The Review 2015

37 Start-up Time for Tissue Engineers Seeding the Future 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 smal l animals, her laboratory has successful ly embedded stem cells from the animals’ own bone marrow into biomaterials to create cartilage- and bone-like t issues. These were then t r ansp l an t ed t o repa i r the animals’ damaged knee joints and showed regeneration outcomes comparable to that of an autograf t (graf t ing 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. Translating knowledge and discovery into impact is the University’s ultimate aim, but it requires more than good intentions to succeed. HKU has been encouraging and supporting scholars to develop their research findings into impact projects, and to incorporate social responsibility and service into the curriculum. Both strategies will be accelerated in the coming years. The Review 2015 Impact