RESEARCH AND INNOVATION A Better Test for Water Quality A new tool for determining water quality criteria (WQC) for toxic metals in both fresh and marine waters and under differing temperatures, has been developed by Professor Kenneth Leung of the School of Biological Sciences and Professor Wu Fengchang of Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences. The current WQC have been derived from testing in fixed laboratory conditions, which may not be protective to marine ecosystems because conditions such as temperature and salinity vary across different geographic regions and even seasonally within the same region. These changes can substantially influence the toxicities of metals to marine organisms. New Leukaemia Treatment An international team of scientists led by Dr David Li Xiang from the Department of Chemistry has developed a chemical inhibitor against the trigger of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a fast-growing cancer that attacks bone marrow and blood cells. Their discovery opens a new avenue for treating this life- threatening disease. Dr Li and colleagues from Tsinghua University, the Rockefeller University and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center zoned in on ENL, a recently identified leukaemia-boosting protein. ENL contains a small domain called YEATS. Just as a scanner reads barcode, the ENL YEATS recognises special ‘tags‘ (known as acetylation) on our genome to cause faulty activation of cancerpromoting genes in human AML cells. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Dr Li’s team developed the first-in-class ENL inhibitor that was able to successfully tune down the cancer-promoting gene expression in human AML cells. Moreover, the effect was enhanced when it was applied together with experimental antileukaemia drugs, suggesting a possible combination therapy strategy. “There is still some way to go before we can develop a drug to cure patients with AML, but we will continue exploring the therapeutic potential of inhibiting ENL in leukaemia as well as other cancers,” Dr Li said. Platform for Biomedical Innovation in Greater Bay Area HKU and Guangdong Pharmaceutical University (GDPU) have established a new platform in Zhonghshan for translating research into applications, called the GDPU-HKU Innovations Platform. The Platform will leverage HKU’s research excellence and cutting-edge technologies, and GDPU’s expertise in translating biomedical discoveries into applications and operating an incubation facility, to become a significant innovation centre in the Greater Bay Area. Within five years, the Platform is expected to incubate at least 10 HKU technologies and host at least 50 spinoff companies and become a national-level incubator. Researchers and students are both expected to benefit from the exchange and collaboration opportunities with biomedical industry clusters based in Zhongshan City. The initiative is supported by the Zhongshan Municipal People’s Government and will have three core units: an incubation facility, joint laboratory and technology transfer unit. It will also house a satellite branch of HKU’s State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. Mainland engagement is an important focus for HKU, particularly after the announcement in 2018 that Hong Kongbased scholars can now apply directly for national grants. In 2017–18 our researchers participated in 1,930 joint publications with academic and industry partners on the Mainland and received RMB 25.26 million in joint grants. Common Ground: Mainland Engagement Professor Kenneth Leung and a member of his team study the global water quality data their new tool has revealed. Dr David Li Xiang and his research group at the Department of Chemistry. Professor Paul Tam speaks at the launch of the new GDPU-HKU Innovations Platform in Zhongshan. Professor Leung and Professor Wu overcame that limitation by developing a model that takes account of variable temperature and salinity levels. They then tested it with real-time environmental data of sea surface temperature and salinity from different parts of the world to derive provisional site-specific WQC for more than 30 metals and metalloids. The results indicated metal toxicities to marine organisms generally increase with warmer seawater temperature and when the salinity increases or decreases from the optimum level. Professor Leung noted that their method had other benefits, too “We can reduce the number of toxicity tests, use less chemicals in the tests, kill fewer animals, and greatly save money and time involved in testing,” he said. ︱23 22︱
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