Start-up Time for Tissue Engineers

More than a decade spent at the cutting edge of tissue engineering is paying off for Dr Barbara Chan (pictured) of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, who has launched a new start-up with her colleagues, called Living Tissues Co Ltd, to translate their technologies into real applications.

Dr Chan’s laboratory has developed four technology platforms and 10 patents, giving rise to innovative cartilage regeneration strategies. Working with small animals, her laboratory has successfully embedded stem cells from the animals’ own bone marrow into biomaterials to create cartilage- and bone-like tissues. These were then transplanted to repair the animals’ damaged knee joints and showed regeneration outcomes comparable to that of an autograft (grafting tissue from one area of the body to another in the same individual), which is regarded as the clinical gold standard.

Future demand for this capability is expected to be very high as more people suffer wear and tear to their joints due to longer life spans and sportier lifestyles.

“We have started working with large animal models and we are planning clinical trials with orthopaedic surgeons,” Dr Chan said. “We need funding and the right partners to take our results to the next phase of development.”

Dr Chan co-founded Living Tissues with two of her former PhD students, Dr Daniel T.K. Chik and Dr Annie H.W. Cheng, and her former colleague Dr Sunny K.W. Cheng. She hoped that apart from translating HKU research to real clinical applications, the company would provide research and development opportunities for students and postdoctoral fellows, and give a boost to the start-up culture at HKU and the development of the biotechnology industry in Hong Kong.

Domestic Workers Get Many Helping Hands

Hong Kong has more than 300,000 foreign domestic workers, who are not eligible for permanent residency and face a host of legal, workplace, social and other issues related to their situation. HKU academics and students across several faculties have been actively trying to improve their circumstances through several initiatives launched in 2014–15:

• The Domestic Workers’ Roundtable, organised by the Centre for Comparative and Public Law and the Hong Kong Public Interest Law and Advocacy Society in April 2015, brought together multiple stakeholder groups to discuss critical issues affecting domestic workers. Participants included representatives from the workers’ countries of origin, NGOs, groups representing domestic workers, employers and labour rights, academics, law firms, and the private sector. Their sessions were wide ranging, covering such topics as financial abuse by placement agencies, access to justice and legal enforcement in Hong Kong. The longer-term aim is to establish multi-sector and inter-departmental and inter-governmental working groups to enhance the protection of domestic workers.

• The year-long Domestic Workers Empowerment Project organised by the Centre of Development and Resources for Students involved students in advocating and promoting cultural understanding, inclusion and respect for domestic workers, and equipped students with new knowledge and skills. Sixteen events were organised for more than 5,500 domestic workers, involving more than 100 students. The project culminated in a concert in June that was attended by more than 800 people, including HKU students, alumni, domestic workers, employers, staff, consular representatives and other interested groups.

• The social enterprise, Fair Employment Agency, was co-founded by Mr David Bishop of the School of Business to help domestic workers find employment without having to pay the high fees charged to them by agencies. Business students have also been closely involved in setting up and running the enterprise, providing important learning opportunities for them.

• The Faculty of Dentistry carried out a three-year knowledge exchange project to improve dental health among the 140,000 or so Indonesian domestic helpers, with encouragement from the Indonesian Consul-General. The helpers have been shown how to care not only for their own oral health, but also that of the children and elderly people they often care for.

• The Faculty of Medicine’s Emergency Medicine Unit (EMU) organised several activities during the year for domestic helpers, including a book in English and Tagalog on handling acute medical conditions at home and a hands-on session with Year 4 medical students on CPR and choking management skills. The EMU is also in contact with the government about developing a scheme to equip domestic workers with emergency management skills – which could make the difference between life and death for their charges.