News & Stories

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has achieved research breakthrough with a novel approach, using ultrathin lead nanowires to produce magnetic fields which are 200 times stronger and increase the temperature of the environment in which superconductors operate. The research, providing solutions to a bottleneck unsolved for over a century concerning low applications of superconductors due to ultra low temperatures and low magnetic critical fields required, is envisaged to greatly enhance superconductor-based technologies to facilitate their applications in medical and biological fields such as high-resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) devices for cancer and stroke detection. The breakthrough research is published in the prestigious nanoscience and technology journal ACS Nano..

A research team from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed a next-generation streaming cloud for large-scale high bitrate applications over the global Internet. The cloud, named Streamphony, is well acclaimed by both content and service providers and is currently being adopted by industry leader Mei Ah Digital Technology Limited and a major telecommunication company for high-quality live broadcasts planned in December this year.

A research team led by Prof Yilong Han at the Department of Physics of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has for the first time successfully observed homogeneous melting at single-particle resolution, closing the long-term debate on alleged defects generated before melting. In addition to this, Prof Han and his team members Ziren Wang, Feng Wang, Yi Peng and Zhongyu Zheng also measured the superheat limit of colloidal crystals for the first time. All of these discoveries have been published in the latest issue of , one of the world's most prestigious scientific journals.

Prof Zhenguo Wu of the Division of Life Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and his research team have discovered a novel protein Pax3/7BP that plays an influential role in skeletal muscle stem cells. This groundbreaking discovery could lead to more effective stem cell treatments for various muscle diseases including muscular dystrophy. Skeletal muscle stem cells function differently at different developmental stages. They are responsible for normal skeletal muscle growth in young animals including humans and for injury-induced muscle regeneration in adult animals. In skeletal muscle tissues, Pax7 is a protein that is uniquely present in muscle stem cells and is indispensable for muscle stem cell functions in young animals. However, until recently how Pax7 regulates the functions of muscle stem cells had remained unclear.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and the Beijing Luzhu Biopharmaceutical Co. are developing a new vaccine to prevent hepatitis E which affects one-third of the world’s population. This breakthrough research, conducted by a team led by Professor Yong Xie from HKUST’s Division of Life Science, uses a unique insect cell system and method for the production of immunogenic protein, which will have the benefit of simplifying the production process and reducing production costs. Hepatitis E is an infection of the liver caused by the hepatitis E virus (HEV). The disease is spread mainly through fecal contamination of water supplies or food, especially uncooked vegetables, pork internal organs, or shellfish. HEV-contaminated hands or utensils may transmit the virus, and flies and cockroaches can carry the virus to contaminate food.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has achieved yet another milestone in molecular neuroscience research. Prof Nancy Ip, Dean of Science and Director of the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience at HKUST, and her research team have made breakthrough discoveries in signaling mechanisms in brain development that have far-reaching implications for biomedicine. These groundbreaking discoveries by Prof Ip and her research team have been published in Nature Neuroscience, a prestigious journal in neuroscience.

A research team led by Prof Gary Chan, Associate Professor of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), has developed a multi-hop wireless mesh network to greatly improve the data access of Wi-Fi networks. The software of the network LAviNet (Lean Aviation Network) implements a set of innovative channel selection and routing algorithms which effectively avoid traffic congestion and reduce signal interference. With LAviNet, user data rate is measurably increased by more than two times and the signal strength significantly enhanced by 100 times. This tremendously improves wireless data transmission efficiency and coverage. LAviNet has been successfully commercialized and well received by the industry and end users.

A research team from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), led by Prof Guanghao Chen of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has invented a sewage treatment technology, known as the ‘Sulphate Reduction, Autotrophic Denitrification and Nitrification Integrated (SANI)’ Process. This novel technology successfully minimizes the adverse environmental impact of sewage treatment plants by eliminating 90% of sewage sludge production, minimizing energy consumption as well as odour and greenhouse-gas emission. Moreover, it largely reduces the sewage treatment cost and space requirement by 50%.