CUHK Professor Jun Yu (left), Professor Chan Hsiao Chang (middle) and Professor Li Gang (right) receive State Natural Science Awards

Prize Presentation Ceremony of State Natural Science Award was held on 3 November at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, to recognize outstanding scientists and teams who have made outstanding contributions in the process of technological research, technological development, technological innovation, promotion and application of advanced scientific and technological achievements, and promotion of high-tech industrialization. The research teams of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) were honored with the State Natural Science Awards in recognition of their outstanding achievements in scientific research.

The research team led by Professor Jun Yu from the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics received the State Natural Science Award (SNSA) second-class award for the project entitled “Integrative Research on Natural History, Mechanism, Potential Diagnostic and Therapeutic Targets for Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and its related Hepatocellular Carcinoma”. Members of the team also include Professor Vincent Wai Sun Wong, Professor Henry Lik Yuen Chan, Professor Xiang Zhang, and Professor Joseph Jao Yiu Sung. For 18 years, Professor Jun Yu, Professor Vincent Wai Sun Wong and their team have achieved a series of major breakthroughs, which not only broadens the understanding of the occurrence, development process and high risk factors of Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but also elucidates the critical molecular mechanism of the development of NAFLD and its related HCC, followed by identification of potential therapeutic targets. More importantly, the findings of this project have thoroughly accelerated the development of prevention, non-invasive early diagnosis, assessment, and treatment for NAFLD, providing an unneglectable and solid step in overcoming NAFLD in the future. Altogether, this project has brought tremendous insights into basic and translational research on NAFLD.

Professor Li Gang, CUHK Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, and his team, won the 2020 1^st Class State Scientific and Technological Progress Award for the project “Severe War Trauma Bone Defect Repair and Treatment System and Key Technologies”.  Over the past 20 years, Professor Li Gang has worked closely with mainland universities to establish a new four-category standard for severe bone defects, putting forward four new treatment concepts, and established four new technologies. Winning the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award is a high affirmation and commendation for their research achievement.

Professor Chan Hsiao Chang, Emeritus Professor of CUHK School of Biomedical Sciences, won 2020 2^nd Class State Scientific and Technological Progress Award as a team member of Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences Professor Huang He-Feng, for the project in prevention and control of developmental diseases and hereditary birth defects.

Details of the award can be found at the website: http://www.most.gov.cn/ztzl/gjkxjsjldh/jldh2020/

Professor Xia Ke-Qing, Emeritus Professor and Choh-Ming Li Professor of Physics of CUHK, has been elected a Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

Professor Xia Ke-Qing, Emeritus Professor and Choh-Ming Li Professor of Physics of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), has been elected a Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in recognition of his remarkable contributions in the field of fluid mechanics and fluid turbulence. Professor Xia worked in the Department of Physics during 1992 to 2018 in CUHK.

65 scholars were selected as Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the year 2021. For the complete list of awardees, please visit the official website: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/aJn7Nx7UWz6JyhrCzHAKvw

Prof. Tom Luo, Vice President of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, is selected as a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE)

Prof. Tom Luo of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHKSZ), has been selected as a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE). Professor Luo is serving as the Vice President of CUHKSZ, the Director of Shenzhen Research Institute of Big Data and also the Director of CUHKSZ-Tencent AI Lab Joint Laboratory on Machine Intelligence. He is also the director of CUHKSZ-Shenzhen Research Institute of Big Data-Huawei Innovation Laboratory of Future Network System Optimization. Professor Luo’s research mainly addresses mathematical issues in information sciences, with particular focus on the design, analysis and applications of optimization algorithms.