Professor Kathy Lui and Professor Miao Qian have been awarded the CAS-Croucher Funding Scheme for Joint Laboratories, which is an initiative to encourage researchers in Hong Kong universities and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) research institutes to work together on highly specific scientific topics.

Each professor will obtain research grant HK$3,000,000 from the Croucher Foundation and HK$750,000 jointly contributed by CUHK and the partnering CAS Institute. In the long run, joint laboratories are expected to be founded through first-hand research collaboration experiences.

Professor Lui from the Department of Chemical Pathology will study “Why cannot the adult mammalian heart regenerate itself: a Treg Perspective” in partnership with CAS’s Centre for Excellence in Molecular Biology Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences. She was supported by the Croucher Innovation Award in 2017 and awarded the first batch of NSFC Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Hong Kong and Macau) in 2019.

She says, “I’m excited and honoured to be part of the CAS-Croucher Joint Laboratories Scheme, as it presents a unique opportunity to contribute to pioneering research alongside esteemed experts and institutions within the CAS network.” This collaboration not only fuels her passion for advancing cardiovascular science but also inspires hope for developing innovative solutions to complex challenges.

Professor Miao is from the Department of Chemistry. He will collaborate with CAS’s Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry to study “Inherently Chiral π-Conjugated Molecules: from Asymmetric Synthesis to Chiral Electronic Materials”. His research interests include design and synthesis of novel polycyclic aromatic molecules with interesting structures and useful applications, and development of high-performance organic semiconductor materials and devices using tools from organic synthesis, supramolecular chemistry and surface chemistry.

He is deeply grateful to the Croucher Foundation for their continuous support. “By merging their strengths in asymmetric synthesis and organic electronic materials, we aspire to develop novel organic optoelectronic materials and devices. This collaboration will significantly contribute to the advancement of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory in Chemical Synthesis.”