KT Awards Recipients of Year 2020/21

HKBU Innovation Award

Awardee: Dr Hong Lok LUNG

Department of Chemistry

Project:

“Theranostics Probes for Eradicating Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-Associated Malignancies”

Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infects > 90 % of human populations, and 200,000 new EBV-associated cancer cases are found annually. Dr Lung and his team developed a series of low cost and effective pioneering therapeutic and imaging products to specifically target the EBV-associated malignancies. 

The invention won a Gold Medal at the 2021 International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva and the Best Public Communicator at the BRACE (Bridging Research from Academia to Cancer Entrepreneurship) Award Venture Competition. Supported by HKBU Technology Start-up Support Scheme for Universities (TSSSU), Dr Lung and his team established a spin-off company BP InnoMed Limited (BPI), a drug company which develops new therapeutic agents for EBV-associated tumours.

HKBU Knowledge Transfer Award

Awardee: Dr Eugene Alexander BIRMAN

Department of Music

Project:

“Space to Breathe”

The first transdisciplinary research project to receive support from HKBU's Augmented Creativity Laboratory, "Space to Breathe" unites art and science to dramatise and bring the genuine affliction of air pollution to the forefront of the cultural sphere. 

The information and ideas related to air pollution and the environment are rendered artistically in immersive exhibition and vocal performances. This path-breaking promenade experience unites cross-disciplinary artists in a song of air beyond the Anthropocene.

Supported by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and HKBU Research Impact Support and Enhancement (RISE) fund, the project also won the Excellence and Innovation in the Arts at the Times Higher Education Awards Asia 2021.