Newsletter No. 8

CUHK Newsletter First Twins from Frozen-thawed Embryos The first twins in Hong Kong produced from frozen-thawed embryos were delivered by caesarean section at the Prince of Wales Hospital on 24th May. Last year, the In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) team of the Faculty of Medicine successfully established the twin pregnancy in a woman by implanting frozen-thawed embryos into her uterus. They were surplus embryos obtained for a previous I VF attempt which turned out to be a f a i l u r e. The emb r y os were deep-frozen ( c r yop r ese r ved) and subsequently f r o z en - t hawed last October before being transferred to the mother's uterus. The twins, a girl weighing 2.05 kg and a boy weighing 1.8 kg, were bom six weeks premature. Both are in healthy condition. The whole project was jointly carried out by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the Depa r tment o f An a t omy w i t h support from the Department of Chemical Pathology and the Lee Hysan Clinical Research Laboratories. The medical and nursing staff of the Prince of Wales Hospital have also rendered valuable assistance. International Symposium on Life Sciences Over 700 prominent scientists from all over the world attended the ‘Third International Symposium and Workshop on L i fe Sciences' held on the campus from 25th to 29th June. The symposium was jointly organized by the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America (SCBA) and The Chinese University, and was formally opened by Sir Quo-wei Lee, chairman of the University Council. Two Nobel Laureates were invited to be keynote speakers: Prof. Yuan-Tseh Lee, professor of Chemistry at the University of California, spoke on molecular beam chemistry; Prof. David Baltimore, professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and president-designate of Rockefeller University, New York, gave a talk on mammalian genetics. Dr. Lap-Chee Tsui from Canada also presented a paper at the symposium. Other papers presented at the five-day conference covered a wide range of topics: viral diseases (AIDS, hepa t i t is and cance r ), gene t i cs, biotechnology, environmental toxicology, immunology, herbal medicine, and plant and animal biology. SCBA is the largest academic Chinese organization in North America with more than 1,300 members. The purpose of organizing a symposium in Hong Kong this year was to encourage scientists from Asia to participate in its activities. Indeed a large portion of the participants this time were from Taiwan, mainland China and Hong Kong. Prof. Savio Woo of Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas was the chairman of the organizing committee of the symposium and Prof. C. Y. Lee of the University was the chairman of the local organizing committee. Conference on Asia-Pacific Business The sixth annual meeting of the Academy of International Business Southeast Asia Region (AIBSEAR) on the theme of ‘Asia-Pacific Business in the 1990s’ took place from 26th to 28th June at the Sheraton Hotel in Hong Kong. The conference this year was jointly organized by the University's Faculty of Business Administration and the Asia-Pacific Institute of Business. Mr. D. A. C. Nendick, the Secretary for Monetary Affairs of Hong Kong, was invited to deliver a keynote speech entitled ‘Financial Business in the Asia-Pacific Region'. 3