Newsletter No. 542

07 # 5 4 2 | 0 4 . 0 9 . 2 0 1 9 中大（深圳）今年在全國二十五個省市和自治區錄取一千二百三十位本科生，當中 五百五十七位透過綜合評價辦法入讀，三十七位為外語類保送生。中大深圳分校連 續四年成為廣東省院校中錄取分數最高的大學，文科的最低入學成績為六百一十八 分，超越一本線七十二分；理科最低分數為六百三十六分，超越一本線一百四十一 分。經管學院和理工學院合辦、提供量化金融和金融科技主修的金融工程課程為 本年度最受歡迎科目。 This year, CUHK (SZ) admitted 1,230 undergraduate students from 25 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in mainland China, among which 557 was recruited via the comprehensive evaluation system, and 37 under the auspices of the foreign language studies student recommendation policy. With the highest admission scores among universities in Guangdong for four years running, the Shenzhen campus saw the lowest score for arts subjects in Gaokao at 618, surpassing the entry threshold for key universities by 72 marks. For science subjects, the admission score was 636 at its lowest, with 141 marks above the said threshold. This year, the University’s most popular programme resided in Financial Engineering, a joint programme by School of Management and Economics and School of Science and Engineering offering concentrations in Quantitative Finance and FinTech. 中大（深圳）收生報捷 CUHK (SZ) Harvests the Cream of the Crop 速製納米材料 Nanomaterials Made Quick and Easy 生物醫學工程學系邊黎明教授及其研究團隊發明製造單鏈納米物料的新方法，效率比傳統辦法 提升二十倍。長久以來，研究人員重視精準控制合成物料中分子設計的結構和功能，因這對調 校大小各異的生物物料的性質和功能起着關鍵作用。過往，單鏈聚合物納米粒子或納米凝膠只 能夠少量或緩慢生產，嚴重妨礙其廣泛應用。現在，新方法便利此納米物料的大幅生產和廣泛 應用，如送遞基因或藥物、保護和調節幹細胞等，後者對幹細胞治療、幹細胞組織工程應用和 科學研究至為重要。此項研究成果已於著名科學期刊《自然通訊》發表。 A research team led by Prof. Bian Liming of the Department of Biomedical Engineering developed a novel approach to preparing single-chain nanomaterial which boasts an over 20-fold increase in efficiency over traditional methods. The ability to precisely control the structure and the functions of molecular-level designs as in synthetic materials means much to researchers, because they are crucial to regulating the properties and functions of the last at various scales. Traditionally, single-chain polymeric nanoparticles or nano-gels can only be produced in limited yield, which severely hinders the wide application of such nano-objects. By dramatically easing their production, the nanomaterials can now be produced on a large scale, enabling their use in gene or drug delivery, protection of stem cells and regulation of stem cells behaviour, which are of great significance in stem cell therapy, stem cell tissue engineering application and scientific research. This influential biomedical study was published in Nature Communications . 不戰而屈癌細胞 Putting the CAR-T before Cancer 醫學院將開展針對血癌的細胞治療臨床研究，冀能增加患者存活率和延長其存活 期。此細胞治療為免疫療法，利用患者自身免疫反應殲滅癌細胞，故能避免傳統 治療如化療和血液幹細胞移植引起的嚴重併發症。治療會先從患者血液提取抵禦 外來感染、殺死癌細胞的T細胞，然後在合規格實驗室內，運用基因技術為原本無 法識別隱密癌症的T細胞裝上有如雷達的受體。當經基因改造的T細胞輸回患者體 內，它們便可鎖定癌細胞位置，將其消滅。為配合研究，大學將設立全港首個符合 「生產質量管理規範」的嵌合抗原受體T細胞（CAR-T細胞）實驗室，預計2020年 落成。 The Faculty of Medicine is to start clinical trials of a cellular therapy that prolongs overall survival of patients with haematological malignancies. An immunotherapy that harnesses the power of the patient’s own immune system and hence avoids complications in conventional treatments like chemotherapy and haematopoietic stem cell transplant, the Chimeric antigen receptor-T cell (CAR-T cell) therapy extracts T cells, which fight infections and kill cancer cells, from the patient’s blood. By modifying these cells genetically in a qualified laboratory and building in radar-like receptors on them, the T-cells can then recognize and attack cancer cells, including those that used to evade the immune system, upon being reinfused into the patient’s body. Tying in with the trials, a CART-cell laboratory licensed with Good Manufacturing Practice, the city’s first, is expected to be built by 2020.