News & Stories

Pursuing undergraduate studies in Hong Kong 15 years ago marked the start of a highly rewarding journey for Malaysian native Dr. Nick CHIN Jing-Wei. He not only realized his dream of establishing a technology start-up, but also set up his own family here.

Meet Dr. Melody CHUNG Jin-Teng, a HKUST-nurtured female researcher and entrepreneur whose delivery technology start-up Allegrow Biotech Ltd. (“Allegrow”) is ensuring needy patients can easily access affordable top quality cell therapeutics.

People who suffer from diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration would usually be treated with intravitreal eye injections — a procedure to deliver drugs directly to the eye using a thin, tiny needle. This invasive treatment involves a certain degree of risk and the scary-looking procedure is surely not for the fainted heart. Langston SUEN and his fellow researchers at HKUST explored an alternative method of non-invasive drug delivery using ultrasound as part of his PhD studies at the University. Now he is working with pharmaceuticals to bring the technology to market. 

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) hosted the first Asia Regional Jamboree of the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM), an undergraduate Synthetic Biology competition launched by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2003. Over 40 teams from universities in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, India and Australia have just gathered at HKUST and participated in the event. HKUST team has been selected as one of the 18 teams going to MIT for the final competition in November and has also won the Best Presentation Award in the Asia Regional Jamboree for its outstanding performance.