Network

29 Jun 2018

Professor Malik Peiris rewarded by Nature for being one of the 10 Science Stars of East Asia

HKU-Pasteur Research Pole is delighted to share with you that its Co-Director, Professor Malik Peiris, has been named one of the 10 Science Stars of East Asia by the prestigious medical journal Nature.

Professor Peiris was singled out for his success as “an infectious-disease specialist in Hong Kong, who battles emerging pathogens that threaten the global population". The 10 “Science Stars of East Asia” featured in Nature included outstanding scientists from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. 

HKU-Pasteur's team express its sincere congratulations to Professor Peiris. 

Read the article. 

19 Jun 2018

Keystone Symposia: Framing the Response to Emerging Virus Infections

- Identify the gaps in knowledge and critical barriers to progress in the field by developing an understanding of how viruses – including Zika, Ebola, MERS annd influenza – can transmit between a reservoir and neew host species, and identifying those aspects of the disease process that offer opportunities for therapy and prevention;

- Explore why zoonotic diseases matter, their association with agriculture, the importance of surveillance and early detection, and the difficulties of dealing with diseases that involve both medical and veterinary communities;

- Bring together virologists, immunologists, epidemiologists, those working on anti-viral strategies and others in related biomedical fields who do not usually attend the same meetings.

 

Travel awards, generously funded by the Croucher Foundation and The University of Hong Kong, are available to students, postdoctoral fellows and scientists from East and Southeast Asia who would like to attend this conference, while scholarships are available to students and postdoctoral fellows from any nation. [More info]

 

The conference will feature the following confirmed invited speakers:

 

Ralph S. Baric, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

Mario Barro, Sanofi Pasteur, USA

Andrew G. Bean, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia

Peter Daszak, EcoHealth Alliance, USA

Michael S. Diamond, Washington University School of Medicine, USA

Anna-Bella Failloux, Institute Pasteur, Paris, France

Heinz Feldmann, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, USA

Yi Guan, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Bart L. Haagmans, Erasmus MC, Netherlands

Scott B. Halstead, Dengue Vaccine Initiative, South Korea

Ana Maria Henao-Restrepo, World Health Organization, Switzerland

Nicholas Jackson, Sanofi Pasteur, France

Marion P.G. Koopmans, Erasmus MC, Netherlands

John W. Lowenthal, Australia

Suresh Mahalingam, Griffith University, Australia

Malik Peiris, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Leo Poon, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Raman Rao, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, USA

Ted M. Ross, University of Georgia, USA

Erica Ollmann Saphire, The Scripps Research Institute, USA

Gavin J.D. Smith, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore

Ralph A. Tripp, University of Georgia, USA

Linfa Wang, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore

Scott C. Weaver, University of Texas Medical Branch, USA

Stephen Whitehead, NIAID, National Institutes of Health, USA

KY Yuen, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Jincun Zhao, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Disease, China

 

14 Jun 2018

Registrations for the Croucher Summer Course Precision Genome Engineering by CRISPR are now open

The Croucher Summer Course Precision Genome Engineering by CRISPR, organized by the School of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Hong Kong will be held from August 10 to 15, 2018. 

"Precision genome engineering by CRISPR is a game-changing technology that holds the promise to revolutionize modern biology and medicine. This is the first course or forum in Asia devoted specifically to CRISPR and we have four specific aims: 1) To bring together a group of local and regional researchers interested in CRISPR and educate them with innovative thoughts and cutting-edge technologies; 2) To provide a forum for discussion and knowledge exchange, facilitating a better understanding of the breath and complexity of CRISPR technology among participants and the wider research community; 3) To promote the use of CRISPR technology in Hong Kong and the wider region; 4) To foster collaborations and to strengthen the link of the local and the wider research community to the world."

Topics:

Introduction to CRISPR

Delivery systems of CRISPR

CRISPR in model organisms

CRISPR screens

CRISPR therapeutics

CRISPR in virology, cancer research and stem cell biology

Practical on CRISPR knockout 

Lecturers:

Ben Berkhout (Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands); Osamu Nureki (The University of Tokyo, Japan);  Shengdar Q. Tsai (St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, USA); Sidi Chen (Yale School of Medicine, USA); Bon-Kyoung Koo (Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria); Pengtao Liu (School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong); Kosuke Yusa (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, United Kingdom); Roderick Beijersbergen (Netherlands Cancer Institute, The Netherlands); Andrew Aguirre (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA); Qi Liu (Tongji University, China)

More information and applications.

11 Jun 2018

Vaccinology for Public Health and Clinical Practice in the 21st century

The School of Public Health of the University of Hong Kong will host the Croucher Summer Course Vaccinology for Public Health and Clinical Practice in the 21st century from July 16 to 20 in Hong Kong, under the direction of Prof Joseph T. Wu and Prof Mark Jit. 

This course is designed to provide graduate students and postdoctoral-level scientists an overview of the basic concepts in vaccinology. Participants will learn about the immunological and epidemiological mechanisms of vaccination, the process of developing vaccines, how to measure the efficacy or effectiveness of vaccines, how vaccines influence disease transmission and herd immunity. We will also discuss basic health economic evaluation of vaccines and risk communication on vaccine acceptability.

Learn more.