Young Researcher - Dr Puxiang LAI, Associate Professor   Each awardee will receive a Certificate of Award and a cash prize. The prizes will be presented at a Prize Presentation Ceremony of the Faculty in February/March 2024.   Congratulations to the awarded colleagues!

BME Summer Camp 2023 attended by secondary school students from Macau

The BME Summer Camp 2023 was held on 3 August 2023 on PolyU campus. Organised by the Hong Kong-Macau Joint Chapter of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) (“the Chapter”), the summer camp was attended by 46 guests, including the members from the Chapter and 37 Macau secondary school students. As the Vice-Chairperson of the Chapter, Dr Xiaoling Hu, Associate Professor of PolyU BME, together with her research team members Dr Sa Zhou, Ms Eva Qin and Mr Legeng Lin, welcomed and accompanied the guests the whole day. The guests had a tight schedule, starting with an introduction session delivered by Dr Hu, followed by the BME laboratory tour in the morning and the afternoon. Students visited 11 laboratories in total and they showed a lot of interests in different labs by raising many questions. BME looks forward to welcoming more students in the summer camp next year!

BME PhD student awarded Champion at Faculty of Engineering 3MT® Competition

Yizhou Jiang, PhD student of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, was selected as the Champion at the Faculty of Engineering Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®), which was held on 16 June 2023 on PolyU campus. Jiang took home the Champion by presenting the research topic “Tracking Living Therapeutics with Ultrasound Imaging”. All participants were nominated by their departments of the Faculty of Engineering. Each department could nominate three students at most. Their performance was rated by the Judging Panel, chaired by Prof. X.W. Fu, Associate Dean (External Engagement) and comprising departmental representatives. Developed by the University of Queensland, Australia, 3MT® cultivates the academic, presentation, and research communication skills of research students and supports their capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes in a language appropriate to non-specialist audiences. The competition is a globally recognized competition which are now held in over 900 universities across more than 85 countries worldwide.

Outstanding Alumni Award of PolyU Department of Biomedical Engineering 2023

We are pleased to present the Outstanding Alumni Award in Professional Achievement of PolyU Department of Biomedical Engineering to Ir Alex Choi Pong Chi, in recognition of his professional achievement and significant contribution to the Department, PolyU and the community, which have earned him the well-deserved honour. Ir Choi obtained the Bachelor of Science in Health Technology in 2003 and Master of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering in 2009 from PolyU. He currently serves as a Senior Electronics Engineer of the Medical Device Division of the Department of Health (DH).  He leads a team to work on the implementation of Medical Device Administrative Control System in Hong Kong and is responsible for the public enquiry handling, education & publicity on the safe use of medical devices and stakeholders engagement, etc. Ir Choi also serves as a committee member of the Biomedical Division of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE), training tutor of the HKIE Scheme “A” training program and the mentor for biomedical discipline of the HKIE “Mentorship Scheme”. Before being seconded to DH, he served in the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) over 10 years for supply and installation projects, procurements and maintenance of the medical devices / systems in various public hospitals and clinics. Congratulations to Ir Choi!

Five BME colleagues awarded 2023/24 GRF/ECS funding

Congratulations to our five colleagues who were successful in obtaining the 2023-2024 GRF/ECS funding by Hong Kong's Research Grants Council (RGC).  The details of the funded BME projects are as follows: RGC General Research Fund The General Research Fund (GRF) aims to supplement universities’ own research support to researchers who have achieved or have the potential to achieve excellence.   RGC Early Career Scheme The Early Career Scheme (ECS), introduced in 2012/13, is intended to nurture junior academics and to prepare them for a career in education and research.

Appointment of Affiliate Faculty Members

The Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) is pleased to announce that five individuals of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University have been named as affiliate faculty members, with the appointment period from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2026. The affiliate faculty members will contribute to and collaborate on well-focused, significant research as a team member, project initiator or leader that achieve the mission of the Department. They may also participate in teaching and conferences hosted by the Department in their area of interest. The five members and their potential contributions in particular research area are as follows:   A. Molecular, cellular and tissue engineering Professor Wang Zuankai, Chair Professor of Nature-Inspired Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering; Associate Vice President (Research and Innovation) Professor Wang Liqiu, Chair Professor of Thermal-Fluid and Energy Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering   B. Medical imaging, instrumentation and sensing Professor Hao Jianhua, Chair Professor of Materials Physics and Devices, Department of Applied Physic Professor Yan Feng, Chair Professor of Organic Electronics, Department of Applied Physics   C. Biomechanics and sports engineering Professor Li Li Lilly, Professor, School of Fashion and Textiles; Associate Director, PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research

Professor M. S. Wong promoted to full Professor

Congratulations to Professor M. S. Wong on his promotion to full Professor on 1 July 2023. Prof.  Wong is a Professor (Prosthetics and Orthotics) of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. With his clinical and engineering training background, Prof. Wong has the educational vision of nurturing students with state-of-the-art professional knowledge and skills as well as all-rounded attributes, especially in positive attitude to face and tackle the uncertainties and challenges from this ever-changing world, and in social responsibility to serve the less-privileged people. Prof. Wong used to serve as the Associate Head (Academic) and Programme Leader of the BSc (Hons) programme in Biomedical Engineering and Jockey Club Rehabilitation Engineering Clinic Coordinator. He has been significantly involved in programme development and a number of clinical research studies, and learning and teaching projects (including student integration and internationalisation) as well as the reconstruction works after the Sichuan earthquake in 2008.  His main research interests are scoliosis, spinal orthotics, preventions of fragility fractures, gait and posture analysis, CAD/CAM in prosthetics and orthotics, and prosthetics and orthotics outcome evaluations.

Prof. Mo Yang and Dr Thomas Lee awarded Gold Medals at 48th Geneva Inventions Expo

With the real thrill of acknowledgement, we would like to congratulate Prof. Mo Yang (Associate Head (Research) and Professor) and Dr Thomas Lee (Associate Head (Academic), Associate Professor, and Co-Founder of Pocnat Limited (a PolyU academic-led startup)) who won the Gold Medals at the 48th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva (Geneva Inventions Expo). Prof. Mo Yang's innovation is “High-throughput Microfluidic Platform for CTCs Detection in Cancer Precision Diagnostics” while Dr Thomas Lee's innovation is “Gold-LAMP: A Portable Ultra-fast Nucleic Acid Testing System”. Widely regarded as among the most important annual global events devoted exclusively to inventions, many impactful innovations from PolyU have won a record-breaking number of accolades in this year’s Geneva Inventions Expo. The exceptional performance of PolyU teams in the Expo underlines the University’s aspiration to harness its excellence in education, research and knowledge transfer to drive PolyImpact – inventions and innovations by the PolyU community that create real-world impacts. The 48th Geneva Inventions Expo attracted about 1,000 inventions from about 40 countries and regions. Thereamong, 28 PolyU innovations garnered 31 prizes – the highest number of prizes PolyU teams have ever received at this event. They include 3 Grand/Special Prizes, 5 Gold Medals with Congratulations of the Jury, 12 Gold Medals, 5 Silver Medals and 6 Bronze Medals. To learn more about Prof. Mo’s and Dr Lee’s impactful innovations, please refer to the following links from the website of Knowledge Transfer and Entrepreneurship Office (KTEO): High-throughput Microfluidic Platform for CTCs Detection in Cancer Precision Diagnostics: https://sc2.polyu.edu.hk//en/kteo/knowledge-transfer/innovations-and-technologies/award-winning-innovations/geneva2023#MicrofluidicPlatform Gold-LAMP: A Portable Ultra-fast Nucleic Acid Testing System: https://sc2.polyu.edu.hk//en/kteo/knowledge-transfer/innovations-and-technologies/award-winning-innovations/geneva2023#GoldLAMP

Dr Thomas Lee receives the 2022 President’s Award for Excellent Performance and Achievement in Teaching

It is with great pride to announce Dr. Thomas Lee, the Associate Professor and Associate Head (Academic), as the recipient of the 2022 President’s Award for Excellent Performance and Achievement in Teaching. The Award was presented during the PolyU Appreciation Dinner on 25 April 2023. Dr Lee has taught at PolyU for 17 years and places the learning experiences of students as his top priority. He has devoted great effort to student engagement. One example is his development of the Gongyeh e-platform to help students improve their presentation skills through peer feedback. He is the facilitator of the Community of Practice on Student-Staff Partnership from 2023 to 2025, and hopes that this initiative will enable colleagues to collaborate and learn from one another. Please join me in celebrating the extraordinary efforts to Dr. Lee!