News & Stories

Cancer is a complex disease characterized by genetic mutations that accumulate over time. Detecting cancer at an early stage is crucial for effective treatment. Scientists have made significant progress in using a non-invasive method called circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to detect liver cancer. Circulating cell-free DNA-inferred tumor content has been demonstrated detectable previously in blood samples collected at diagnosis of early-stage cancer. However, limited data has been shown in samples collected prior to cancer diagnosis – “pre-sample”.

A vibrant and interactive faculty and student gathering took place on 18 April 2024, marking the conclusion of the teaching week. The event, attended by a total of 37 enthusiastic faculty members and students, provided a platform for open dialogue.

Professor Yu HUANG, Head of the Department of Biomedical Sciences (BMS), has recently been awarded The Peter Harris Distinguished Scientist Award by the International Heart Research Society. He is the first Chinese scientist to receive this prestigious award.

Congratulations to our PhD student, ZHANG Xuebing Eva (Prof. KIM Jin Young’s group) who has won “Dance Your PhD 2024” contest in the Chemistry category, hosted by Science Journal.

Ms AI Liqing, a PhD student of Prof. YAO Xi, has been honoured with the Best Poster Award at the “2024 International Symposium on Superwettability+ (iSS+ 2024)” held in Singapore during 23–26 January 2024.

BMS recently organised a delightful and engaging barbecue event. The event brought together faculty members, students, and staff in a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere, promoting social interactions within BMS. The barbecue, held near Sai Kung sea shore, provided an excellent opportunity for attendees to unwind from their academic pursuits and connect with colleagues in a more informal setting. With the aim of strengthening bonds and fostering a sense of community, the event successfully achieved its objectives. Under the clear skies and pleasant weather, participants indulged in a mouthwatering spread of grilled delicacies, including an assortment of meats and vegetarian options.

BMS Retreat 2024 took place at Disneyland Hotel on 9 January 2024, our faculty members, colleagues from Technical Office and General Office participated. This retreat provided a rejuvenating and enjoyable day for our BMS staff, offering them a break from the daily routine and providing opportunity for colleagues to connect outside workplace. It features team-building discussion and sharing, which aims to strengthen relationships among colleagues, promote a positive work environment, and recharge our colleagues, enhancing collaboration and productivity in the workplace.

Professor HUANG Yu has been elected as a Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society (BPS) in 2023 in recognition of his research and contribution in pharmacological science. The BPS announced new Fellows and Honorary Fellows on 28 November 2023. The Society has elected 29 Fellows and awarded 9 Honorary Fellowships by stating “Our Fellows and Honorary Fellows play an incredibly important role in the Society. Through their work, they further all disciplines of pharmacology in the discovery, development and use of medicines. And through their leadership, and contribution to Society life, they inspire and support members at earlier stages of their career or study.”

Immunotherapy has revolutionised cancer treatment, but the clinical responses in liver cancer remains are far from satisfactory. To address this, scientists have been investigating the metabolic interactions between immune cells and tumour cells in the tumour microenvironment (TME). Previous studies led by Prof. Yin and other researchers have identified that downregulation of a glycolytic enzyme fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase B (ALDOB) in tumour cells orchestrated metabolic programming to favour hepatocellular carcinogenesis (HCC).

The application of wearable technologies in personalized health management and medical treatment has attracted significant attention. On the one hand, various applications have been realized on the developed wearable devices including physiological state monitoring, disease prevention and diagnosis, and health data management. On the other hand, the rapid progress of personalized health management generates new demands on the multifunctionality of wearable devices, for example, to maintain function under large and frequent deformations when the device is equipped on human body, and to monitor diverse physiological parameters simultaneously with minimum energy supply.

No one knew about the existence of inhibitory ligand of interferon receptors in the innate immune system. After over 13 years of hard work, Prof. He’s team demonstrated that virus invasion upregulates and stimulates LRPAP1 secretion. As a ligand, the secreted LRPAP1 binds and triggers IFNAR1 degradation to facilitate virus evasion from cellular innate immunity. Targeting LRPAP1 with its inhibitor a2M potently inhibits infections by all the tested viruses (both DNA and RNA). This work not only expands the relationship between lipoprotein metabolism and the host's innate immune response but also paves the way for the development of LRPAP1 inhibitors as pan-antiviral drugs.

BMS and BME joined forces on 23 September 2023, to co-organise a highly anticipated joint symposium on Innovation in Biomedicine and Bioengineering at Benjamin Kwok Lecture Theatre located in Yeung Kin Man Academic Building. The event witnessed active participation from staff and students, creating an environment conducive to collaboration and knowledge exchange.

A research team co-led by Prof. Mingliang He has achieved a significant breakthrough by inventing a new class of near-infrared-activated photo-oxidants that can effectively kill cancer cells without requiring oxygen. The photo-oxidants induce a unique form of cancer cell death that can overcome cancer cell resistance. The findings offer a new strategy, called ‘photo-oxidation therapy’, and provide a promising direction for the development of anti-cancer drugs.

CityU Department of Biomedical Sciences (BMS) is pleased to announce the results of the Research Grants Council’s General Research Fund (GRF) for 2023–2024. BMS has once again demonstrated its excellence in research by obtaining nine GRF grants totaling over HK$12M.

Dr PU Yujie, a postdoctoral fellow under the supervision of Prof. HUANG Yu in the Department of Biomedical Sciences (BMS), received a NSFC – Young Scientists Fund on 24 August 2023. The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) – Young Scientist Fund aims to provide promising young researchers with support to conduct independent innovative research. This scheme also helps to train the critical and innovative thinking of young researchers, thus cultivates future talents in basic research in China.

CityU signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Asian Fund for Cancer Research (AFCR) to establish a closer collaboration between both parties and jointly promote cutting-edge cancer-related innovative inventions and commercialisation.

Seven scholars from BMS are ranked as the World’s Top 2% most-cited scientists in the world, in an annual list released by Stanford University. Compiled by a research team at Stanford University, the list ranks leading scientists across various fields based on their career-long citation impact and recent year citation impact. The inclusion of BMS academic faculty members highlights the global recognition and high academic standards of our faculty and underscores our excellent research performance.

New Master of Science in Health Sciences and Management (MSHSM) students embarked on their academic journey with an engaging and informative orientation event held on 4 September 2023. The event, which took place on the first day of the academic year, began with a warm welcome from Prof. Yu Huang (Head, Department of Biomedical Sciences), followed by a comprehensive presentation by Prof. Mingliang He (Programme Leader) and Prof. Xi Yao (Deputy Programme Leader).

New BSc in Biological Sciences and BSc in Biomedical Sciences students kicked off their academic journey with an exciting Undergraduate (UG) Orientation on 29 August 2023. The event buzzed with energy from Prof. HUANG Yu (Department Head), Prof. Rebecca Chin (Assistant Head, UG Education), Prof. Kingston Mak (Programme Leader of BSc in Biological Sciences) and Prof. Gigi Lo (Programme Leader of BSc in Biomedical Sciences) greeting the incoming undergraduates and presented a roadmap to success.

Two biotech start-ups incubated by CityU have been selected for the “Forbes Asia 100 to Watch 2023”, an annual list published by Forbes Asia highlighting small companies and start-ups on the rise across the Asia Pacific region that are targeting underserved markets with new technologies. These CityU start-ups are applying innovative biomedical technologies to address unmet medical needs, from blood-based cancer diagnostics to nanobody-based immunotherapy.

We are happy to share that our MSc Student Mr NG Chelon Colin and the Start-up he founded became Winner and were awarded in the 1st HK Tech 300 National Startup Competition.

Through close collaboration, Prof. He Mingliang (BMS)) and Prof. Zhu Guangyu (CHEM) jointly published a paper entitled as Near-infrared-activated anticancer platinum(IV) complexes directly photooxidize biomolecules in an oxygen-independent manner in Nature Chemistry for novel anticancer drug development.

Virtually all living organisms on Earth depend on biological processes related to redox reactions, which play a critical role in maintaining protein structures, signal transduction pathways, and various physiological and pathophysiological processes. The Chinese National Meeting of 2023 Redox Biology and Medicine took place at Xiamen University in Xiamen, China, from 10 to 13 August 2023.

We are happy to share that our Year-4 BSc in Biomedical Sciences student, Miss MAN Wai Ingrid has recently received the Book Prize for the Outstanding Academic Performance in 2022–2023 from The Hong Kong Association of Medical Laboratories (HKAML) at the Annual General Meeting (AGL) held on 28 July 2023. Congratulations to Ingrid for her achievements and wish you to keep up with her good work!

Congratulate Professor HUANG Yu, Head of the Department of Biomedical Sciences (BMS), on his election to the position of Fellow within the prestigious International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) Academy of Physiology. The IUPS Fellowship honours researchers who have made “extraordinary contributions to the advancement of physiology, in the form of original discoveries, sustained excellent contributions to science, or who have otherwise rendered outstanding service to physiology”. Professor Huang is one of 27 Fellows elected in 2023.

A Hong Kong Scholars Annual Symposium 2023 was held in hybrid mode on 8 July 2023 (Saturday), organised jointly by the China National Postdoctoral Council under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (全國博士後管委會辦公室), The Society of Hong Kong Scholars (香港學者協會 and Beijing-Hong Kong Academic Exchange Centre (京港學術交流中心), and supported by the Department of Biomedical Sciences, City University of Hong Kong.

Research projects led by scientists at CityU have secured significant grants in both the Areas of Excellence Scheme (AoE) and the Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS) funded by the Research Grants Council.

Prof. Yu HUANG was invited to deliver a Keynote Lecture on 4 July 2023 at the 19th World Congress of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology 2023 (WCP2023) held in Glasgow, Scotland during 2–7 July 2023. WCP2023 is organised by British Pharmacological Society, a member society of the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR).

On 29 June 2023, delegates from the University of South China led by Prof. Jiang Zhisheng (Vice-President) visited our Department for a fruitful and productive meeting, they were greeted by our department management team members including Head, UG, TPg, RPg Research and External Links Coordinators and Programme Leaders.

A JUPAS Consultation Day was held on 20 May 2023. During the event, Programme Leaders, Dr Rebecca CHIN and Dr Gigi LO gave presentations on BScBISI and BScBMS programme respectively, highlighting the unique features and benefits of each one.

Ms Guopan Liu, PhD student of Dr Liang Zhang, received a Young Scientist Travel Award of the 11th Asia Oceania Human Proteome Organization (AOHUPO) and 7th Asia Oceania Agricultural Proteomics Organization (AOAPO) Congress held on 10 May 2023 in Singapore.

A Joint Symposium on Brain and Vision Health, co-organised by BMS, Guangdong-HongKong-Macau Institute of CNS Regeneration (GHMICR) of Jinan University and NA, and supported by HKIAS, which was held in a hybrid format on 11 May 2023, was a resounding success.

On 9 May 2023, the Fifth BMS Research Gala took place with great success. The event brought together close to 200 participants, including faculty, researchers, PhD students, and industry professionals from our sponsor companies.

Dr CHENG Chak Kwong, a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. HUANG Yu’s laboratory in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, received the HK Tech 300 Seed Fund (HK$100,000) for initiation of his startup project, at HK Tech 300 Seed Fund Cheque Presentation Ceremony held on 15 March 2023.

Cancer metastasis is a major cause of cancer-related death. A research team led by Prof. Mengsu (Michael) Yang recently identified a protein that triggers the migration of liver and pancreatic cancer cells and metastasis, and is correlated with shortening the survival time of patients. The research findings were verified by in vitro and in vivo models, supported with clinical data, and are expected to provide a new potential target for cancer therapy.

On 7 March 2023, Prof. Yu Huang, Head of Department and our Clinical Attachment Coordinators paid a visit to Quality HealthCare Medical Group. During the clinical visit, they were able to meet with the clinical staff and observe the operations of the lab and facilitates including specimen reception areas, hematology bench, clinical chemistry automation, medical microbiology rooms and molecular clean zone. The Head and Coordinators also met with the lab director, manager and mentor to discuss areas for improvement in the clinical program. They discussed ways to enhance the learning experience for the students and improve the quality of care provided by the lab.

A Joint Symposium in Frontiers of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies, organised by Department of Biomedical Sciences (BMS) of the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, which was held virtually on 2 March 2023, was a resounding success. Around 130 participants joined the joint symposium bringing together some of the brightest minds in the scientific community. The speakers presented their latest research findings and shared their perspectives on current scientific challenges, and discussed potential solutions to these challenges.

Dr Chak Kwong CHENG (Andy), a RGC Postdoctoral Fellow in Prof. HUANG Yu’s laboratory, was awarded a Young Investigator Award (Second Place) at the 2022 ACRE/CAAC/CNAHA Joint Symposium. The online symposium was held on 19 November 2022, co-organised by the Academy of Cardiovascular Research Excellence (ACRE), Chinese American Academy of Cardiology (CAAC) and Chinese American Heart Association (CNAHA). Dr Cheng presented his findings on the protective role of key mitochondrial antioxidant protein uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2), by elucidating that UCP2 as a novel mechanosensitive gene under the control of fluid shear stress and the transcription factor KLF2 in endothelial cells.

BMS Research Retreat 2023 took place at The Peninsula Hong Kong on 6 January 2023, with the theme of “Inspire to Go Beyond – Strategic Areas to Enhance BMS Development in Education, Research and Reputation”. The Retreat kicked off with a welcome speech by Prof. HUANG Yu (Head, Department of Biomedical Sciences). Prof. Huang gave a brief overview on the past achievements made by the concerted efforts of individual faculty members and the overall BMS performances on different areas including teaching, research publications and grants and other professional areas in 2022. Both academic and non-academic colleagues were divided into groups to brainstorm any initiatives and plans to enhance our UG education and outreach strategies for our taught and research programmes, and discuss preparation plans for Research Assessment Exercise 2026 and professional accreditations. The day ended with closing remarks by Prof. Huang. He expressed appreciation for the constructive comments from colleagues, welcomed colleagues to discuss with him if they need support, and encouraged them to proactively discuss with him what can be offered by Department to add value to their teaching, research and other professional development.

We are happy to share that our Year-4 BSc in Biomedical Sciences student, Miss Fong Jie Yu has recently got the Book Prize for the Outstanding Academic Performance in 2021–2022 from The Hong Kong Association of Medical Laboratories Limited at the Annual General Meeting...