中大研新型金納米顆粒有效治銀屑病　不含類固醇或生物製劑

銀屑病為一種非傳染性的慢性皮膚疾病，其特徵為皮膚出現紅斑、鱗狀丘疹和斑塊，目前仍無法被根治，對患者造成極大困擾；中大研發了一款新型金納米顆粒，其不含類固醇或生物製劑，於小鼠疾病模型實驗顯示能抑制引發表皮過度增生和炎症的基因，有望為治療銀屑病提供簡單、安全和有效的新方法。有關研究成果已發表於《納米通訊》（Nano Letters）。

Date: 
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Media: 
HKET Daily
Media LInk: 
https://is.gd/t9kuPN

中大研究團隊研發金納米顆粒治銀屑病　價錢如藥膏不含類固醇

銀屑病為免疫系統引發的慢性皮膚，影響患者外觀，亦會痕癢不適。惟現時治療銀屑病的藥膏含類固醇，亦有副作用，若選用生物製劑治療則價格高昂。

Date: 
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Media: 
HK01
Media LInk: 
https://is.gd/MgJxnG

銀屑病影響患者生活　中大研金納米粒子治療成效顯著

銀屑病（俗稱牛皮癬）是一種非傳染性的慢性皮膚疾病，其特徵為皮膚出現紅斑、鱗狀丘疹和斑塊，全球達2%至3%人口、即超過1.25億人飽受該病困擾，惟目前仍無法根治，現有治療方法包括類固醇或是生物製劑皆有不同缺點。香港中文大學的工程學院生物醫學工程學系研究團隊，近期研發一款新型金納米顆粒，經老鼠測試證實，其自身便能抑制引發表皮過度增生和炎症的基因，有效治療銀屑病。

Date: 
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Media: 
On.CC
Media LInk: 
https://is.gd/55HadB

CUHK researchers develop novel gold nanoparticle as alternative treatment for psoriasis

Date: 
2021-12-08
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Professor Jonathan Chung Hang CHOI, Associate Professor of the Department of Biomedical Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), and his team have developed a new gold nanoparticle as a self-therapeutic treatment for psoriasis. Devoid of steroids or biologics, this gold nanoparticle can downregulate the genes that are linked to epidermis hyperproliferation and inflammation and is an effective treatment for psoriasis. Based on data from mouse disease models, it treats psoriasis as effectively as a standard topical steroid and vitamin D analog-based therapy but without causing hair loss, skin wrinkling, or other side effects, therefore offering a simple, safe and effective alternative for treating psoriasis. The research findings have been recently published in Nano Letters. 
 
Psoriasis is a chronic, non-communicable inflammatory disease, characterised by red patches, and thick and silvery scales in the skin. Over 125 million people worldwide (approximately 2-3% of the population) suffer from psoriasis. Currently, there is no specific cure, and available treatment modalities have different side effects. For example, systemic administration of immunosuppressants may induce liver and kidney toxicity, topical application of steroids and vitamin D analogs may cause skin irritation, and ultraviolet light phototherapy may lead to skin cancer. Emerging biologics are costly and associated with an enhanced risk of infection. Psoriasis imposes a psychological and financial burden on patients, significantly reducing their quality of life. 
 
Bypassing the bottleneck for drug delivery to skin cells
 
Researchers in the field have developed nanoparticles to load drugs, such as steroid or biologics for improving their delivery to the skin and reducing their toxicity, yet these drugs may not enter skin cells and accumulate in the skin for a sustained efficacy. Professor Choi and his team have designed a new class of nanoparticle, smaller than 15 nm in overall diameter, that bears a 3 nm gold core and an outer shell of polyethylene glycol strands modified with octadecyl chains. The polyethylene glycol shell prevents the gold cores from sweat-induced aggregation that disfavors their permeation to the epidermis, and the octadecyl chains promote the entry of the gold cores to the epidermal keratinocytes. After mixing the new nanoparticles with saline, the soaking gauze with nanoparticle solution was applied onto the psoriatic skin of mice for topical delivery. These nanoparticles successfully cross the thickened scales in the stratum corneum and then enter epidermal keratinocytes. Such a nano-material structure bypasses the bottleneck for drug delivery to skin cells.
 
Direct application of gold nanoparticles for treating psoriasis and inhibiting psoriasis-related genes
 
It has been revealed by many studies that the interleukin-17 signaling pathway is critical to the induction of psoriasis. The findings of Professor Choi’s team showed that the application of this new gold nanoparticle during the induction of psoriasis can prevent this disease and suppress genes in relation to the interleukin-17 signaling pathway. Applying this new gold nanoparticle after psoriasis is established can lead to obvious improvement in skin condition and reduced scales, with an efficacy similar to standard steroid and vitamin D analog-based therapy, but without inducing common side effects such as hair loss and skin wrinkling. For the first time, this study reveals the self-therapeutic value of gold nanoparticles in treating psoriasis, obviating the need for loading steroids or biologics. In addition, this new nanoparticle does not accumulate in major organs, nor does it cause long-term toxicity in skin and body.
 
Professor Choi said, “We hope to continue our collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine at the University and perform clinical studies to validate the safety and efficacy of this new gold nanoparticle in humans in the future, so as to offer a new, safe and effective treatment for psoriasis patients. Moreover, our data indicates that this nanoparticle can downregulate multiple genes that are related to skin inflammation. We will explore its therapeutic potential for other skin diseases, such as the more prevalent eczema.”
 
Other team members from CUHK include Ms. Alisa Ruifang HAN, PhD student of the Department of Biomedical Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering, Professor Paul Cheung Lung CHOI, Honorary Clinical Associate Professor of the Department of Anatomical and Cellular Pathology of the Faculty of Medicine, and other researchers from the University. This project received support from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, the CUHK Vice-Chancellor Discretionary Fund, Chow Yuk Ho Technology Centre for Innovative Medicine, and the Croucher Innovation Award by the Croucher Foundation.
 
The full text of the research paper can be found at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02899.

(2nd left) Professor Jonathan Chung Hang CHOI, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, (2nd right) Dr. Agnes Wai Sze CHAN, Assistant Professor, Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, (1st left) Ms. Alisa Ruifang HAN, PhD student, Department of Biomedical Engineering, CUHK, and (2nd right) psoriasis patient Mr. Ho.

(right) Professor Jonathan Chung Hang CHOI, Associate Professor, and (left) Ms. Alisa Ruifang HAN, PhD student, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering display the new nanoparticles mixing with saline.

Professor Choi says that the team hopes to continue the collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine and perform clinical studies to validate the safety and efficacy of this new gold nanoparticle in humans in the future, so as to offer a new, safe and effective treatment for psoriasis patients.

 

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Media Release

CUHK Faculty of Engineering celebrating the past and transforming the future

Date: 
2021-12-08
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2021 marks the 30th anniversary of the Faculty of Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). The Faculty was privileged to have Mr. Alfred Sit, Secretary for Innovation and Technology and Professor Alan Chan, Provost of CUHK, as guests of honour at the 30th Anniversary Celebration Banquet last Sunday (5 December). Over 200 alumni, faculty members and friends joined in celebrating the anniversary at the event.
 
In his opening address, Professor Martin D.F. Wong, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering said, “Our anniversary celebration is a great opportunity to honour those who have made an impact through engineering and technology, to celebrate our past and to imagine what we can accomplish together in the future. We are deeply indebted to our late Professor Sir Charles K. Kao, Nobel Laureate in Physics, former Vice-Chancellor of CUHK and the Father of Fiber Optics. Under his leadership, the Faculty was founded in 1991. The Faculty is now 30 years old and has grown into a world-class research and education unit with 6 departments, 131 tenure-system faculty members, and 3,800 students.”
 
With the concerted effort of its professors and alumni, the Faculty has made remarkable achievements in research and education in the past and will continue to contribute to the advancement of engineering across society locally, nationally and globally. Just in time for the Faculty’s anniversary celebrations, its Computer Science was recently ranked 10th globally and 1st in Hong Kong in the recently published 2022 Best Global Universities Rankings by U.S. News & World Report, which evaluates nearly 1,750 top universities across 90 countries.
 
In September this year, CUHK and the national-level Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory collaborated to set up the CUHK Interdisciplinary Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Institute to promote research breakthroughs in AI applications in engineering, science and medicine. The Faculty was awarded three major grants from the HKSAR Government under the InnoHK initiative to establish three research centres in the Hong Kong Science Park. They are the Hong Kong Centre for Logistics Robotics led by Professor Yunhui Liu, the Multi-Scale Medical Robotics Center co-led by Professor Samuel Au and Professor Philip Chiu (Medicine), and the Centre for Perceptual and Interactive Intelligence led by Professor Helen Meng. These InnoHK centres promote translational R&D in their respective application domains which will in turn help advance the innovation and technology of Hong Kong.
 
The Faculty is a cradle for start-ups. Notably, it has founded Wisers Information Ltd (1998), which was among the first local university spin-offs, and recently two local unicorns, SenseTime and SmartMore. Moreover, the Faculty co-directs CUHK’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation (EPIN) minor programme to cultivate entrepreneur talents and multi-disciplinary education.
 
Going further in education, the Faulty recently took the lead and launched the first BEng programmes in Hong Kong in Financial Technology (FinTech) in 2017 and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in 2019. In addition, the Faculty established the CUHK Engineering FinTech Applied Research (CEFAR) Academy to create a new pipeline of talent in the Hong Kong’s rapidly emerging FinTech industry. CEFAR partners with government, industry, NGOs, professional bodies as well as other universities and research institutes to provide research experience and internship opportunities for students.
 
CUHK’s engineering students continue to win numerous competitions and awards such as the championship in the 2019 ABU Asia-Pacific Robot Contest (Robocon) in Mongolia, marking the first such victory for Hong Kong students. CUHK also took home the championship of the Robocon 2021 Hong Kong Contest.
 
With its solid foundation and excellent achievements, the Faculty of Engineering at CUHK is embracing future challenges and opportunities. As Professor Martin D.F. Wong, said, “The Faculty of Engineering will continue to play important roles in today’s 4th industrial revolution and digital economy, injecting impetus into Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area and impacting the region’s talent nurturing and research development in engineering.”
 
About the Faculty of Engineering, CUHK
 
Founded in 1963, CUHK is a forward-looking comprehensive research university. The Faculty of Engineering, established in 1991, offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes through its six departments: Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering, Mechanical and Automation Engineering, and Systems Engineering and Engineering Management. The Faculty of Engineering has world-class professors coming from prestigious universities possessing extensive teaching experience and outstanding research track records. It is also equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to support teaching and research activities. The Faculty’s mission is to train future leaders in engineering, to pursue knowledge at the frontier of modern technology, and to apply advanced technology to meet societal and human needs. For more information about CUHK Faculty of Engineering, please refer to: www.erg.cuhk.edu.hk.

(From left) Prof. Alan CHAN, Provost, CUHK, Prof. Martin D.F. WONG, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, CUHK, Mrs. Gwen KAO, Mr. Alfred SIT, Secretary for Innovation and Technology

Prof. Martin D.F. WONG, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, CUHK takes a group photo with guests.

Prof. Martin D.F. WONG, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, CUHK delivers a welcoming address.

Prof. Alan CHAN, Provost, CUHK delivers an address.

Mr. Alfred SIT, Secretary for Innovation and Technology delivers an address.

 

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Media Release

中大InnoHK創新技術中心實驗室　將兩手術儀器合為一　省時更精準

醫療機械人創新技術中心實驗室的定位是通過研發用於診斷和治療的腔內多尺度機械人平台、磁引導腔內機械人平台及影像引導式機械人介入治療，實現新型手術機械人技術的轉化研究和產品化。中心的混合手術室配備了磁力共振掃描及機械人輔助 C臂又射線成像系統（Artis Zeego）儀器，可在手術機械人介入治療研發期間提供實時的術中醫學成像

Date: 
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Media: 
HK01
Media LInk: 
https://is.gd/Ep6zq4

中大InnoHK讓AI跟人類學駕駛決策　高效學習讓無人車100%安全駕駛

博智感知交互研究中心鼓勵及協助初創企業公司，讓科研成果更能切合再工業化的實際需求。博智團隊憑藉於電腦視覺、多語言語音及語言技術、自然語言處理及人工智能產品設計及自動化生產多個範疇累積的豐富研究經驗和成就。

Date: 
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Media: 
HK01
Media LInk: 
https://is.gd/sKsh9s

「港康碼」不會泄私隱 憂慮出於誤解

政府推出「港康碼」為免隔離通關作預備，返內地的市民將可以自願地選擇使用「港康碼」，政府將會把用家過去三十一天的「安心出行」記錄上載至系統，讓「港康碼」讀取。簡略而言，若持碼者被證實或懷疑確診，以及曾去過出現確診或疑似確診個案的地方，該「碼」便會從正常狀態的綠色，轉為紅色或黃色。這做法與內地「健康碼」相似。

Date: 
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
mc_group: 
Commentary
Media: 
Sing Tao Daily
Media LInk: 
https://is.gd/ulXv1L

Professor Wong Ching Ping Named Once Again as One of the Most Highly Cited Researchers 2021

Date: 
2021-12-07
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Professor Wong Ching Ping, Emeritus Professor, Department of Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, has been named as a Highly Cited Researcher 2021 in the field of material science by Clarivate Analytics. 
 
Professor Wong received his BS degree from Purdue University, and his MS and PhD degree from the Pennsylvania State University. After his doctoral study, he was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship under Nobel laureate Prof. Henry Taube at Stanford University. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, he was with AT&T Bell Laboratories for many years and became an AT&T Bell Laboratories Fellow (the highest technical award bestowed by AT&T Bell Labs) in 1992.  He was the Dean of Faculty of Engineering at CUHK from 2010-2018.
 
Professor Wong has published widely with over 1,000 technical papers, authored and edited 12 books. He holds over 65 US patents and his research focuses on nano functional materials, polymer composites for electronic and photonic applications, energy harvesting and storage. 
 
Professor Wong said, “I would like to thank my CUHK colleagues: faculty, students, postdocs for their years’ of support that make it possible.” This is the fourth time he received the honor. Such consistent production of highly cited reports indicates that his research has been repeatedly judged by their peers to be of notable significance and utility. 
 
The annual list identifies some 6,600 researchers from across the globe who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. The Highly Cited Researchers’ names are drawn from the publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index, and the list identifies the research institutions and countries where they are based. 
 
The full 2021 Highly Cited Researchers list can be found at: https://recognition.webofscience.com/awards/highly-cited/2021/

Prof. Wong Ching Ping

 

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科研成果落地 意義勝寫論文

中大電子工程學系博士生譚達新表示，自己從事語音合成研究已有3年，今次是首次開發廣東話語音合成系統。研發過程最難忘的，不是技術挑戰，而是項目背後的意義。

Date: 
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
Media: 
HKEJ
Media LInk: 
http://startupbeat.hkej.com/?p=112292

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