Passion for SIGHT

By Prof Ying Chau

Division of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Date:	04 Oct 2016

Time:	12:30 pm - 2 pm (Lunch included)

Venue:	HKUST Business School Central 15/F, Hong Kong Club Building 3A Chater Road, Central, Hong Kong

Remarks:	Registration starts one month before the talk.

Enquires:	Miss Fanny Yue 2358 5019 / science.for.lunch@ust.hk

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Eye diseases are more prevalent in aging populations and are attracting increasing attention from the pharmaceutical industry. For many people, conditions that affect the retina require monthly injections of drugs into the eye. In addition to patient discomfort, this increases the risk of infection and cataracts. Prof Chau’s research team has developed injectable biomaterials of hydrogel and nanoparticles that are long lasting, thus cutting down on the number of undesirable injections and reducing the healthcare cost. Her lab has also patented a needleless method that employs ultrasound to deliver drugs into the eye, and this technology is now being commercialized by a former student. For Prof Chau, “sight” has yet another meaning – Student Innovation for Global Health Technology (SIGHT). This new education platform, founded and currently directed by Prof Chau, aims to transform the collaborative creativity of students into a tangible impact on public health under low-resource conditions. She will introduce her research projects and activity of SIGHT.

Prof Ying Chau
Division of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Prof Ying Chau is an Associate Professor in the Division of Biomedical Engineering at the HKUST, holding a joint appointment in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. She is the founder and Director of SIGHT (Student Innovation for Global Health Technology), a cross-disciplinary education initiative at HKUST. She was a founding member of the Biomedical Engineering discipline at the Hong Kong Institutions of Engineers, and is currently serving as a council member for the Hong Kong Biotechnology Organization. Prof Chau received her BSc from Cornell University, MSc from University of Pennsylvania, and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She worked on vaccine development at Merck Research Laboratories in the US (1995-1999). Her current research interests include the design and translation of drug delivery approaches and biomaterials for ocular applications, and the self-assembly and cell interactions of nanostructures derived from polymers and biomolecules.