Press releases

The report, titled "Pathways for transforming the cancer ecosystem: A patient-centred framework" was compiled from more than 100 interviews with key stakeholders including patients, patient support organisations and other community groups, clinicians, researchers, multiple industries, and healthcare decision-makers.

The Academy of Visual Arts (AVA) under the School of Creative Arts (SCA) at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) proudly announces the launch of the inaugural “Art Futures Awards”, an international art award which is the first of its kind in Asia.

SUTD researchers refine two-photon polymerisation lithography to create high-precision, nanoscale features, advancing 3D printing to enable the production of intricate components for use in high-tech applications.

Aids local governments in adapting to the threats of climate change

A new bacterial species discovered at the deep-sea hydrothermal vent site ‘Crab Spa’ provides a deeper understanding of bacterial evolution.

Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Nature Communications how they can control chirality inversion in α helical peptides.

Mycorrhiza biofertilizer Uttam Superrhiza has been named as the winner of the Applied Microbiology International Product of the Year 2023. The prestigious prize recognizes a commercial product derived from microbiology research, with special consideration given to those products that have addressed the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Science Advances how they can accelerate and decelerate chirality inversion in large cage molecules using alkali metal ion binding.

Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Cancer Research how Kras and p53 mutations influence the tumor suppressor and promoter functions of a TGF- ß pathway. The findings may lead to a new approach for colorectal cancer therapy.

Researchers at Kanazawa University report in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters high-speed atomic force microscopy studies that shed light on the possible role of the open reading frame 6 (ORF6) protein COVID19 symptoms.

Last Tuesday (21 December), Lingnan University staged the “Networking Evening - Thriving Together upon the Return to Normalcy” at JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong aiming to connect the elites from various industries and Lingnan students. It was managed to serve as a platform for the former (future employers) and latter (potential employees) to work hand-in-hand to strive for Hong Kong’s prosperity after suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

A research team from Osaka Metropolitan University has successfully developed a novel pneumococcal vaccine by combining the team’s proprietary mucosal vaccine technology with pneumococcal surface proteins that can cover a wide range of serotypes. Experiments were conducted using mice and macaques and it was confirmed that pneumonia caused by pneumococcal infection was clearly suppressed in the target groups of animals inoculated with the vaccine.

According to the latest report by Clarivate, Lingnan University's Associate Vice-President (Strategic Research) and Chair Professor of Computational Intelligence Prof Sam Kwong Tak-wu, has been named on the list of "Highly Cited Researchers 2023”. Out of the 6,849 scholars from 67 countries and regions worldwide who were named as Highly Cited Researchers for 2023, this recognition is given to those whose work ranks in the top 1 per cent by citations for their fields and publication year over the past decade.

Researchers from Osaka University found that HSP47, a collagen-specific chaperone, is a key determinant of body fat levels. HSP47 expression levels are upregulated with obesity and greater food intake and decreased with fasting, exercise, calorie restriction, bariatric surgery, and wasting syndrome, suggesting that HSP47 modulation has a profound effect on fat storage.

Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are screentime changing children’s brains, a bacterium that can help reduce toilet time, and a reproductive strategy that is definitely not the butt of the joke.

The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) has won four awards including its first-ever Gold Medal at the International Trade Fair “Ideas-Inventions-New Products” 2023, held in Nuremberg, Germany. EdUHK is the only university in Hong Kong to win gold at this year's event, making the University’s achievement particularly noteworthy.

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers and their colleagues have successfully detected an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray with an energy level comparable to the most energetic cosmic ray ever observed. The cosmic ray is set to be named after the Japanese sun goddess, Amaterasu. No promising astronomical object has been identified in the direction from which this cosmic ray originated, implying the potential existence of unknown astronomical phenomena and novel physical origins beyond the Standard Model.

Researchers from Osaka University have shown that lysosomes, key organelles for maintaining cellular stability, can be repaired once damaged by a process termed microautophagy. They identified molecules called STK38 and GABARAPs as key regulators of this process. Depletion of microautophagy regulators lead to increased cellular senescence and a shorter lifespan, indicating the importance of this process. This study is highly significant for the achievement of healthy aging and points toward new therapies for age-related diseases.

Glass is a fundamental material. Yet its atomic structure still baffles scientists to this day. Researchers have developed a new way to quantify ring shapes in chemically bonded networks of glass, chipping away at some of the mysteries behind glass’s atomic structure.

Researchers develop new method suppressing the distribution of drugs to healthy tissues, but also to rapidly removes the drugs once distributed in the body, which could improve the accuracy of imaging diagnosis of difficult cancers, reduce toxicity to healthy tissues, and furthermore improve the effectiveness of treatment.

Out of this living laboratory emerged unexpected insights on coexistence from an “unusual” source.

A new technique allows researchers to map how the cellular ‘skeleton’ adapts to external stress.

This paper highlights the underexplored potential of chiral self-sorting in the design of switchable and metastable discrete supramolecular structures.

Created by western India’s nomadic Vaghri community, mata ni pachedi is a tradition of cloth painting dating back 300 years. Originally meant as canopies for shrines and as objects of ritual worship, these textiles depict a pantheon of local goddesses surrounded by regional motifs. Read on to understand how printing, painting and cloth come together in religious consumerism.

A team of Business Faculty students from Lingnan University led by Prof Nancy Chen Yifeng, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Business, represented Hong Kong, China in the "National Sales Challenge," the longest-running university sales competition in the US, winning the championship in the final round of competition on 17 November 2023.

Researchers from Osaka University found that Japanese people who used medical information were more likely to wear masks and disinfect their hands even before the COVID-19 outbreak, while those who exchanged information with acquaintances were more likely to newly start mask-wearing and hand disinfection post outbreak. This will assist in the development of risk communication strategies to promote infection-preventive behavior in a timely manner.

Riding on the success of the previous two seminar sessions, the Distinguished Scholars Seminar Series organised by Lingnan University’s School of Graduate Studies continues with the delivery of its third seminar. The seminar series takes place between November and December 2023 and features world-renowned scholars sharing their insights and expertise on various topics.

The School of Graduate Studies at Lingnan University recently kicked off its much-awaited Conference for Higher Education Research (CHER) – Hong Kong 2023. This year, over 180 participants from 12 regions registered for this two-day conference, including scholars from Australia, United States, Finland, England, Turkey, Singapore, Kazakhstan, China. The conference is centered on the theme of "Education for Sustainability: Navigating the Changing Landscape of Higher Education." The conference aims to bring together scholars, policymakers, and practitioners from around the world to explore the latest trends, challenges, and good practices to promote education for sustainability in the higher education setting.

Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are sea cucumbers that glow in the dark, a needle that softens at body temperature, and the real size of our sun.

To reach the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, on November 14, Academia Sinica and the Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) held a technology conference on Methane Pyrolysis to Power (MPTP) power generation at the Taiwan Power Research Institute (TPRI). Emerging from the laboratories of Academia Sinica, methane pyrolysis technology has recently been successfully applied in Taipower’s small-scale power generation units! President Ing-Wen Tsai attended the conference to deliver a speech, and together with Academia Sinica President Liao and other dignitaries, witnessed the significant milestone of net-zero emissions.