HKU Bulletin May 2008 (Vol. 9 No. 2)

22 23 Dr David Martin Pomfret Assistant Professor, School of Humanities D r Pomfret, who received his PhD from the University of Nottingham in 2000, is currently Assistant Professor of Modern European History in the School of Humanities and an Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts. He has published widely on the history of childhood and youth, the history of cities and the modern history of Britain and France. His research has won recognition for its innovative emphasis upon age as a category of analysis and its use of a comparative methodology. He is currently completing work on a book examining how ideas, assumptions and practices relating to youth informed the ways Europeans perceived and implemented colonial rule. He is editor of the journal Planning Perspectives , and a Council Member of the International Planning History Society. He says that his commitment to painstaking archival work has over the years brought him face to face with a number of challenging scenarios, including terror attacks in Paris and London, giant rats in the Vietnamese National Library, and attempts by French police in Niort to detonate his notebook computer in a controlled explosion. pomfretd@hkucc.hku.hk http://www.hku.hk/history/staff-david-pomfret.html Outstanding Young Researcher Awards Dr Alice Wong Sze Tai Assistant Professor, School of Biological Sciences D r Wong joined the University as an Assistant Professor in 2002 after working as a postdoctoral fellow at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre. Her primary research interest is cell adhesion and signal transduction in cancer. Cell adhesion molecules are very important for many physiological processes which, if deregulated, can contribute to cancer. Traditionally, their ability to affect cell functions has been attributed to their adhesive properties, but Dr Wong’s research findings have presented new evidence that suggests a different scenario. Her research has also involved the identification and characterisation of novel genes and proteins of ovarian cancer, the most lethal of all gynecological cancers. These studies have provided important insights into the nature of ovarian carcinogenesis and have helped to identify new targets in cancer diagnosis and therapy. Dr Wong’s work has been widely published, and some of her articles have featured as cover stories in a number of distinguished scientific journals. She believes that it is very important for young researchers to pioneer — to have new ideas and to have the courage to pursue them. awong1@hkucc.hku.hk http://www.hku.hk/biosch/staff/astw.html/