News

Monitoring medical conditions from inside the body with optical fibre microsensors

Professor Tam Hwa-yaw, Associate Director of Photonics Research Institute, Chair Professor of Photonics and Head of PolyU’s Department of Electrical Engineering, has led a research team to develop novel fibre optic microsensors, which can be implanted into people’s bodies to enable more accurate medical surveillance for surgery and treatment. The research team used an advanced plastic material, ZEONEX, to develop the microsensors, while they also added a ‘side hole’ inside the optical fibres to enhance their sensitivity. Named the “Side Hole Polymer Optical Fibre Sensors”, the microsensors are biocompatible, supple and extremely sensitive to very small pressure changes inside human bodies. It can be made as small as a few micrometres and their sensitivity to pressure is 20 times that of traditional optical fibre sensors. Also, as the microsensors are humidity insensitive, shatter-resistant, chemically inert and biocompatible, they can potentially be used for a broader range of medical applications. The “Side Hole Polymer Optical Fibre Sensors” research findings were published in 2021 in US-based The Optical Society’s Optics Letters. Some of the applications jointly developed with other universities have already been granted patents. Please click here to view more detail about the report.

Chief Executive visits PolyU’s space and advanced materials laboratories

The Chief Executive of the HKSAR Mrs Carrie Lam visited PolyU to learn more about its research projects. Mrs Lam toured the Precision Robotics Laboratory of the Research Centre for Deep Space Exploration (RCDSE) and the University Research Facility in Materials Characterization and Device Fabrication (UMF). https://polyu.hk/GNCiN  

Knowledge transfer gains HK$800M for PolyU

According to the Annual Reports on Knowledge Transfer for the year 2020/21 of the publicly funded universities published recently by the University Grants Committee, the total income generated from knowledge transfer of six out of the eight institutions amounted to about HK$5.31 billion, representing an increase of 15.9% compared to last year.    At PolyU, the income from knowledge transfer increased to HK$800 million from HK$690 million last year, also representing a 15.9% increase compared to last year.  Besides, PolyU has achieved excellence in IP licensing, with an accumulated total of 148 by far.

PAIR director shares his vision in PolyU publication

Professor Chen Qingyan, Director of PAIR, is featured in the latest issue of Excel x Impact published by PolyU sharing his story and vision in driving interdisciplinary research for societal impact. Read the full story: https://polyu.hk/OPhMl 

Prof. Jiannong Cao, Director of Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Things (RIAIoT), named the Fellow of China Computer Federation

Prof. Jiannong Cao, Director of Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Things (RIAIoT), Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Professor in Data Science and Chair Professor of Distributed and Mobile Computing, has recently been named the Fellow of China Computer Federation (CCF). Professor Cao’s research interests cover parallel and distributed computing, big data and machine learning, wireless networking and mobile computing, and cloud and edge computing. On top of five co-authored and nine co-edited books, he has published over 500 papers in major international journals and conferences. His outstanding researches have made him one of the most decorated scholars in his field, and the honour from CCF further reflects Prof. Cao’s outstanding accomplishments in the field of computer science for the advancement of public benefit. Congratulations to Prof. Cao on attaining this honour!  

Interdisciplinary research projects under PAIR received huge grant

The Research Grant Committee (RGC) announced the funding results of the Research Impact Fund (RIF) 2021/22, Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) in 2021/22 and Second Round One-off CRF COVID-19 and Novel Infectious Diseases (NID) Research Exercise earlier this year.  Seven interdisciplinary research projects conducted by PAIR’s constituent research units received over HK$36 million grant in total.  Research project Project Coordinator Research Institute / Research Centre involved Amount awarded RGC CRF 2021/22 Research Equipment Grant High performance deep learning clusters for big data analytics Prof. Chen Xiaojun RIAIoT, SCRI and RCSV $3,099,659 Advanced Fourier-transform Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectrometer for Molecular and Nano Functional Materials Research Prof. Raymond Wong Wai-yeung RISE and RI-IWEAR $7,964,914 RGC CRF 2021/22 Research Project Grant Study of Carbon Sequestration in Hong Kong’s Vegetation: from Present to Future Prediction under Climate Change Prof. Charles Wong Man-sing RILS and RISUD $4,949,639 RGC Research Impact Fund 2021/22 Deeper understanding of Color Matching Mechanism for Developing High-quality Lighting and Imaging Systems Dr Tommy Wei Minchen PRI and RISUD   Total amount of $8,800,000 Reliable Multiagent Collaborative Global Navigation Satellite System Positioning for Intelligent Transportation Systems Dr Hsu Li Ta RISUD and RIAIoT Second Round One-off CRF COVID-19 and NID Research Exercise in 2021/22 Is the usual social distance sufficient to avoid airborne infection of expiratory droplets in indoor environments? Prof. Guo Hai RILS and RISUD $4,703,090 Spatiotemporal prediction and real-time early warning of COVID-19 onset risk Prof. John Shi Wenzhong SCRI $6,964,000

PAIR Director’s research team can accurately simulate SARS-COV-2 transmissions and infections on airliner flights

On 20 January 2022, Wiley, a multinational publishing company, issued the following press release about recent work conducted by Professor Chen’s team. A study published in Indoor Air simulated the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, on a flight from London to Hanoi and on another flight from Singapore to Hangzhou. When simulating the dispersion of droplets of different sizes generated by coughing, talking, and breathing activities in an airline cabin by an infected person, researchers found that SARS-CoV-2 virus contained in such droplets traveled with the cabin air distribution and was inhaled by other passengers. The scientists counted the number of viral copies inhaled by each passenger to determine infection. Their method correctly predicted 84% of the infected/uninfected cases on the first flight. The team also found that wearing masks and reducing conversation frequency between passengers could help to reduce the risk of exposure on the second flight. “We are very pleased to see that our model validated by experimental data can achieve such a high accuracy in predicting COVID-19 transmission in airliner cabins,” said corresponding author Dayi Lai, PhD, Associate Professor and Associate Head of the Department of Architecture, School of Design of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in China. “Also, it’s important to know that wearing masks makes a significant impact on reducing the transmission.” This study was published in Indoor Air. To view the journal article, please click this link.  Please refer to the following links for the media interviews:  Science Daily Daily Mail EurekAlert Archyde The Jerusalem Post News Wise Eminetra Canarian Weekly News Medical Life Sciences Medical Xpress Opera News SC Online News  

Inauguration of the Research Centre for Resources Engineering towards Carbon Neutrality

The PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research (PAIR) was proud to celebrate the inauguration of the Research Centre for Resources Engineering towards Carbon Neutrality (RCRE) on 14 January 2022 on the PolyU campus. Over 100 guests from the Hong Kong Government, PolyU, the industry and the Centre’s research partners attended physically or online and witnessed this new page. Under PAIR’s leadership, RCRE will become the effective platform aligning people of similar interests to work together in the very important interdisciplinary research field of how to make good use of resource engineering to achieve carbon neutrality. “Our campus is working hard on achieving the goal of carbon neutrality before 2050. RCRE fits very well into this arena and its research work will add great value to helping not only PolyU but the whole community to achieve this target that can benefit our society in a meaningful way,” said PolyU’s Vice President (Research and Innovation) Professor Christopher Chao at the inauguration ceremony. Speaking at the same occasion, Professor Jin-Guang Teng, President of PolyU, stated that PolyU now has the largest research team and facilities among all the universities in Hong Kong focusing on resources engineering towards carbon neutrality, and has established a strong track record and recognised reputation in the waste management research community. PolyU will advance further with the establishment of RCRE for the good of the society. Attending the ceremony online, Mr Wong Kam-sing, Secretary for the Environment, commended PolyU for its contribution and efforts to pool its interdisciplinary talents and facilities to advance the development of decarbonisation technologies and related policy study. The ceremony also featured a fruitful scientific exchange by different PolyU and overseas researchers who presented on a kaleidoscope of topics. Poster presentations on current projects conducted by PolyU researchers were also staged and attracted the attention of all the attending guests at the spot.

SCRI predicts five more districts to face high Omicron risks

The research team led by Prof. Shi Wenzhong, Director of the Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Smart Cities Research Institute predicted the spatiotemporal spread of Omicron in the Hong Kong community by big data, using the locations of patients, time of their diagnosis and developing symptoms, population mobility, vaccination rate, and social distance index to figure out high-risk areas. The average risk of being infected with Omicron in Hong Kong will increase in the next week, with high-risk districts rising to 11 from the current six, to include areas such as Sha Tin and Kowloon Bay. Online coverage (English) SCMP - https://polyu.me/3fcBgSb The Standard - https://polyu.me/3K2z8dZ Online coverage (Chinese) Now TV - https://polyu.me/3qfL58e  RTHK - https://polyu.me/3HK8YL8 Oriental Daily News - https://polyu.me/3GjOf0p  Hong Kong Economic Times - https://polyu.me/3tfJIZa  Sing Tao Daily - https://polyu.me/3FiXTix  am730 - https://polyu.me/3ndXjwc Sky Post - https://polyu.me/3f9qxYH  Wen Wei Po - https://polyu.me/3IcBAgr Hong Kong Commercial Daily - https://polyu.me/3zLt7h6  HK01 - https://polyu.me/33mrKJw  

RCSV researchers develop a treatment to slow myopia progression among children and youth

Myopia, or shortsightedness, has reached epidemic levels worldwide. Non-invasive optical interventions are more preferred to help slow down myopia progression. Amongst such treatments is the Defocus Incorporated Soft Contact (DISC) lens developed by researchers at the Research Centre for SHARP Vision (RCSV) , proven to slow myopia progression among children by 60%. Welcome to read more about this here: https://polyu.hk/HXjeD.