PolyU celebrates the Second Inauguration of Endowed Professorships

The Second Inauguration of Endowed Professorships was held on 13 May 2015 at the Jockey Club Auditorium on PolyU campus to pay tribute to distinguished scholars for their outstanding academic achievements and significant contributions to the community. We are much honored to announce that Prof. Thomas Y. C. Leung was conferred the title Lo Ka Chung Charitable Foundation Endowed Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences, endowed by Lo Ka Chung Charitable Foundation Limited. The Lo Ka Chung Charitable Foundation was set up by Mr. Lo Ka-Chung in 2002 to support educational and healthcare projects for the advancement of knowledge and the welfare of humanity. The Lo Ka Chung Centre for Natural Anti-Cancer Drug Development at PolyU is the very first major project which the Foundation has undertaken to support. Mr. Lo generously donated HK$20 million to PolyU for its research work on anti-cancer therapeutics. This donation has made feasible for the University to provide professional cancer-related education and consultancy services for the community. This has also enabled PolyU to achieve the recent breakthroughs in the development of cancer drugs through the use of advanced biotechnology. Prof. Thomas Y.C. Leung joined the Department of ABCT in 1996 and he currently serves as the Director of the Lo Ka Chung Centre for Natural Anti-Cancer Drug Development. His research areas include biotechnology and cancer drug discovery. Focusing on translational research, Prof. Leung developed pegylated recombinant human arginase (BCT-100) in collaboration with Dr Thomas Lo and Dr Paul Cheng. The research was based on his pioneering work indicating that human arginase can starve cancer cells to death whilst leaving normal cells unharmed. Phase 2 clinical trials in liver cancer patients are currently ongoing in Hong Kong. Recently, BCT-100 became Hong Kong's first ever homegrown drug to receive Investigational New Drug approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and thus clearing the way for clinical trials in the United States. This achievement is an important milestone in the development of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry in Hong Kong. The Endowed Professorship will enable Prof. Leung to further understand the mechanisms of drug action, improve the drug efficacy and benefit cancer patients. Please visit the departmental webpage for the snapshots of the event: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/abct/en/news/gallery/index_id_39.html Let us congratulate Prof. Leung again on receiving the endowed professorship.

Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards from the Ministry of Education of China 2014

Established by the Ministry of Education of China, the Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards aims to recognize and honor outstanding research projects at all tertiary institutions in mainland China and Hong Kong. The 2014 award presentation ceremony was held at the Yasumoto International Academic Park of CUHK on 7 May 2015, and the awards are presented by Prof. Lu Li, Director General of the Education, Science & Technology Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in HKSAR. It is a great honor that Prof. Fuk-yee KWONG and Dr. Chau-ming SO from our Department were conferred a Second Class Award in Natural Science (自然科学二等奖) with the research project entitled 'Development of new series of highly tunable phosphine ligands and explanati of problematic and challenging cross-coupling reactions (新型膦配體的設計及其于偶聯反應上的應用)'. This research project focused on catalyst development utilizing new technology to develop multiple catalysts for various bond construction processes. Prof. Kwong explained that 'previously the synthesis or preparation of large molecules has been based on multiple steps for the synthesis of large molecules and other medicinally useful compounds, and that often took a long time'. By developing this new technology 'akin to Lego style building blocks' the research team were able to use their catalyst to assemble a molecule more efficiently, and much more rapidly. The output of such research is very broad, from materials science to pharmaceutical science. This new catalyst development can be applied to many different types of molecule preparation. The catalyst has recently been licensed to selected chemical companies for worldwide distribution. Please visit the departmental webpage or the snapshots of the event: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/abct/en/news/gallery/index_id_38.html Congratulations to the award recipients and their research teams on receiving this prestigious award.

Grand Prize and Gold Medal Awarded at 43rd International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva

PolyU has brought glory to Hong Kong by winning a total of 15 prizes at the 43rd International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, held from 15th to 19th of April 2015 at Geneva, Switzerland. There were 752 participants from 48 countries presenting around 1,000 inventions in the exhibition this year, which has attracted almost 60,000 visitors from throughout the world. Congratulations to the research team made up of Dr. Ka-fu YUNG, Prof. Wing-tak WONGand Mr. Tsz-lung KWONG from our Department who won a Grand Prize and a Gold Medal at this renowned event for the project "Catalyst for Green Biodiesel Production from Unrefined Feedstock". Biodiesel is a sustainable liquid fuel originated from biomass. However, traditional liquid biodiesel catalyst generates a huge amount of waste water in the final purification procedure. A new class of solid catalyst is developed by precise surface chemistry engineering to catalyze the biodiesel production. With excellent adaptability to low grade unrefined feedstock like waste cooking oil, the catalyst can provide complete solution to the waste water problem. In addition, it operates at a significant lower temperature and pressure as compared with the existing solid biodiesel catalyst due to its high catalytic activity, which can reduce the energy and cost required for biodiesel production. The Reception Ceremony hosted by the Hong Kong Government to commend Hong Kong winners was held on 28 April. Let us congratulate Dr. Ka-fu YUNG and his team again on receiving these awards.

ABCT Postgraduate awarded the 1st Prize of Oral Presentation in Symposium on Chemistry Postgraduate Research in Hong Kong

Mr. Fu Wai-chung, PhD student of Prof. Kwong Fuk-yee, has been awarded the First Prize of Oral Presentation in the 22nd Symposium on Chemistry Postgraduate Research in Hong Kong. The award was conferred by Prof. John Gladysz during the closing ceremony of the symposium held in Hong Kong Baptist University on 18 April 2015. The Symposium is an annual event jointly organized by six local universities in Hong Kong, aiming at bringing chemistry postgraduate students, academics, researchers and industrialists together with the objective of reflecting upon the current advancement in all main aspects of chemistry, exchanging research ideas and fostering collaboration and networking. Each year, a panel of judges, consisting of the keynote speaker and faculty representatives of the six universities, will select the best presenters in the oral presentation session and the best poster presenters in each of the four subject areas, namely (1) Analytical and Environmental Chemistry, (2) Inorganic Chemistry, (3) Organic Chemistry and (4) Physical Chemistry. With the outstanding presentation skills of Mr. Fu and his interactive sharing with the audience, Mr. Fu has been selected as the awardee of the 1st Prize of Oral Presentation this year. Congratulations to Mr. Fu!

ABCT Teacher and Student honored in the PolyU Awards Presentation Ceremony 2014

Each year, PolyU pays tribute to dedicated staff members for their outstanding achievements in teaching, research and scholarly activities and services. With her great effort and contribution to the teaching and learning activities of our Department, Dr. Susan HO is honored the Faculty Award for Outstanding Performance and Achievement in Teaching 2013/14. The award presentation ceremony was held on 25th March 2015 at the Hotel ICON. On the other hand, Miss XIA Yifan, student of BSc(Hons) in Food Safety and Technology, has achieved the Faculty Outstanding Student Award (FAST). Miss Xia was presented the award on 12th February 2015 at the Chiang Chen Studio Theatre on PolyU Campus. The ceremony was officiated by our President, Prof. Timothy W. TONG. Over 150 guests joined the ceremony to share the happiness of the awardees. For more details, please refer to https://www.polyu.edu.hk/sao/OSA/2014/. Let us congratulate Dr. Ho and Ms. Xia on receiving the awards for their continuous outstanding performance! Congratulations!

PolyU won the Merit Award at the Lee Kam Kee Food Innovation Competition 2014

We are happy to announce that the ABCT department has won the Merit Award at the Lee Kam Kee Food Innovation Competition 2014. The LKKFIC is an annual competition co-organized by Lee Kam Kee and the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology; it is designed to promote and highlight excellence in food innovation and related fields, as well as to inspire the next generation of science/business expertise. This year, the competition has brought over 100 boundary-pushing submissions from 10 renowned universities in Hong Kong and China. Under the supervision of Dr. Gary Cheung and Dr. Amber Chiou, our participating team of two FST students Chu Lo Yi and Li Bingyi, two CT students Chan Pui In and Yip Wai Ming, and a MKT student Shu junzhe, has performed limitless creativity and has finally impressed the judge panel with their great work: "鱼蛋连心" (Fish ball with stuffing). Let us take this opportunity to congratulate our team for the recognition! Award presentation ceremonies were held in Hangzhou on 5 Nov and in PolyU on 18 Nov.

Asian Core Programme Lectureship Awards from China and Thailand

Dr. Man-kin Wong has received the ACP Lectureship awards in The 9th International Conference on Cutting-Edge Organic Chemistry in Asia (ICCEOCA-9), held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 1 to 5 December, 2014. Dr. Wong has gained the recognition from the Chinese and Thai representatives with his presentation entitled "Silver-Catalyzed Transformation of Propargylamine N-Oxides for Organic Synthesis and Bioconjugation". Dr. Wong would be invited to undertake one-week lecture tours in China and Thailand in 2015. The Asian Core Programme aims to nurture close relationship among active researchers in the field of organic chemistry and related disciplines among the participating Asian countries. It offers an international research hub for leading scientists to exchange and collaborate in high-quality organic chemistry research. Moreover, this conference has become a platform for the next generation organic chemists in the East and Southeast Asian region to showcase their research accomplishment. The scope of this programme covers multiple facets of organic chemistry, including novel chemical reactions, organic synthesis, nano-chemistry, bioorganic chemistry, green chemistry, structural and material sciences, and environmental chemistry.

PolyU scholar received award for anti-cancer drug research

Dr Tao Ye, Associate Professor of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)'s Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology was recently awarded the 2014 Xiaoyu Hu Memorial Award at the 13th Chinese International Peptide Symposium (CPS) held in Datong, China, from 30 June – 4 July 2014. The award was presented to Dr Ye in recognition of his outstanding achievements in the peptide science field, contributing to the research in synthesis of natural products and exploration of natural-products-based anti-cancer drugs. His research resulted in discovery of novel anti-cancer agents based on marine natural products largazole, burkholdacs and computational-aided drug design. These anticancer agents have been proven effective in controlling cancer proliferation via inhibition of histone deacetylases and histone demethylases. The CPS was founded in 1990 by world leading scholars in the peptide field, including Nobel Laureate Bruce Merrifield. It is one of the most important events in the field of peptide science, on par with the American Peptide Symposium, European Peptide Symposium and Japanese Peptide Symposium etc. The Xiaoyu Hu Memorial Award was established by the CPS in commemoration of Professor Xiaoyu Hu, a pioneer and leader in the development peptide science in the Chinese mainland. The award honors biennially one Chinese and one international scientist with outstanding contribution in the peptide science field. The other winner of the 2014 Xiaoyu Hu Memorial Award was Professor Paul Alewood, Chairman of Australian Peptide Association. As a leading scientist in the field of synthetic chemistry and chemical biology, Dr Ye's research focuses on the total synthesis of biological active natural products and chemical proteomics. His laboratory is particularly devoted to the research in synthesis and biological evaluation of natural products, especially in the exploration of natural-products-based novel anti-tumor agents. Dr Tao Ye also received the WuXi PharmaTech Life Science and Chemistry Award in 2012. His anti-cancer drug discovery program was supported by generous donation from both Fong Shu Fook Tong Foundation and Joyce M. Kuok Foundation.

Prof. Michael Kwong awarded the Rising Star at the 41st International Conference on Coordination Chemistry

Prof. Fuk-yee Kwong is honoured the Rising Star at the 41st International Conference on Coordination Chemistry (41st ICCC), held in Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre, Singapore from 21 to 25 July 2014. This year, a total of 21 young researchers are awarded the Rising Stars at the conference for their continuous effort at promoting Coordination Chemistry and acting role models for junior researchers in the field. The awardees come from worldwide institutions, including those from Stanford University (USA), California Institute of Technology (USA), Harvard University (USA), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), Yale University (USA), University of Cambridge (UK), and University of Oxford (UK). Being the only representative from Hong Kong, Prof. Kwong presented a well-received lecture on "A New Series of Tunable Phosphine Ligands for Sterically Hindered Coupling: Tetra-Ortho-Substituted Biaryl Synthesis from Aryl Chlorides and Aryl Trifluoroborate Salts" on 23 July. The 5-day conference has attracted over 1000 delegates from 45 countries. By covering a diverse range of topics, including those in traditional areas (such as computational and theoretical chemistry, transition metal catalysis, etc.) and advanced emerging topics (such as molecular electronics, nanotechnology, biomimetics, etc.), the conference has successfully achieved its three goals, namely, (a) spanning from fundamental to applied coordination chemistry; (b) connecting the world through coordination chemistry, and (c) recognizing the pioneers and unearthing the next generation of stars. Let us congratulate Prof. Kwong on receiving the honour!

Special Merit Award and Gold Medal Awarded at 42nd International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva

Our University continues to excel in the 42nd International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, held from 2nd to 6th of April 2014 at Geneva, Switzerland. With 45 countries represented by 790 exhibitors and over 1,000 inventions, the exhibition is found extremely successful. Seven Polytechnic University projects won a total of eleven prizes at the event this year, and the winning projects were presented at a press conference hosted by Mr Nicholas W. Yang, Executive Vice President of the University on 5 May 2014. A team from our department, led by Dr Yi Wang and Dr Ka-hing Wong, has been awarded a gold medal and a special merit award for the project "Preparation of Food Grade Capsules with Targeted Drug Delivery". The brilliant team has developed a new food-grade, plant-based capsule coating which is made from zein (a protein derived from corn) and pectin (from citrus fruits). Coatings are typically made with synthetic polymers or animal-derived gelatin. Zein acts as a water barrier to protect pectin from swelling while pectin protects zein from intestinal digestion. By varying the ratio of these two materials and modifying the capsule design, targeted drug delivery either to the stomach, the small intestine or the colon can be achieved. These two awards are a testimony to the exemplary knowledge and education developed at ABCT. Let us congratulate Dr. Wang and Dr. Wong on receiving these awards.