Special Prize and Gold Medal Awarded at 41st International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva

A term from our Department, led by Dr. Larry Ming-cheung Chow and Prof. Bill Tak-hang Chan, has won a Gold Medal and a Special Award from the Romanian Delegation at the 41stInternational Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva. This year, the winning project was presented at a press conference hosted by Mr. Nicholas W. Yang, Executive Vice President of the University on PolyU campus on 8 May 2013. The project titled "Novel Flavonoid Dimers for Reversing Cancer Drug Resistance" has successfully designed small molecules to reverse the multidrug resistance (MDR) process extensively observed in cancer treatment. Nowadays, chemotherapy is commonly used for treating cancer while multidrug resistance (MDR) remains a major problem. Dr. Chow and Prof. Chan's team has designed small molecules to reverse this process. Membrane proteins P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and Breast Cancer Resistance Protein (BCRP) pump drugs out of cancer cells and reduce chemotherapy efficacy. The team has designed, synthesized and characterized novel diet-derived flavonoid dimers which can target P-gp and BCRP's dimeric structure. Due to the unique design of dimeric structure which can specifically bind to the pseudodimeric P-gp and BCRP, these flavonoid dimers can inhibit P-gp and BCRP, and reverse cancer drug resistance with very high potency (inhibiting BCRP at < 1 nM) and low toxicity (therapeutic index of 1x105). Let us congratulate Dr. Chow and Prof. Chan on receiving this award.

Dr. Fuk-Yee Kwong receiving Croucher Senior Research Fellowship Award 2013-2014

Dr. Fuk-Yee Kwong, Michael was awarded the prestigious Senior Research Fellowship by The Croucher Foundation on 21st March 2013 in recognition of his excellent scientific achievement and contribution to the international scientific community. The award was presented by Mrs Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, GBS, JP, Chief Secretary for Administration of the HKSAR Government. The fellowship is awarded by the Foundation to local academics who have excelled in scientific research work as judged by leading international scientists invited to provide confidential reviews of candidates nominated in a competitive exercise. The value of each Senior Research Fellowship is about HK$900,000, which includes a personal grant of HK$60,000 to the recipient for research expenses, and funds to the University to recruit replacement staff to take over the recipient's duties for the period of the fellowship. Being a pioneering scientist, Dr Kwong is currently the Deputy Principal Investigator for Hong Kong's team in an on-going collaborative European Commission project – 'OrganoCATAlytic Approaches towards Easily Synthesized, Economical, and High Yielding Oseltamivir Derivatives'. This is a pharmaceutical project concerning the development of 'Tamiflu' drug derivatives using concise and modular synthetic approaches to produce inexpensive drugs for the mutual benefit of pharmaceutical community and society at large. Over the years, Dr Kwong has filed two US patents for his many breakthroughs in new catalyst design and synthetic methodology establishments, and put them to good use. Information Source from The Croucher Foundation: http://www.croucher.org.hk/2013-croucher-senior-research-fellowships

Appreciation of Research Achievement by the Committee of Science and Technology Innovation of Shenzhen

Our Dr. Man-sau Wong, Dr. Pak-ho Chan, Dr. Man-kin Wong, Dr. Chen Sheng, Dr. Li Xiaohua, and Dr. Cui Wei have been awarded the Appreciation of Research Achievement by the Committee of Science and Technology Innovation of Shenzhen (深圳市科技創新委員會). The awardees were presented the awards by our senior management during the annual gathering held at PolyU Shenzhen Base on 22 Feb 2013. With the efforts of our department and other PolyU's groups, the Shenzhen Base has gradually grown to be a major PolyU establishment in Pearl River Delta on research development, training and knowledge transfer. Up to the end of 2012, the Shenzhen Base has obtained mainland research funding of over RMB40,000,000. In addition, about 330 postgraduate students who are mainly working executives, are currently attending classes at the Training Center of the Shenzhen Base. It is hoped our Department would continue to extend our network in the Greater China and develop our research niches via the access of this advanced platform.