18
HKUST 2011-2012 Annual Report
RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT
can actually pull an object toward a light source under
some special circumstances and the “tractor beam” in
Star Trek
is not against the laws of Nature. This discovery
opens the door to new possibilities in optical micro-
manipulation. The results were highlighted in a cover
story in
Nature Photonics
.
Detecting danger, averting disaster
Prof Benzhong Tang (Chemistry) and his team have
developed a new material with aggregation-induced
emission characteristics that makes a promising
fluorescent chemosensor for supersensitive detection
of explosives. In addition, the polymer can serve as an
optical limiter. Together with high thermal stability and
good processability, this gives the material good potential
for hi-tech applications. The research was detailed in
Polymer Chemistry
.
Advancing understanding of
neurological disorders
Breakthrough discoveries in Life Sciences are unraveling
the molecular mechanisms that govern brain development
and functioning of neural circuit, offering fresh hope
for treatment of neurological disorders such as autism
and epilepsy. Prof Nancy Ip (Life Science) and her group
have demonstrated that disrupting the function of a key
protein
α
2-chimaerin arrests neuronal migration, resulting
in aberrant wiring of the neural circuit and subsequently
epileptic seizures. The findings provide a new avenue for
understanding the disease mechanisms and developing
therapies for neuropsychiatric diseases. The discoveries
were published in
Nature Neuroscience
.
Stem cell insight
Prof Mingjie Zhang (Life Science) and his lab have made
a series of discoveries in proteins regulating neuronal
stem cell development. They elucidated the molecular
mechanism of LGN, a key protein controlling asymmetric
cell divisions during neurogenesis, in interfacing cell
polarity and mitotic spindle orientation. They further
discovered that DLG, a critical scaffold protein required for
the polarity establishment of neuronal stem cells, interacts
with LGN in a phosphorylation dependent manner. Their
work was published in prestigious journals including
Molecular Cell
,
Proceedings of the National Academy of
Science
,
USA
and
EMBO Journal
.
Green slopes for sustainable urban
infrastructure
A research team led by Prof Charles W W Ng (Civil
and Environmental Engineering) is engaged in
an interdisciplinary group project exploring green
slope engineering for advancing sustainable urban
infrastructure. A prime objective is to investigate and
develop a fundamental understanding of root-soil-water
interactions as a basis for an innovative reliability-based
design framework for an “integrated bioengineered live
slope cover” for shallow soil slopes in Hong Kong.
Making waves in regional climate
Understanding of regional climate patterns has advanced
through a study by Prof Jianping Gan (Environment and
Mathematics). Based on field measurements carried out
jointly with Xiamen University, his team has identified
a three-dimensional eddy structure in the South China
