Talk Series on Emerging Technologies 2025
Introduction
Emerging technologies such as quantum engineering, genome editing, AI and renewable energy are set to have profound impacts on our daily lives, our planet, and our way of understanding nature and even ourselves. To inform high school students and teachers about the latest technologies and to prepare our next generations for the opportunities and challenges ahead of us, YASHK and The Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education (HKAGE) with the support from Education Bureau (EDB) co-organised the “Talk Series on Emerging Technologies — Science, Opportunities and Challenges".
In this series, there are thematic sessions on a wide range of topics, such as Genome Editing, Quantum Materials, AI, Climate Change, Cosmology and COVID-19. The series have begun since July 2019.
Introduction
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is commonly referred as the blueprint of life because it contains the detail instructions required for an organism to survive, grow, develop, and reproduce. Besides this, more and more scientists have been harnessing the unique properties of DNA to build innovative systems and tools that propel science and technology forward, such as DNA data storage, aptamers, nanostructures, drug delivery, sensors, and etc. In this talk, we will present key concepts and examples from each category of system/tool and provide our views on the future directions in this exciting area of research.
Poster
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The Speaker
Dr. Chun-Kit KWOK, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, CityU
Professor Julian TANNER, Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences, HKUMed, HKU
Introduction
The world is full of chirality. Chirality is a fundamental symmetry property in molecules. Chirality has already been recognized as one of the most important consideration in drug discovery, since chiral molecules can turn out to be effective in one of the forms only while the other form does not show any positive results. The effect of chiral molecule to cosmetic science is still underdeveloped. We will discuss what is chirality and how does it affect drugs and skincare products.
Poster
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The Speaker
Dr. WANG Jun (Joelle), Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, HKBU
Introduction
We live in the age of information. But do you really know what information is, at its most fundamental level? Do you know what role information plays in the fundamental laws of nature? In this talk, you will hear about a new type of information, called quantum information, which arises in the world of elementary particles, and promises to have huge impact on society and everyday life. We will see that fundamental questions about quantum information and the nature of reality have led to the invention of powerful new technologies, such as secret communication systems that cannot be decrypted by any hacker, and ultrapowerful computers that will overcome today’s best supercomputers. Finally, we will explore how quantum information is changing our view of the universe, transforming our notions of space, time, cause and effect. The talk will be accessible to all audiences, no need of any science background.
Poster
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The Speaker
Professor Giulio CHIRIBELLA, Professor and Associate Department Head (Research), Department of Computer Science, HKU
Introduction
Cloud Computing is a new economic infrastructure in the era of big data and AI; it provides technologies to operate massive data. However, many challenges in cloud computing remain essentially unsolved while new ones emerge constantly; solving them requires solid and new mathematical knowledge. Speaker will introduce some basic operational research models (e.g., the bin packing problem and the assignment problem), and showcase how to generalize them to capture some important cloud computing problems. Speaker will also explain why it is challenging to design efficient algorithms for these models, and hopefully to inspire more thoughtful ideas.
Poster
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The Speaker
Prof. Xiaoming YUAN, Professor, Department of Mathematics, HKU
Introduction
In this talk, we will share some advances in techniques to manipulate tiny amount of liquids. When combined with advanced imaging and detection tools, the integrated platform has enabled faster and more precise diagnosis and monitoring of diseases with smaller amount of samples. How do we make the approach more accessible to non-experts? What are some strategies to diagnose more diseases in order to benefit a wider variety of patients? How can biomedical needs be addressed through engineering innovations? These are the big questions that we hope to get inputs from the audience.
Poster
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The Speakers
Prof. Anderson SHUM, President, The Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences; Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, HKU
Prof. Kevin TSIA, Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, HKU
Introduction
This lecture will focus on:
- The introduction of our immune system and its importance in fighting cancer;
- The basic principles of different kinds of anti-cancer immunotherapies, their advantages and disadvantages;
- The preclinical and clinical evidence that shows the power of immunotherapies, and the future drug innovations and directions of immunotherapies as cancer treatments.
Poster
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The Speakers
Dr Carmen Chak-lui WONG, Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, HKU
Dr Ka-on LAM, Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Oncology, HKU
Co-organised By:
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