Newsletter No. 381

No. 381, 19.8.2011 5 IN PLAIN VIEW 洞 明 集 研究隊在藏民村子工作 Research team at work in a Tibetan village 譚兆祥教授採集藏民唾液樣本 Prof. Tam Siu-cheung taking a saliva sample from a Tibetan villager 校 園 消 息 CAMPUS NEWS 譚兆祥教授在1981年加入中大生理學系擔任講師，其 後曾任該系系主任十二年之久，他曾在多倫多大學研製 以血紅素為基質的人工替代血液，在狗身上試驗，能取 代其百分之九十八的血液。在中文大學，他研究出以遮 蔽抗原位點來減低天花粉蛋白的抗原性，這種蛋白注 射到動物身上不會引起過敏反應。他也曾研究這種蛋白 的抗病毒機制，發現這種獨特機制很可能透過信號傳 導通路來調控。過去四年，他把實驗室遷到高原地帶， 研究人類基因對高海拔環境的適應能力。 Prof. Tam Siu-cheung Michael joined the Chinese University in 1981 as a lecturer in then Department of Physiology. For 12 years, he was chairman of the department. Previously at the University of Toronto he had developed a hemoglobin based blood substitute that could replace 98% of a dog’s blood. At CUHK, he managed to reduce the antigenicity of trichosanthin by masking the antigenic sites. This protein can be injected into animals without causing anaphylaxis. He also studied the antiviral mechanism of this protein that is quite unique and likely mediated through signal transduction pathways. In the last four years, he moved his laboratory to the highland and studied genetic adaptation to high altitude. 第九屆中國城市住宅研討會 • China Urban Housing Conference 中 大中國城市住宅研究中心與國家住房和城鄉建設部（住建部）科學技術委員會於7月8至9日在中 大校園合辦第九屆中國城市住宅研討會。該中心主任鄒經宇教授主持研討會開幕，中大副校長 黃乃正教授及住建部科學技術委員會常務副主任李秉仁先生致開幕辭。逾二百位來自兩岸四地及海外 的城市與住宅研究專家出席研討會，發表了約九十篇學術報告。會上，住建部副部長仇保興教授發表主 題演講。 中國城市住宅研究中心是在國家建設部科學技術委員會的領導與支持下，於1998年在北京成立，其後定 期在香港、北京、紹興、重慶、合肥等地舉行會議。 T he 9th China Urban Housing Conference, co-organized by the Centre for Housing Innovations (CHI) of CUHK and the Science and Technology Committee of the Ministry of Housing and Urban- Rural Development (MOHURD), was held from 8 to 9 July on CUHK campus. Guests officiating at the opening ceremony included Mr. Li Bingren, deputy director of the Science and Technology Committee of the MOHURD; Prof. Henry N.C. Wong, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of CUHK; and Prof. Tsou Jin-yeu, director of CHI. Over 200 scholars in the field of housing and urban-rural development attended the conference and around 90 academic reports were published. Prof. Chou Baoxing, director of the Science and Technology Committee of the MOHURD, gave the keynote speech. The CHI was established in 1998 in Beijing under the guidance and support of the Science and Technology Committee of MOHURD. Since then, conferences on China urban housing have been held in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shaoxing, Chongqing and Hefei. The event has become one of the key international academic activities in the area of China housing research. 黃乃正教授（右）致送紀念品予仇保興教授 Prof. Henry N.C. Wong (right) presents a souvenir to Prof. Chou Baoxing Mount Everest. Conversations with him easily touched on topics such as genes’ impact on the human body, a climber’s worst fear—altitude sickness, and how Tibetans move with ease on high plains. He even speculated that the last might have to do with genetic adjustments. Professor Tam felt it was a topic worth pursuing. He had excellent connections in Yunnan whose high plateau area near Tibet was inhabited by Tibetan communities. Doing research in Yunnan would be much easier than in Tibet. Prof. Tam got in touch with one of his long-time collaborators, the Yunnan Population and Family Planning Research Institute who agreed to render him full support. A team comprising experts from mainland China, Hong Kong and England was formed and Deqin County in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Northern Yunnan was chosen as their base. The job of the team was to take gene samples from the Tibetans. Located 3,800 metres above sea level, less than 50 miles south of Tibet, Deqin County has a fully Tibetan population of 60,000. Most villages had little contact with the outside, and every winter, snow would cut the mountain off from the rest of the world. ‘The less contact with outsiders, the more racially pure the ethnic group and the more representative the gene samples,’ Professor Tam explained. ‘We picked far-flung villages, miles away from main thoroughfares and towns. The other criteria were that the distance between two villages was at least five miles and that they were not strongly related by blood. We had to negotiate treacherous mountain paths daily, often next to a plunging abyss. It was both exciting and dangerous.’ On the first day of setting up base, almost every member of the research team showed signs of altitude sickness. Professor Tam had a throbbing headache that kept him awake all night. At Deqin, they made their ascent in two groups and entered the villages under the guidance of the institute’s staff. With the consent of the village chief and the villagers, they started collecting saliva samples. The team paid two visits to Deqin, the first in the summer of 2006 when due to inexperience, they only managed to land 80 samples. The three-week September 2008 trip, however, yielded 600. The samples were sent to the Beijing Institute of Genomics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The result was as expected—it’s in the genes. Compared to the Han, Tibetans’ EPASI gene has a mutated form that does not make the H1F2 a protein which stimulates red blood cell production. This lower red blood cell count protects them from altitude sickness. But how do they manage to take in enough oxygen? That would perhaps be another topic for research. In June last year, the project findings were published in the authoritative journal PNAS . They were confirmed by another research report appearing in Science a month later. This discovery is a beginning that can possibly open doors to other fascinating studies. For example, how does the EPASI gene affect the fertility of Han women living in high plains? Having worked for three decades at CUHK, Prof. Tam Shiu-cheung quipped that it’s time for him to retire. Let’s hope that other researchers will continue down the path and reveal more secrets about life in the mountains.