“CityU gene-based remedy for lactose intolerance” Press Conference

We would like to invite you to cover the following event:

 

Date:               28 October 2015 (Wednesday)

 

Time:               10:30 am

 

Venue:             Gateway Education Laboratory (P4907), 4/F, Purple Zone, Academic 1, CityU

 

 

A team of 14 students from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) won a gold medal at the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Giant Jamboree Competition 2015 in the US with their novel gene-based remedy. Their project tackles lactose intolerance, a common digestive problem where the human body is unable to digest lactose, a type of milk sugar.  

 

The team spent over three months to design and construct a probiotic E. coli strain that has the ability to produce high levels of the β-galactosidase enzyme (a type of lactase for digesting lactose), which will “self-burst” to rapidly release the lactase enzyme upon sensing the presence of lactose in the surrounding environment.

 

They competed with around 2,700 participants from 279 multidisciplinary teams from all over the world to win the top award.

 

The three advisors of the 2015 CityU iGEM team, Dr Richard Kong Yuen-chong, Associate Professor in the Department of Biology and Chemistry, Dr David Chiu Sung-kay and  Dr Terrence Lau Chi-kong, both assistant professors in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, and the participating students will present the mechanism of their creative gene-based remedy at the press conference and share their thoughts and feelings about winning the competition.

 

 

Media enquiries: Mirror Fung, Communications and Public Relations Office (Tel: 3442 6808 or 6183 0853)