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HKUST 2011-2012 Annual Report
Social change east and west
Enterprising books that explore east and west continued
to be published by the Division of Humanities. Two
examples are
Mao’s New World: Political Culture in the
Early People's Republic
by Prof Chang-tai Hung and
From
Charisma to Canonization: Max Weber in Germany and
the United States
by Prof Joshua Derman. Prof Hung
provides a sweeping portrait of the political culture of
the early People’s Republic of China and mines newly
available archival sources to reconstruct how the Chinese
Communist Party tightened its rule after taking power
in 1949. Prof Derman looks at how reclusive German
scholar Weber managed to make such a profound
impact on 20th century thought and provides the first
comprehensive account of the thinker’s transatlantic
reception.
Transferring knowledge to
industry
HKUST has laid down a solid foundation for establishing
a strong knowledge transfer (KT) culture. In 2011-12,
HKUST has entered into 187 collaborative / contract
research projects and 87 consultancies with leading local
and international industry partners. The following are just
a few examples of how research can shape a better world.
Therapeutic quest
Prof Nancy Ip (Life Science) and her team have partnered
with GlaxoSmithKline R&D China to secure funding from
the Innovation and Technology Commission to undertake
collaborative research towards the development of novel
therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
Success in the projects will boost local drug development
capabilities as well as establish Hong Kong as a major
center for cutting-edge Traditional Chinese Medicine
(TCM) research and development. Other key industrial
collaborators to develop innovative tools and drug leads for
neurological disorders include the Morningside Life Science
Limited and the Roche R&D Center (China) Limited.
Mitigating Hepatitis E
Prof Yong Xie (Life Science) and his research team have
developed a new vaccine candidate for the prevention
of Hepatitis E. The team achieved a worldwide first
by using insect cell technology — an innovative moth
cell expression system whose protein folding structure
approaches that of the natural hepatitis E virus — to
develop the vaccine candidate for this virus. With 6.5
million cases in South and East Asia alone and one-third
of the world’s population affected by Hepatitis E, the
breakthrough has widespread impact. The project led to
the signing of a co-operation agreement between Beijing
Luzhu Biopharmaceutical Co Ltd and HKUST’s R & D
Corporation Ltd.
Eco-friendly sewage treatment
A research team led by Prof Guanghao Chen (Civil and
Environmental Engineering) has invented an eco-friendly
sewage treatment process. The sulphate reduction,
autotrophic denitrification and nitrification integrated
process, known as SANI, can eliminate 90 per cent
of sewage sludge production, and minimize energy
consumption, odor and greenhouse-gas emissions. It also
reduces treatment cost and space by 50 per cent. Prof
Chen’s work is highly recognized by the International
