Convocation Newsletter, Summer 2018

17 Ventures with Institut Pasteur HKU, Institut Pasteur and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Paris on June 21, 2018 to set up a joint biomedical research centre. Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive the Hon Mrs Carrie Lam 林鄭月娥 (BSocSc 1980) and Secretary for Innovation and Technology Professor the Hon Nicholas Yang 楊偉雄 attended the signing in Paris with HKU Dean of Medicine Professor Gabriel Leung 梁卓偉 (MD 2003), Institut Pasteur President Professor Stewart Cole, and Science Park CEO Albert Wong 黃克強 (BSc (Eng) 1983). The aim is to establish an interdisciplinary research centre for immunology, infection and personalised medicine within the Health@Inno Cluster at the Science Park. Nature ’s Science Stars of East Asia The UK-based journal Nature named two HKU Endowed Professors as “Science Stars of East Asia” in its June 2018 issue. Professor Vivian Yam 任詠華 （ BSc 1985; PhD 1988), Philip Wong Wilson Wong Professor in Chemistry and Energy, was lauded as a chemist “looking for new ways to make molecules shine”. “She has spent more than two decades creating metal-containing compounds with unique abilities to absorb and emit light,” Nature reported. “Such technologies could be used, for example, to harness solar energy, sense early signs of Alzheimer’s disease in people’s brains and create various types of OLED display.” Professor Malik Peiris, Tam Wah-Ching Professor in Medical Science, was credited with saving lives with his research. “SARS’ toll could have been much worse had it not been for Peiris, one of the top specialists in emerging diseases,” Nature reported. Also in June, a research team led by Professor Sumana Sanyal (left) at the HKU-Pasteur Research Pole published a paper in Cell Host & Microbe , advancing the understanding of viral infection mechanism of dengue fever and related flavivirus diseases. CONVOCATION NEWSLETTER