Crème de la Crème in Scientific Innovation

Nine scientific innovation projects led by various research teams have received awards from the International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva 2021, including one Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury Medal, three Gold Medals, two Silver, and three Bronze Medals. These projects cover a wide variety of areas, including health technology, renewable energy and artificial intelligence.

Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury: A Novel Virus-free Anticancer Gene Therapy

Prof. Patrick Tang and Prof. Lan Hui-yao of the Faculty of Medicine have invented a new gene therapy, the novel virus-free anticancer gene therapy, that can regulate gene transcription without using a virus.

By combining RNAi interference technology and ultrasonic microbubble system, shRNA expression plasmids can be guided into the tumour tissues to inhibit the diseased gene at transcriptome level, thereby inducing therapeutic effects. Not only can this invention enhance the safety of clinical practice of gene therapy, it can also be used as a rapid evaluating platform for anticancer efficiency.

Gold Medal: PhotoAir—measuring indoor and outdoor PM2.5 with a mobile phone

Prof. Huang Bo and Yao Shiqi of the Faculty of Social Science have invented PhotoAir, a mobile app, which allows smart phone users to take photos to measure PM2.5 concentrations, indoor or outdoor, day or night in real time regardless of weather conditions.

Grounded on physical optics and empowered by deep neural networks, PhotoAir provides unprecedented levels of accuracy and efficiency in measurements and an incomparable flexibility over traditional instruments, helping citizens to avert from heavily polluted areas and make informed choices towards a healthy lifestyle.

Gold Medal: Self-powered smart watch and wristband enabled by embedded generator

Prof. Liao Wei-hsin, Dr. Cai Mingjing and Dr. Wang Jiahua of the Faculty of Engineering have designed an embedded and compact electromagnetic generator that can self-power wearable gadgets.

Unlike existing smart watches and wristbands, the invention uses a novel magnetic frequency-up converter and harnesses the kinetic energy of human motion. The converter transforms the low-frequency arm swing to achieve the desired output power.

Gold Medal: Highly Sensitive Gas Sensing and Control System

Prof. Ren Wei and Dr. Xu Ke of the Faculty of Engineering have invented a portable and highly sensitive gas sensing system that can provide a variety of information about the concentration, temperature, and pressure of multiple harmful gas components, including CO, NOx, NH3 and SO2, in real time.

The invention has adopted an advanced laser spectroscopy technology and artificial intelligence algorithm, allowing direct application to the fields of environmental protection, such as exhaust monitoring in power plants, the petrochemical industry and vehicle emission, and also in medical treatment.

Silver Medal: Soliste—a Social Listening System for Understanding Your Customer

Members: Prof. Wong Kam-fai and Dr. Gabriel Fung of the Faculty of Engineering

Silver Medal: Harvesting energy from walking human body

Members: Prof. Liao Wei-hsin, Dr. Gao Fei, Liu Gaoyu, Brendon Chung Lik-hang and Hugo Chan Hung-tin of the Faculty of Engineering

Bronze Medal: QuickCAS—an easy-to-use analysis system for quick detection of infectious pathogens in clinical samples

Members: Prof. Zhang Li, Dr. Yang Lidong and Liu Wai Shing of the Faculty of Engineering; Dr. Sunny Wong, Prof. Philip Chiu, Dr. Chan Kai-fung and Prof. Margaret Ip of the Faculty of Medicine; Prof. Joseph Sung, CUHK Emeritus Professor

Bronze Medal: Dementia screening in 30 seconds with one simple drawing

Members: Prof. Kelvin Choi of the Faculty of Medicine

Bronze Medal: Intelligent magnetic anchored and guided endoscope for minimally invasive surgery

Members: Prof. Li Zheng, Prof. Calvin Ng, Prof. Philip Chiu and Truman Cheng of the Faculty of Medicine; Prof. Joseph Sung, CUHK Emeritus Professor