Student LEE Ka-wing bestowed Outstanding Student Award

Optometry Final year student Ms Ka-wing Lee has been selected as the Outstanding Student of the School, 2017 under the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) Outstanding Students Award Scheme. PolyU presented its Outstanding Student Awards to distinguished full-time degree students who excel in both academic and non-academic pursuits at a ceremony held on campus on 26 February. The Outstanding Student Awards are given annually to full-time final-year students in recognition of their outstanding academic achievement, strong leadership ability, active involvement in extra-curricular activities, substantial community service experience and exposure, and good personal qualities.

PolyU kick-starts “Vision of Love Mobile Eye Care Project” 2018 Service

The "Vision of Love Mobile Eye Care Project" of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has benefited more than 9,000 people in local community since its launch last year. PolyU staged the 2018 Service Kick-off Ceremony for the Project today (3 February) to mark the further outreaching of the services in more districts. Besides providing community eye care and education to more people in need, the Project will also help facilitate community vision health studies. Officiating guests of the kick-off ceremony included Professor Timothy W. Tong, PolyU President; Miss Cally Kwong, PolyU University Fellow and member of PolyU Foundation Governing Committee; and Professor To Chi-ho, Head of PolyU School of Optometry (SO). Miss Kwong is also the Founder of "Vision of Love Fund". Established last year, the Fund has generously supported PolyU SO in launching the "Vision of Love Mobile Eye Care Project" with a focus on community vision care. The Project also appealed to the public for donating used eyeglasses, which SO fitted with suitable lenses after screening and cleaning, and dispensed to people in need. Addressing the ceremony, Professor Tong thanked Miss Kwong for establishing the "Vision of Love Fund", which has helped PolyU students and faculty members to apply their expertise beyond the campus to serve people in need. He also shared his experience in providing vision screening, together with 34 PolyU students, in Kyrgyzstan to about 540 children and youth last July. "My first-hand experience has further strengthened my belief that the Project can greatly help minimize the risk of eye diseases among people in need through providing them with early assessment. Moreover, the Project also helps enhance the service learning experience for PolyU students." Miss Cally Kwong expressed deep appreciation for PolyU faculty members, students and volunteers for their strenuous efforts put in the Vision of Love Mobile Eye Care Project in the past year. "I am delighted to learn that the initiatives supported by 'Vision of Love Fund' can benefit not only people in Hong Kong and Chinese Mainland, but also the needy in Kyrgyzstan who received the eyeglasses we have recycled and fitted with suitable lenses." Service expansion in 2018 built on last year's encouraging achievements Professor To Chi-ho said since 2014, SO has launched the "Learning through Providing Eye Care and Vision Health to the Community" service-learning subject for PolyU students. With the support of "Vision of Love Fund", SO can further extend its community care to benefit more people. Outlining the achievements of the Project in 2017, Professor To reported that the team has visited 26 schools, elderly homes and welfare organisations to offer vision screening, comprehensive eye examination, follow-up evaluation, vision training, vision rehabilitation, and eye care education and seminars. The total number of beneficiaries reached 9,065 in the first year. In the campaign for collecting used eyeglasses, 10,000 pairs of glasses suitable for recycled use were collected. In 2018, he said the Project would be further extended to 13 districts in Hong Kong, expecting to expand the service beneficiaries to about 10,000. SO would also analyze the data obtained under the Project for applying in research in, and development of, community eye care. For details of the Project: www.polyu.edu.hk/so/visionoflove/

Staff Members Honoured for Dedicated Service

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University held the Long Service Award Presentation Ceremony 2017 on 31 January, in appreciating staff members’ loyal service to the University over the years, and fostering a sense of belonging among PolyU staff members. Four staff members from the School of Optometry had been acknowledged for their years of dedicated service. The awardees included: Dr Henry Chan Dr Andrew Lam Ms Winnie Hui Ms Katie Tung

Commercialization of research results: PolyU turns novel myopia control contact lens to product

The optometry research team led by Professor To Chi-ho, Head of the School of Optometry at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), and Professor Carly Lam from the same School, developed the novel Defocus Incorporated Soft Contact (DISC) lens for myopia control in children. PolyU entered into a licensing arrangement with Vision Science and Technology Co. Ltd. (VST), a local start-up supported by HKSTP-PolyU Tech Incubation Fund (TIF) and PolyU Tech Launchpad Fund (TLF), for commercializing DISC lens. The arrangement exemplifies successful commercialization and transfer of PolyU technology facilitated by entrepreneurship efforts. The award-winning DISC lens brought new hope to the myopic population. The lens is a multi-zone soft contact lens which provides clear vision and at the same time projects blurred, out-of-focus (defocused) images onto the retina to slow down excessive eye growth in myopia. Myopia (or short-sightedness) is a major cause of ocular morbidity for school children, especially among ethnic Chinese. When a child has myopia, the light that enters the eye focuses in front of the retina rather than on it. The new method involves producing a clear image on the retina and another defocused or blurred image in front of the retina. In doing so, the DISC lens makes use of the natural homeostatic mechanism known as ‘emmetropization’, whereby the eye tends toward a size that allows it to receive focused images as it would do with normal vision, i.e. eye growth is regulated by optical inputs from the environment. The lens improves the wearer’s vision and provides constant myopic defocus (“STOP” signal to myopia) at all viewing distances. Spanning two years with a sample of 128 subjects, the clinical control trial showed that DISC lens retarded the progression of myopia by approximately 60% in Hong Kong school children aged 8 to 13. More importantly, the children found the lens comfortable to wear. The new lens also provided clarity that was comparable to conventional single vision lens, which deliver the same optical focal point over their entire area. This technology was patented in Australia, the Chinese mainland, the US and various European countries. Professor To explained, “Since the DISC lens takes advantage of the natural homeostasis of the eye, the wearer can avoid suffering from the adverse effects of drug or surgery. Moreover, the functional element, optical defocus, can be incorporated into widely accepted forms of contact lens to provide clear and comfortable vision while myopia is being controlled.” It opens up a new opportunity for treating other refractive errors, such as hyperopia, using suitable defocus. Besides Hong Kong, this technology is highly relevant to many Asian regions, including Singapore, Taiwan, and the Chinese mainland, where myopia prevalence is high. “I am glad that after years of hard work, the research on DISC lens eventually bears fruit through successful commercialization, benefiting children in need with real products,” added Professor To. VST, the licensee of the DISC lens for myopia control, is a local company founded by Mr Jackson Leung Tse-man, a PolyU alumnus. Specializing in developing and distributing products for vision improvement, it is the first company in Hong Kong which adopts a tailor-made professional fitting approach to manufacture and provide soft myopic control lenses. The lenses are manufactured according to the prescription of the optometrists to ensure they match the needs of individual customer. VST manufactures DISC lenses using silicon hydrogel, a highly oxygen permeable material approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. It is also one of the most oxygen permeable materials for contact lenses. Under the commercialization arrangement, VST manufactures and provides DISC lenses via a network of optometric clinics, which are recruited as the company’s authorized fitting centres. PolyU also prescribes DISC lens at its Optometry Clinic and will provide training for optometrists in fitting the DISC lens on the eyes. “As an optometrist graduate of PolyU, I see good potential in this advanced myopia control method and am impressed by its exceptional result in the clinical trial. The success of commercialization also has to do with PolyU’s unreserved support for start-up companies. The licensing arrangement signifies PolyU’s remarkable achievement in technology transfer and commercialization of the University’s technology through entrepreneurship development,” said Mr Leung, Founder and Director of VST. VST was awarded a total of HK$1.6 million, including a matching fund, under TIF and TLF schemes with funding support from the Technology Start-up Support Scheme for Universities under the Innovation and Technology Commission of the Hong Kong SAR Government, and aims to increase the number of authorized fitting centres so that the technology can benefit a wider community. PolyU has long been keen in nurturing the entrepreneurial culture and in providing support to aspiring entrepreneurs. One major way of support is the offer of various seed funds, which are monetary grants awarded to start-ups with no strings attached. The University also provides co-working space for entrepreneurs at PolyU InnoHub, mentorship support through the Startup Consultation Clinic manned by Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, practical training workshops, and opportunities to network with incubators and investors.

School Retreat 2018

The School held the annual departmental retreat on 11 January 2018. This year, a total of 83 staff members and three Advisory Committee members participated in the off-campus event. The retreat kicked off with Head’s introduction, followed by a sharing by Prof. George Woo, Visiting Chair Professor on “Development of Optometry in China”. The participants then split into different working teams for discussion on the opportunities and challenges of the School. By the end of the retreat, the groups reported their observation and ideas for further discussion or action.