Professor Francis Chin Yuk-lun

Professor Chin has a thirst for new challenges and new ideas. He ran his first marathon at the age of 53 and his academic career has been marked by a curiosity to explore new fields.

Since completing graduate studies at Princeton University and joining HKU in 1985, he has ventured into such areas as algorithm studies, database security, and distributed and parallel computing. Recently he has applied his talents to the field of bioinformatics to help solve biological problems, especially those related to genomes.

One project with the Department of Medicine involves breaking down the genome of leukaemia patients into billions of pieces and using next-generation sequencing machines to assemble them and compare them with those of healthy people.

“I used to work alone but now working in bioinformatics, I have to work with people to find solutions for biological and medical research. I find it challenging and exciting,” he says.

“One of the main purposes of living is to benefit the next generation. I hope that what I’m doing right now is making a small contribution towards that direction.”

Professor Tatia Lee Mei-chun

What defines who we are, as a human species and as individuals? It is a question that motivates Professor Lee, who has worked in collaboration with local and overseas clinicians and scientists to unravel some of the secrets of the brain.

“I’m interested in studying the brain because I find this very magnificent organ defines who we are, how happy we are, how sad we are, how we make our everyday decisions. It is really the master of our emotion, our thinking and our feeling,” she says.

Professor Lee came to HKU in 1996 after obtaining her PhD from the University of Alberta and she is currently Chair Professor of Psychology and Honorary Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine.

Her research interests extend beyond the healthy brain into investigating what happens when things go wrong, for instance when a person suffers dementia, a stroke, Parkinson’s or other diseases that affect the brain.

“We hope to understand how the brain maintains its health during the process of ageing and how the brain recovers from various illnesses,” she says.

Professor Zang Wenan

The great mathematician, Henri Poincaré, once said, “Mathematical discoveries, small or great, are never born of spontaneous generation. They always presuppose a soil seeded with preliminary knowledge and well prepared by labour, both conscious and subconscious.”

He might also have added that mathematics is an art. Professor Zang has taken inspiration both from Poincaré and this concept of art.

“I like Chinese calligraphy because I can experience beauty through it. In fact, mathematics is also an art,” he says. “I summarise my research philosophy in two words: beauty and quality.”

Professor Zang joined HKU after obtaining his PhD from Rutgers University in 1995 and he has successfully resolved several prominent long-standing open problems, such as the Three-Colour Conjecture. He has been honoured for his efforts internationally and published in the flagship journals of operations research, computer science, and discrete mathematics.

His achievements have emerged from an unceasing dedication to his topic. “Mathematics is part of my life; it’s not something that I can put aside on weekends or public holidays.”