PolyU’s AI and medicine-engineering integration empowers a new era of medical excellence

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is committed to harnessing medicine-engineering integration and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare to drive innovations and translation of research outcomes into real-world solutions. These efforts support the development of precision medicine, preventive medicine, and primary healthcare, thereby enhancing the quality and efficiency of healthcare services in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area (GBA), while also contributing to Hong Kong’s development into an international health and medical innovation hub.

PolyU has established a strong foundation in medical and health research, supported by key infrastructure, including seven relevant research institutes and centres under the PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research, 19 university-level research institutes and centres, and four University Research Facilities. By integrating expertise from engineering, medicine, and public health, these facilities drive the development of innovative solutions to advance healthcare in Hong Kong and beyond.

PolyU encourages interdisciplinary research that combines healthcare with AI, engineering, and data science. The newly-established PolyU Academy for AI empowers researchers to conduct research that integrates medicine and engineering. This initiative accelerates the deep integration of AI across key fields, including drug discovery, mental health, medical imaging, radiotherapy, Chinese medicine, biomedical engineering and cell immunotherapy. PolyU continues to attract world-class scholars to spearhead interdisciplinary research at the convergence of medicine, AI, engineering, and data science, pioneering a new era of healthcare innovation.

The University has achieved notable success in securing funding for health and medical research, ranking first in Hong Kong for both the number of projects and the amount of funding received from the Collaborative Research Fund under the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC), with 14 projects in the 2024/25 exercise. PolyU also ranked second among local tertiary institutions in terms of total RGC funding in 2023/24. Over the past five years, several of PolyU’s health and medical research projects have received RGC funding. Between 2018 and 2022, the University also ranks third among local tertiary institutions in terms of average funding secured from the HKSAR Government’s Health and Medical Research Fund.

Prof. Christopher CHAO, PolyU Vice President (Research and Innovation) said, “PolyU adheres to a patient-centred approach, leveraging our strengths in medicine-engineering integration and AI-driven healthcare to advance medical innovation and knowledge transfer. With our world-renowned researchers, state-of-the-art research facilities, and extensive experience in medical education – particularly in training allied healthcare professionals – PolyU is confident in its ability to establish Hong Kong’s third medical school. We look forward to cultivating the next generation of clinician-scientists who will pioneer medical breakthroughs, ultimately contributing to the global vision of ‘Health for All’.”

PolyU today showcased four outstanding research projects.

AI-assisted radiotherapy support system to enhance treatment outcomes through precision medicine

Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in Hong Kong and worldwide, and radiotherapy is one of the most common forms of cancer treatment. A team led by Prof. CAI Jing, Head and Professor of the PolyU Department of Health Technology and Informatics has developed an AI-assisted lung radiotherapy support system that can automatically analyse patients’ CT scan images and create lung ventilation and perfusion maps without the need for contrast agents. It distinguishes the functions of different lung regions for designing optimal personalised radiotherapy plans through an innovative “function-guided” approach. This method avoids high-functioning lung areas and reduces radiation damage to the patient’s lungs, thereby improving post-operative quality of life.

The team collected CT scan images from over a hundred lung cancer patients to train the AI model and employed cutting-edge image processing algorithms to ensure high accuracy and consistency. The system featured a user-friendly interface and a powerful backend and is compatible with major hospital operating systems. The team is currently collaborating with several local and mainland hospitals for clinical trials. They also plan to develop AI models for “function-guided” radiotherapy for liver and brain cancers. This innovation won a Silver Medal at the 50th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva.

AI-assisted non-invasive angiography to help overcome the bottleneck of traditional diagnostic approach

Diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness globally. The traditional diagnostic approach relies on fluorescein angiography, which is invasive, expensive and causes patient discomfort, putting constraints on primary healthcare screening capacity. A team led by Prof. HE Mingguang, Director of the PolyU-Wuhan Technology and Innovation Research Institute, Henry G. Leong Professor in Elderly Vision Health, Chair Professor of Experimental Ophthalmology of the PolyU School of Optometry, Director of the Research Centre for SHARP Vision and Global STEM Scholar, has leveraged Generative AI technology to facilitate the diagnosis of eye diseases. Their innovation marks three significant breakthroughs. Firstly, it converts fundus photographs to high-precision angiographic images and dynamic videos within a couple seconds, eliminating the risks associated with traditional dye injections. Secondly, its smart diagnostic system enables early detection of pathological changes on the retina such as microaneurysms and retinal hemorrhages, with a sensitivity of 96.2% and specificity of 91.8%. Thirdly, by incorporating ultra-widefield imaging technology, it expands the detection area by 300%.

The innovation has already secured five different international patents and is now undergoing multi-centre clinical trials in top medical institutions in GBA. Its teleconsultation system also enables patients in remote areas to receive ophthalmic diagnostic services. This breakthrough research won the Special Merit Award from French Inventors Federation and Europe-France Inventors and a Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury at the 50th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva.

Strokes pose a significant health challenge in an aging society, particularly for patients with mobility difficulties and those bedridden for extended periods. These patients require ongoing and repetitive rehabilitation training to prevent joint contractures and excessive muscle atrophy. A team led by Prof. ZHANG Dan, Director of the PolyU-Nanjing Technology and Innovation Research Institute, and the Consortium for Intelligent Robotics Research, and Chair Professor of Intelligent Robotics and Automation of the PolyU Department of Mechanical Engineering, has developed a first-of-its-kind robot product with three degrees of freedom (3-DoF) to provide comprehensive ankle rehabilitation. The robot assists patients with restricted ankle joints in home-based rehabilitation and aids in post-operative ankle joint functional rehabilitation for patients with cerebral hemiplegia and stroke. By integrating embodied intelligence technology and 3-DoF design, the robot can meet the rehabilitation exercise needs of different patients at different stages of rehabilitation. It uses sensors to track and adjust the ankle position for rehabilitation training and simulates natural movements such as dorsiflexion/plantarflexion, inversion/eversion, and internal/external rotation according to different scenarios.

In addition, the robot can collect muscle activity data through electromyography signals, enabling real-time monitoring and adjustment of speed and force to tailor the training intensity and mode. The team is currently conducting clinical trials in collaboration with Huashan Hospital in Shanghai and plans to apply AI to offer personalised training for patients. This innovation holds significant potential for rehabilitation of the shoulder joint or hand.

Ultrafine high-sensitivity optical fibre sensor to enhance precision of cochlear implantation surgery

The World Report on Hearing from the World Health Organisation indicates that hearing impairment affects over 1.5 billion people globally. However, due to the complexity of cochlear implantation surgery, only 1.5 million such procedures have been performed during the past 45 years. A team led by Prof. TAM Haw Yaw, Chair Professor of Photonics of the PolyU Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Associate Director of the Photonics Research Institute has overcome the technical bottleneck of excessive rigidity in traditional glass optical fibres. The team developed an ultrafine, biocompatible plastic optical fibre sensor and integrated it into the cochlear implant electrode arrays to enhance surgical navigation and reduce trauma during cochlear implantation procedures. As the electrode array must be precisely inserted into the scala tympani of the human ear, the integrated optical fibre sensors help guide the electrode array and monitor contact force during the implantation process. By integrating the novel fibre sensor into commercial electrode arrays, real-time adjustments to the electrode array’s bending angle can be made to further minimise tissue damage.

With the technology patents filed, the team is collaborating with the renowned implantable hearing solutions company Cochlear Limited, the University of Melbourne, and the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital to advance its clinical trials and commercialisation. The team also plans to develop an AI model to enable robots to perform hearing restoration procedures, further enhancing their efficiency, safety, and precision. This invention won the Thailand Award for the Best International Invention and Innovation and a Gold Medal with Congratulations of Jury at the 50th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva.

***END***