News & Stories

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Chair Professor Mingjie Zhang and his team of researchers in the Division of Life Science have achieved significant breakthrough concerning the visual systems of animals detecting light. The discovery has been published in Cell, one of the most prestigious scientific journals in biomedical sciences, as the cover story in its latest issue.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Chair Professor Mingjie Zhang and his team of researchers in the Division of Life Science have achieved significant breakthrough in explaining how genetic mutations of Motor Protein Myosin VIIa leads to hereditary deaf-and-blindness. This is excellent news for the medical profession in developing preventive and remedial measures against hereditary deaf-and-blindness. According to medical statistics, hearing deficit is a common occurrence among new born babies - for every 1,000 there are several born with this problem. Among those who are deaf or hearing-impaired, 3% to 6% suffer from the Usher syndrome - a genetic disorder which can cause different levels of hearing and vision loss or impairment at various stages of the patient's life. The research paper on this breakthrough was published in top scientific journal Science today.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) today announced the successful development of a smart anti-microbial coating that has the longest-lasting effect against the widest range of microbes."This revolutionary coating will set a new standard in the maintenance of public health, as it is easy to apply, safe to use, fast and effective in killing a wide spectrum of microbes, long-lasting, and environmentally friendly," said Prof King-Lun Yeung of HKUST's Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

An unmanned miniature helicopter developed by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has made the world's first autonomous flight to Mount Everest, setting a milestone both in the history of unmanned aviation and in the surveying and protection of high altitude environments. This was part of a series of test flights carried out over a 10-day period in mid June this year by Prof Zexiang Li of HKUST's Electronic and Computer Engineering Department, assisted by his postgraduate student Mr Frank Wang. The flights covered various spots in the Tibetan Highland, including Mount Everest, lakes, a glacier, and a maiden forest. "The biggest challenge of these test flights is the extreme climatic conditions in the high altitudes, particularly the thin air and the exceptionally strong and gusty winds," said Prof Li.

HKUST Physics Professor Wen Weijia and his research team have pioneered the development of foldable paper-like electronic displays. The device can be bent or wrapped around a column like a piece of paper for a wide range of commercial or industrial applications. Measuring about one sixth of the thickness of a credit card, the break-through device is made by embedding conductive wiring patterns into thermochromic composite films. With its thermochromic quality, the images produced are clear and the color displayed can be tuned, reversed or repeated by varying the temperature. Speaking at a press conference today (November 2), Prof Wen remarked, "Light weight and portable display technologies have been developed and applied to electronic gadgets including mobile phones and digital cameras, but most of them use LCD technology which can become very expensive as the size of the display increases."

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) will showcase its latest technologies and products at the 9th Annual China Hi-Tech Fair (CHTF) which opens today (Friday 12 October) in Shenzhen, Held at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Centre, the 9th Annual China Hi-Tech Fair features 14 technologies and products developed by HKUST’s academics and member companies of the HKUST Entrepreneurs Program, including: Real-time Video Quality Enhancement System for Advanced Mobile Communications: this technology boosts the effective utilization of the 3G video bandwidth, and at the same time improve the picture quality of video call through an automatic exposure and backlight correction system.

An outstanding scientist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Prof Mingjie Zhang, was conferred the 2006 National Natural Science Award in recognition of his breakthrough research that would help the development of treatment for stroke, for which there is currently no cure. Prof Zhang, of the Department of Biochemistry, received the prestigious award in Beijing today (Tuesday) for his contributions to elucidating the molecular mechanisms for a series of protein complexes that play signaling roles in neurons. "Currently, there is no cure for stroke. We believe that what we are doing will provide very important scientific findings for the development of potential stroke treatment, at least to alleviate but potentially to cure or reverse stroke," Prof Zhang added.

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