HKU Bulletin September 2007 (Vol. 9 No. 1)

32 33 Dr Xu Aimin Associate Professor, Department of Medicine D r Xu’s research focuses on obesity and its related metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, which are the top killers in our ageing population. His research team has discovered several novel plasma biomarkers and developed a number of proprietary immunoassays that can be potentially used for risk assessment and early diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Using these biomarkers as therapeutic targets, the team has also established an integrated drug-development platform and identified certain natural compounds for the treatment of insulin resistance and diabetes. amxu@hkucc.hku.hk http://www.hku.hk/medicine/endocrinology_research.htm Outstanding Young Researcher Awards Professor Patrick Woo Chiu Yat Professor, Department of Microbiology P rofessor Woo’s field of study is infectious diseases and microbiology, an area of research whose importance can hardly be overstated. His major research interest is the discovery and characterisation of novel pathogens for unexplained infectious disease syndromes. Using clinical, epidemiological, microbiological, molecular and genomic approaches, he has led the discovery and characterization of several novel human and animal microbes. The more notable discoveries include human coronavirus HKU1, bat SARS coronavirus, Laribacter hongkongensis, cell-wall-deficient bacteria in neutropenic patients and Streptococcus sinensis. pcywoo@hkucc.hku.hk http://www.hku.hk/mibpage/