ABCT Young Researchers - Dr. Franco Leung

We are delighted to introduce to you our Assistant Professor, Dr. Franco Leung, who joined ABCT in 2019. Let's give our warm applause to Dr. Leung！  

Prof. Raymond Wong Wai-yeung from ABCT named RGC Senior Research Fellow

Prof. Raymond Wong Wai-yeung, interim Dean of FAST and Chair Professor at ABCT, has been conferred the "RGC Senior Research Fellow Award" in the inaugural Senior Research Fellow Scheme (SRFS) 2020/21 launched by the Research Grants Council (RGC), and will receive a fellowship grant at around HK$7.8 million over a period of 60 months. Prof. Wong is an internationally renowned scholar for his research on metallopolymers and metallo-organic molecules with energy functions and photofunctional properties. He was also included for seven consecutive years (2014–2020) on the list of Highly Cited Researchers published by Thomson Reuters/ Clarivate Analytics. Supported by the SRFS, Prof. Wong will be working on a project titled "Metallated Graphyne-Based Materials: Synthesis, Characterization, Properties, Functionalization and Application Studies". The project will study a family of metallated graphynes (MGYs) and their derivatives using a bottom-up approach, contributing to a relatively under-explored area of bottom-up metallated congeners of graphynes and graphdiynes. The project will lead to a better understanding of MGYs, paving the way for them to be a next-generation 2D nanomaterial, and helping to develop low-cost, environmental-friendly materials for the manufacture of new catalysts, optoelectronic and energy products. The SRFS aims to provide sustained support and relief from teaching duties to exceptionally outstanding academics in UGC-funded universities to facilitate their research efforts and promote research excellence. Ten academics are selected based on their qualifications and research capability, proven research track record, leadership quality and vision in the chosen area of research, as well as the feasibility and potential impact of the proposed research project. Let us extend our heartfelt congratulations to Prof. Wong for receiving the honour.

Best Oral Presentation Award and Best Poster Award at the 27th Symposium on Chemistry Postgraduate Research in Hong Kong

Owing to the pandemic of COVID-19, the 27th Symposium on Chemistry Postgraduate Research in Hong Kong was held online this year on 17th October 2020. This 1-day Symposium is an important annual event for the Chemistry community in Hong Kong dedicated to offer postgraduate research students a platform to present their research findings and groom local research talents. It consists of two Keynote Lectures delivered by Prof. Takuzo Aida from the University of Tokyo and Dr. Yufeng Wang from HKU, over 50 oral presentations conducted in five parallel sessions by representative postgraduate students from six universities, and a poster session that showcased over 170 posters online in six areas including Analytical & Environmental Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Materials Chemistry, Biochemistry and Chemical Biology, and Physical Chemistry. Representatives from ABCT has received two awards in the Symposium, including the Best Oral Presentation Award in Biochemistry and Chemical Biology by Mr. Jiqing YE (RPg student of Dr. Cong MA) with winning presentation entitled "Discovery of Antimicrobials Targeting RNAP-Sigma Factor Interaction"; and the Best Poster Award in Biochemistry and Chemical Biology by Mr. Yangyi QIU (RPg student of Dr. Cong MA) with winning poster entitled "Nusbiarylin as a new class of antimicrobial compounds targeting the NusB-NusE protein interaction". Let us take this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Jiqing YE and Mr. Yangyi QIU on receiving the honors! For details, please visit the event website: https://chemsym.hku.hk/

ABCT postgraduate awarded Best Presentation Award in The Liver Week 2020

ABCT postgraduate awarded Best Presentation Award in The Liver Week 2020 (Virtual conference), Annual Meeting of Korean Association for the study of liver. Mr. Ho Kit Mok, PhD student of Dr. Terence Lee, received prestigious Best Presentation Award in The Liver Week 2020, Annual meeting of Korean Association for the study of liver held in Incheon, Korea, from 13 to 14 August. 2020. The Liver Week 2020 was held by Korean Association for the study of the Liver (KASL), jointly with the Korean Association of HBP Surgery (KAHBPS), the Korean Liver Cancer Association (KLCA), and the Korean Liver Transplantation Society (KLTS). This conference aims to bring all participants from the fields of clinical medicine and basic science to associates from pharmacy and medical equipment, with hope to eradicate liver diseases. As a delegate of Hong Kong, Mr. Mok has gained recognitions from the judges with his oral presentation in free paper presentation session on the research topic " SREBP2 Activation Drives Drug Resistance through Promotion of Cholesterol Biosynthesis-driven Sonic Hedgehog Signaling (SHH) Pathway in Hepatocellular Carcinoma". In this project, he has identified a novel mechanism of drug resistance via promotion of cholesterol biosynthesis, which potentially opens a novel therapeutic avenue for treatment of liver cancer.

Tianjiang Cup Li Shizhen Youth Outstanding Thesis Award in the 16th International Postgraduates Symposium on Chinese Medicine

16th International Postgraduates Symposium on Chinese Medicine, organized by the Modernized Chinese Medicine International Association, was completed fruitfully on 13-14  August 2020 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. This 2-day conference provided a platform to gather scientists working on Chinese Medicine every year to discuss their latest researches. There were over 20 honorable speakers who give plenary lectures and share their prominent outcome across many topics, including treatment for COVID-19, infectious diseases and inflammation as well as commercialization of Chinese Medicine. 10 young researchers have delivered oral presentations on their research works. ABCT has won Tianjiang Cup Li Shizhen Youth Outstanding Thesis Award by Miss.Wong Ka Ying, PhD candidate of Prof. Wong Man Sau, with the presentation titled "Drug-herb Interaction of Bone Protective Herbal Medicine Er-Xian decoction and Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators in vivo and in vitro". In this study, the combined administration of the FDA-approved drugs with Chinese Medicine for management of postmenopausal osteoporosis was found to be safe and effective, which probably allows the medical professionals to consider the use of herbal products with western drugs. Let us take this opportunity to congratulate Miss. Wong Ka Ying on receiving this honor.

PolyU develops a new class of antibiotic candidates for fighting against superbugs

PolyU has developed a new class of antibiotic drug candidates which has high potential to be developed into a new generation of antibiotics fighting against multi-drug resistant superbugs including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The novel small molecules, based on new target, new chemical structure and new antimicrobial mechanism, are different from those of existing antibiotics. The new drug candidates demonstrate much effective abilities of inhibiting bacterial growth than commonly used antibiotics, yet with no toxicity to human cells. Drug resistance has been declared as one of the biggest threats to global health in 2019 by the World Health Organization, with MRSA becoming one of the most serious concerns.[1] Hong Kong cannot be spared from the worsening scourge of MRSA. In 2018, there were 1,218 reported cases of community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA), or a seven-fold of the figure in 2007 – the year the disease became notifiable in Hong Kong. [2] As of August this year, there were already 839 cases reported. Despite of tremendous pharmaceutical research and development investments worldwide, the search for new antibiotics has showed no progress since mid-1980s.   The development of "Nusbiarylins", a new class of antimicrobial agents, by the research team of the State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery of PolyU's Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology (ABCT), is thus a breakthrough in the battle against multi-drug resistant bacterial infections. The interdisciplinary team, led by Dr MA Cong, Assistant Professor in ABCT, comprises of experts from both PolyU and Faculty of Medicine of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. "Our research is now in the stage of animal studies, conducting infectious model studies and pharmacokinetic studies. These are the critical steps preceding clinical trials on human for drug development. At this moment, there are very few antibiotic related studies being able to complete such stage worldwide. Our findings so far are very promising. We believe further studies on these compounds will contribute to a new era of antibiotic discovery, contributing towards the fight against superbugs," said Dr Ma. New target being identified by innovative antimicrobial mechanism Most antibiotics currently in the market fight against bacteria through disrupting its DNA synthesis or protein functions. The innovative antimicrobial mechanism developed by PolyU team focuses on inhibiting the interaction between two proteins, NusB and NusE, which is crucial for synthesis of bacterial ribosomal RNA (rRNA). By designing small molecules to disrupt NusB-NusE interaction, bacterial cell proliferation can thus be curbed. The team developed a model basing on the structure of NusB and NusE, and applied computer-aided screening to screen about 5,000 small molecule compounds with drug-like properties to explore for inhibitors for NusB-NusE interaction. The shortlisted compounds were then put to tests for antimicrobial activity against different MRSA strains. A compound, (E)-2-{[(3-ethynylphenyl)imino]methyl}-4-nitrophenol (hereafter addressed as MC4), was identified as having much effective antibacterial abilities than the commonly used antibiotics. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (note: MIC denotes the lowest concentration of a chemical/drug for preventing bacterial growth) of MC4 for some MRSA strains are as low as 8 μg/mL, compared to the MICs of >64 μg/mL demonstrated by two antibiotics in the market, oxacillin and gentamicin. Test of MC4 on human lung and skin cells (infections caused by MRSA often occur in these tissues) indicated no significant toxicity. The fact that NusB and NusE exist only in bacteria and not human cells has also addressed toxicity concern. "Nusbiarylins" — a new class of antibiotic candidates The research team has further structurally modified MC4 for optimization, and 167 analogues were synthesized so far. The new class of compounds are named as "Nusbiarylins" (basing on their target protein "NusB" and their "biaryl" structure). Laboratory test of Nusbiarylins against a panel of MRSA strains proved their consistent antibacterial activity, some with MIC as low as 0.125 μg/mL, much better than commonly used antibiotics, including vancomycin with the MIC of 1 μg/mL which is labelled as the "last resort" antibiotic drug in the United States. Further pre-clinical studies on the in vitro pharmacological properties of Nusbiarylins on human cells indicated that the compounds: —    leading to nearly no hemolysis (i.e. human blood cell breaking), an indication of being safe for injection; and —    with excellent result in intestine absorption, implying being effective for oral taking. The findings have been recently published in leading scientific journals (listed below). The innovation has also won the "Global Innovation Award" at the TechConnect World Innovation Conference and Expo 2019 held in June in the United States. Recently published journal papers:- Xiao Yang, Ming Jing Luo, Apple C M Yeung, Peter J Lewis, Paul Kay-sheung Chan, Margaret Ip, Cong Ma. First-In-Class Inhibitor of Ribosomal RNA Synthesis with Antimicrobial Activity against Staphylococcus aureus. Biochemistry 2017, 56, 5049-5052. Tsz Fung Tsang, Yangyi Qiu, Lin Lin, Jiqing Ye, Cong Ma, Xiao Yang. Simple Method for Studying in Vitro Protein–Protein Interactions Based on Protein Complementation and Its Application in Drug Screening Targeting Bacterial Transcription. ACS Infectious Diseases 2019, 5, 521-527. Yangyi Qiu, Shu Ting Chan, Lin Lin, Tsun Lam Shek, Tsz Fung Tsang, Nilakshi Barua, Yufeng Zhang, Margaret Ip, Paul Kay-sheung Chan, Nicolas Blanchard, Gilles Hanquet, Zhong Zuo, Xiao Yang, Cong Ma. Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Antimicrobial Diarylimine and Amine Compounds Targeting the Interaction between the Bacterial NusB and NusE Proteins. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2019, 178, 214-231. Yangyi Qiu, Shu Ting Chan, Lin Lin, Tsun Lam Shek, Tsz Fung Tsang, Yufeng Zhang, Margaret Ip, Paul Kay-sheung Chan, Nicolas Blanchard, Gilles Hanquet, Zhong Zuo, Xiao Yang, Cong Ma. Nusbiarylins, a New Class of Antimicrobial Agents: Rational Design of Bacterial Transcription Inhibitors Targeting the Interaction between the NusB and NusE Proteins. Bio-organic Chemistry 2019, 92, 103203. (End) [1] Ten threats to global health in 2019, World Health Organization https://www.who.int/emergencies/ten-threats-to-global-health-in-2019  (accessed 23 September 2019) [2] Number of notifiable infectious diseases by month, Centre for Health Protection, Department of Health, The Government of the HKSAR https://www.chp.gov.hk/en/static/24012.html  (accessed 23 September 2019) For more information, please visit https://www.polyu.edu.hk/web/en/media/media_releases/index_id_6673.html

PolyU receives donation from Suga International Holdings Limited to support sustainable urban green agriculture

PolyU received a generous donation from Suga International Holdings Limited (SUGA) for the establishment of Hong Kong's first research platform focusing on Urban Agriculture. The laboratory has been named as "Suga Research Laboratory for Sustainable Urban Green Agriculture" in recognition of the company's contribution to the University. Officiating the naming ceremony were Professor the Honourable Sophia CHAN, the Secretary for Food and Health of the HKSAR Government, Dr NG Chi-ho, Chairman and Managing Director of SUGA, and Professor Jin-Guang TENG, PolyU President. The mission of the Laboratory is to develop the next generation of Urban Agriculture model to cultivate high quality and safe fruits and vegetables in a small indoor space, with hydroponics as a focus. Two research directions include the investigation of the optimal correlation between major environmental factors and the growth of hydroponics vegetables, as well as the systematical assessment of food safety risk, harmful chemicals and food-borne bacteria in vegetables grown from hydroponics and traditional farming. In 2011, PolyU established the first university-based Food Safety and Technology Research Centre in Hong Kong and had successfully developed the first Food Hygiene Standard Certification System for local catering establishments, which had then been licensed to three major certification bodies in Hong Kong. The Suga Research Laboratory for Sustainable Urban Green Agriculture is operated by PolyU's Food Safety and Technology Research Centre (FSTRC). Dr WONG Ka Hing, Executive Director of FSTRC, shared that the development of indoor hydroponic technology is demand-driven and customer focused to ensure that the products could fulfill the needs of Hong Kong people. Besides food safety and technology for humankind, the Laboratory has an ambition to do more and the next research focus will be on pet food. The Laboratory will also establish a Core Technology Exchange Platform for promoting knowledge transfer in Urban Agriculture and enhancing the competitiveness of the industry. Aspiring to serve as an information hub to make greater contributions in Urban Agriculture development in Hong Kong, the Greater Bay Area and the Mainland, the Laboratory will help foster a "Healthy Eating" culture and safeguard public health. For more information, please visit https://www.polyu.edu.hk/web/en/media/media_releases/index_id_6669.html

ABCT wins the Global Innovation Award at TechConnect 2019

We are proud to announce that Dr. Cong MA from ABCT has won the Global Innovation Award at the TechConnect 2019 with his innovation "New Antibiotic Drug Candidates". The TechConnect World Innovation Conference and Expo 2019 was held on 17-19 June in Boston. It is an annual event for connecting top applied research and early-stage innovations from universities/ laboratories, and start-ups with industry end-users and prospectors to foster the commercialisation of innovations. Over 600 submissions from global top tier universities and national laboratories such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sandia National Laboratories, Argonne National Laboratory and EPFL-LPAC etc. were received this year, and the Innovation Awards go to the top 15% of submitted technologies. The interdisciplinary research project "New Antibiotic Drug Candidates" by Dr. Cong MA and Dr. Xiao YANG (CUHK) makes use of computer-aided approaches in drug discovery, they discovered small molecules with high potential to be developed into novel antimicrobial agents fighting against the superbugs. Based on a new target, new chemical structure and new mechanism different from the existing antibiotics, these compounds demonstrated great effect of inhibiting bacterial growth, yet with no toxicity to human cells. They are now approaching the pre-clinical development stage. New antimicrobial resistance mechanisms are emerging and spreading globally, threatening human health. These novel drug candidates could potentially be strong complements to the current antibiotics for treating infectious diseases. Let us take this opportunity to congraulate Dr. Cong MA on receiving the honour! For details, please visit https://www.polyu.edu.hk/web/en/media/media_releases/index_id_6656.html

Best Oral Presentation Award at the 26th Symposium on Chemistry Postgraduate Research in Hong Kong

The 26th Symposium on Chemistry Postgraduate Research in Hong Kong was held on 4th May 2019 in CUHK, with over 680 faculty members and research postgraduate students from nine institutions participated in the event. We are pleased to announce that Mr. Chun Ming CHAN (PhD student of Prof. Michael Yu) from ABCT won the Best Oral Presentation Award with winning presentation entitled "Ruthenium(II)-Catalyzed Enantioselective γ-Lactams Formation by Intramolecular C – H Amidation of 1,4,2-Dioxazol-5-ones". This annual symposium is an important event for the Chemistry community in Hong Kong dedicated to offer postgraduate research students a platform to present their research findings and groom local research talents. The poster section showcased 333 posters in six areas including Analytical & Environmental Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Material Chemistry and Biochemistry & Chemical Biology. Let us take this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Chun Ming CHAN on receiving the honor!

ABCT received the Outstanding Professional Services Awards 2018

We are pleased to announce that ABCT and three of our leading academics were honoured with the Outstanding Professional Services Awards, which were presented on 4 March 2019 at Hotel ICON. Administrated by the PolyU Technology & Consultancy Company Limited (PTeC), the Outstanding Professional Services Awards honor academic staff, research teams and departments for their achievements in consultancy and licensing services. Prof. Tak-hang CHAN and Prof. Larry M.C. CHOW were awarded Winner of the Technoogy Transfer Award for their project "Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG) Derivatives"; whilst Dr. Zhongping YAO received a Merit Award of the Most Valued Project for his project "Provision of Service for Developing Guidelines on Good Practice of Using Frying Oil". At Departmental level, ABCT won the Merit Award for the Highest Growth in Consultancy Activities, which honours the highest ranking departments in terms of the i) absolute growth in total invoiced value and ii) percentage of growth compared to the previous financial year. Let us take this opportunity to congratulate Prof. Tak-hang CHAN, Prof. Larry CHOW and Dr. Zhongping YAO on receiving the honors. For more details, please click HERE.