Homecoming for CUHK Life Sciences Students Pursuing Their Summer DREAM

A homecoming ceremony was recently held for 15 undergraduate and postgraduate students from the School of Life Sciences at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) who participated in its summer DREAM (Dedicated Research Exchange and Mentorship) internship programme this year. The students finished their research projects on various interesting scientific topics such as seafood allergy, cancer-related proteins, biofuel etc at top overseas universities and institutions, including Harvard University, University of California at Berkeley, University of Tübingen and Academia Sinica. In the ceremony, they shared their research projects and their eye-opening experiences gained from the DREAM programme with other school members.

Qu Dan, a forth-year biochemistry student who went to Harvard Medical School in the DREAM programme, said, ‘It’s my honour to work in the Furie’s lab at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) of Harvard Medical School. Barbara Furie and Bruce Furie, the co-chiefs of the Hemostatis and Thrombosis Division at BIDMC, are two of the world’s most renowned scientists in the field of blood coagulation and thrombosis. Under the supervision of Prof. Huang Mingdong and Dr. Lin Lin, who are both structural biology experts, I’ve learnt some advanced technology of protein expression methods including the Drosophila S2 expression system. During my exchange in Boston, I’ve not only participated in the most advanced research in hemostasis and thrombosis by attending the weekly lab meetings, but also expanded my horizon in various aspects of life sciences by talking to other outstanding scientists from all around the globe during leisure hours. This invaluable experience has opened up my eyes and strengthened my aspiration to pursue a career in scientific research.’

Prof. Chu Ka-hou, Director of the School of Life Sciences, remarked, ‘The School of Life Sciences is committed to providing ample training opportunities for our students beyond the classrooms. The DREAM programme is one of such initiatives and has proved to be very successful in promoting research and the pursuit of excellence among our students.’

Established by the Department of Biochemistry in 2006, the DREAM programme has been opened for application to all students of the School of Life Sciences since it came into being in 2010. The programme aims to provide opportunities for year one and year two students to conduct scientific research projects in laboratories at prestigious institutes overseas, and to increase their exposure to the frontiers of life science research. Before embarking on their research journey, students will be coached by supervisors in the School to learn the basic techniques and background information related to the projects they are going to participate in.

Since the programme was launched, more than 40 students have been sent to overseas institutes around the world, including reputable universities such as Harvard University, University of California, Mayo Clinic, University of Toronto, and Imperial College London. The programme has been a great success. Many participated students have published papers in highly-cited international journals, while some were offered scholarships to pursue a PhD, or invited to spend a year as exchange students at their host institutions.

中大生命科學學院學生　赴海外頂尖機構參與研究
圓「夢」回港　分享深刻體驗

香港中文大學（中大）生命科學學院日前舉行了慶祝儀式，歡迎十五位參加DREAM（Dedicated Research Exchange and Mentorship）暑期實習計劃的本科生和研究生從海外圓「夢」歸來。參加是次實習計劃的學生於暑假往海外著名大學和機構，包括哈佛大學、加州大學伯克萊分校、圖賓根大學和中央研究院等，參與各種有趣的科研項目，如有關海鮮過敏、癌症相關蛋白、生物燃料等研究。他們在慶祝典禮上與其他學院成員分享參與是次計劃的難得經驗及成果。

生物化學課程四年級生曲丹在本年DREAM計劃中到哈佛醫學院參與研究，她說：「我很榮幸能夠在哈佛醫學院Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center的Furie實驗室工作。這個實驗室的首席研究員，Barbara Furie和Bruce Furie是血液凝固和血栓形成研究領域中世界知名的科學家。在黃明東教授和林琳博士兩位結構生物學專家的指導下，我學習了最先進的蛋白表達技術，包括果蠅S2表達系統。通過參加每週一次的實驗室會議，我了解到更多有關止血及血栓形成研究的最新發展；透過工餘時間與來自世界各地的優秀科學家的交流，也讓我更深入了解生命科學的不同範疇。這次寶貴的經驗不但讓我大開眼界， 更加強了我將來投身科研的決心。」

生命科學學院主任朱嘉濠教授說：「生命科學學院致力為學生提供課堂以外的培訓機會，DREAM計劃是其中一個非常成功的例子，有效鼓勵學生參與研究，追求卓越。」

DREAM計劃於2006年由生物化學系設立，隨著2010年生命科學學院成立，計劃便開放讓學院所有學生申請。DREAM計劃旨在為一年級和二年級學生提供往海外著名院校或研究機構進行科研的機會，讓他們親身了解生命科學研究的前沿發展。在開展他們的研究之旅前，學生會在學院教授的指導下，學習有關研究的基本技術及背景資料，為他們即將參與的研究項目作充足準備。

自DREAM計劃推出以來，已有超過 40名學生前赴世界各地的科研機構及著名大學進行研究，如哈佛大學、加州大學、梅奧診所、多倫多大學和倫敦帝國學院。計劃非常成功，不少曾參加計劃的學生於知名的國際期刊上發表論文，有些學生則獲獎學金往實習院校攻讀博士學位，或被邀請作為期一年的交換生。

Prof. Ng Cheuk-yiu (middle, front row), Dean of Faculty of Science,
and Prof. Chu Ka-hou (third right, front row), Director of School of Life Sciences

Prof. Chu Ka-hou, Director of School of Life
Sciences, delivers a welcoming speech
生命科學學院院長朱嘉濠教授致歡迎詞

DREAM students shared their experience on Summer Interships

Qu Dan, a forth year biochemistry student, and her lab-mates in Harvard Medical School
曲丹同學(生物化學課程4年級生)與她在哈佛醫學院實驗室工作的同事合照

The CUHK team comprises seven coaches and 24 undergraduate students, including 19 life sciences students, four engineering students and one chemistry student. This is the second year that CUHK students have participated in the competition. While participants last year were all from the School of Life Sciences, engineering students from Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering and Electronic Engineering also joined the competition this year to conduct interdisciplinary synthetic biological research. With the theme of renewable energy, the CUHK team studied how the use of solar energy could solve certain problems in two major environmental issues: water and energy. Based on the idea that a bacterial halorhodopsin can use solar energy to drive the transport of chloride ion across the membrane, the team used sunlight to drive the ion channel to concentrate ion or desalt seawater for freshwater production and create electric current to produce electricity simultaneously. 

The students' work was greatly acclaimed by the panel of judges. One of the judges, Prof. Mukund Tattai of the National Centre for Biological Sciences (India), who presented the team with the Best BioBrick Measurement Approach award, commented that the team had done extensive characterizations to the BioBrick which is well ready for use by the research community.  Another panel judge, Prof. Qi Ouyang of Peking University, who presented the team with the Best New BioBrick Part (Natural) award, commended the team's creativity in making use of an ion transporter found in bacteria to generate electricity. 

This is the first time that regional competitions of iGEM have been held in the US, Europe and Asia. A total of 42 teams from different universities joined the competition in Asia. Since this May, the CUHK team had been devoted to preparing for the competition and developed the project completely by themselves, from defining themes, designing experiments to developing new parts, models and biobricks from scratch. They demonstrated ample team spirit and efforts included publishing a wiki page, producing posters and introducing the project and the new devices on public occasions.

Prof. Chu Ka-hou emphasized that experiential learning beyond classroom was very important in nurturing talents. During the competition, students not only got an opportunity to show their creativity, but also learned the basic experimental skills through making biobricks or software. It also helped enhance their team spirit and time management skills. A biochemistry student, Gordon Chan, said, 'iGEM offers us a rare opportunity to use some state-of-the-art technological instruments and polish skills that are beyond the formal curriculum, including experimental techniques, writing skills, leadership skills, social skills, statistical analysis and presentation skills. The heavy workload also trained up my perseverance.' 

About iGEM Competition

iGEM is an annual premier synthetic biology competition for undergraduates worldwide. It was established by the MIT in 2004 to foster students' learning in synthetic biology, promote collaboration among students and nurture biology talents. Participating teams are required to specify, design, build, and test simple biological systems made from standard, interchangeable biological parts. The accomplishments of these student teams often lead to important advances in medicine, energy, and the environment. For more information, please visit http://www.igem.org.

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中大本科生奪國際遺傳工程機器設計競賽亞洲區金獎　
下月赴美參加世界賽

由香港中文大學（中大）理學院及工程學院本科生組成的基因工程隊伍日前在國際遺傳工程機器設計競賽（iGEM）的亞洲區比賽中榮獲金獎，並同時獲頒最佳生物新天然零件及最佳零件實驗量度兩項大獎，取得晉身世界賽的入場券，將於下月赴美國麻省理工學院參加iGEM決賽，與全球五十多隊隊伍一較高下。中大理學院院長伍灼耀教授、工程學院副院長黃錦輝教授和生命科學學院院長朱嘉濠教授今天（10月25日）頒發獎狀予各得獎同學，並讚揚他們的傑出表現。 

中大隊伍由七名教練及廿四名同學組成，包括十九名生命科學學院的學生、四名工程學院學生及一名化學系學生。中大生命科學學院去年首度參賽，今年更首度加入工程學院的學生，他們分別來自生物醫學工程學課程、計算機科學與工程學系和電子工程學系，與理學院學生一起進行跨學科的合成生物學研究。中大隊伍的參賽項目以再生能源為題，使用太陽能改善水源和能源兩大環境問題。基於細菌內的感光離子通道可透過太陽能來輸送氯離子，中大隊伍開發的項目利用太陽光照促使細菌吸收離子，一方面吸走水中鹽份有助海水化淡，同時可產生電流來發電。 

評審小組對中大的項目讚賞不已，來自印度國立生物科學中心的達泰牧艾教授在頒發最佳零件實驗量度大獎時表示，中大隊伍所開發的生物零件經過同學的詳細分析後，現已適合提供給其他研究人員使用。另一評審，來自北京大學的歐陽頤教授在頒發生物新天然零件大獎時，特別讚揚使用細菌感光離子通道來發電的構思十分具創意。

今年，賽會首次在美洲、歐洲及亞洲舉辦iGEM分區賽，亞洲區共有四十二隊來自不同大學的隊伍參賽。中大隊伍自今年五月起積極籌備比賽，由訂定題目、設計實驗，到創造生物零件、模型及化學零件，皆完全由同學自行構思。隊員分工合作，既順利完成了實驗，還在互聯網上發表維基網頁、印製海報，並在公開演說中講解其構思的課題及創作的新零件。 

朱嘉濠教授強調，課堂以外的學習經歷對培養人才十分重要，是次比賽為同學提供發揮無限創意的空間，讓他們在親自製作生物零件或編寫軟件的過程中學會基礎實驗的技術，更實踐了時間管理及團隊精神。來自生化課程的陳灝晴同學表示：「iGEM比賽讓我有機會使用一般本科生難以接觸到的嶄新科技儀器和技術，還可學習到多項課程外的技巧，如做實驗、寫作、領導能力、社交、統計分析、表達技巧等；繁重的工作量亦使我的毅力得到很好的鍛鍊。」 

iGEM比賽簡介

iGEM比賽為國際合成生物學界每年一度的盛事，專為本科生而設。iGEM由麻省理工學院於2004年創立，旨在促進學生在合成生物學的學習、交流與合作，以培養合成生物學人才。比賽隊伍須利用基本且可交替的生物部件，設計及建立有效的生物系統。參賽作品水平超卓，有效推動醫學、能源及環境等方面的發展。網址：http://www.igem.org。

At a celebration held today (24 November), Prof. Joseph J. Y. Sung, CUHK Vice-Chancellor, congratulated the students and the newly-established School of Life Sciences on their achievement. ‘The competition encourages students to develop research projects to benefit mankind with their creativity and wisdom. It also broadens their horizons by promoting inter-disciplinary learning.’

Using bacteria as an information storage device was proposed about a decade ago. However, the award-winning CUHK team was the first to use the plasmid DNA of Escherichia coli to encrypt and store information not only in the form of text, but also in the forms of images, biological barcodes, etc.

In order to store a massive amount of data, the team proposed to fragment the information and store them in bacteria. A novel information processing system was invented to reconstruct the original information. With this technology, it is estimated that one gram of bacteria can store data of up to 900,000 GB (gigabytes), which is equivalent to 450 hard drives, each with 2 TB (terabytes) of storage capacity.  The biocryptography system has a great potential for long term and large scale data storage, and is also applicable to the production of genetically modified food and organisms.

Prof. Chan King-ming is very pleased with the students’ result. ‘The team was formed early this year, and members have spent endless hours during the past 10 months developing the research project from scratch – from designing experiments, testing out the idea, to creating a website and poster, and presenting in front of a panel of judges.’ The team was led by three instructors – Yu Chi-shing, Li Jing-woei and Yim Kay-yuen Aldrin, and was composed of eight students – Loo Fong-chuen Jacky, Choi Ricky Thomson, Chu Tin-yi, Wong Kit-ying, Chiu Wai-yin Vivien, Mak Ka-yan Cathy, Liu Si-si Sophie and Wong In-chun Ada.

About iGEM Competition
iGEM is the premier synthetic biology competition for undergraduates worldwide.  It began in January 2003 as a month-long course for students to design biological systems, and grew into a competition in 2004. For iGEM 2010, 138 teams with over 1,900 participants from around the world took part.  They are required to specify, design, build, and test simple biological systems made from standard, interchangeable biological parts.  The accomplishments of these student teams often lead to important advances in medicine, energy, and the environment.  

For more information, please visit http://www.igem.ord