It has become apparent over last decade that in this post-genomic era, protein structure-function study is of major importance in understanding the molecular basis of cellular pathways and developing therapeutic targets.

Our ongoing research projects focus on proteins in cellular signaling and biomedical science, proteins of pathogenic microorganisms and proteins of biotechnological significance. Multidisciplinary techniques including protein engineering, biophysical characterization and X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy to study the structure-function relationship of proteins are employed.

 

 

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PS 04 

 

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 PS 05
 

 

The research of toxicology and health centres on liver metabolism and detoxification enzymes of drugs and environmental toxicants, chemical carcinogenesis, and the development of biomarkers of effects from chemical toxicants.
Effects of environmental pollutants, such as metals, pesticides, and trace organics on liver metabolism of fish and rats are investigated. Sophisticated techniques involved in the toxicology research include the differential gene expression and proteomic studies, molecular toxicological approach with the use of gene cloning and DNA array as well as the use of enzyme markers or reporter gene systems for the evaluations of potential health risks of the environmental contaminants including endocrine disruptors.
Both mammalian models and fish models are being used for toxicity assessments
  

 AA2
Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer

  

 

 

 

30 Oct - Nov 3 2014


THE CUHK GENETIC ENGINEERING TEAM WON GOLD AWARD AT BOSTON

A genetic engineering team formed by 10 undergraduate students of science and engineering at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has won a gold medal at the iGEM  (international Genetic Engineered Machine) 2014 Giant Jamboree at Boston, USA.  This year, the iGEM foundation celebrated its 10th anniversary at Boston Hynes Convention Centre with 243 teams with close to 3000 participants joining this Championship competition from around the world. There were 79 teams achieved gold medal standard in the competition (http://igem.org/Results?year=2014).

The winning project of the CUHK team was named ABCDE: AzotoBacter vinelandii Cluster-transformable & Deoxygenated protein Expression system.  The innovative idea of using Azotobacter vinelandii D.J. strain to express recombinant protein under anaerobic condition. The ultimate goal of this project is to manipulate an enzyme called nitrogenase, which could capture carbon dioxide to produce methane gas energy after genetic modifications by adding hydrogenase into its genome by genomic recombination. However, this biosynthetic ABCDE system can do a lot more than just producing energy, this novel system can express any protein or enzyme for industrial applications and has potential use in soil or sewage under anaerobic condition with ammonia for bioremediation purposes. Photos and more details of our team and project information could be found at this website: http://www.sls.cuhk.edu.hk/index.php/undergraduate-programmes/msbbs-article-2/dream-program-2/igem-2014. (This project is partly supported by a Teaching Development Grant, 2012-15).

About iGEM Competition 

iGEM is an annual premier synthetic biology competition worldwide for high school, undergraduate and postgraduate students.  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 or provide solutions to tackle problems in medicine, food and nutrition, energy, and the environment.  For more information, please visit http://www.igem.org.

Contacts:

Prof. CHAN King-ming (School of Life Sciences; 3943-4420)

 


香港中文大學基因工程隊伍在波士頓勇奪金獎

 

由香港中文大學（中大）理學院及工程學院十位本科生組成的基因工程隊伍在國際遺傳工程機器設計競賽（iGEM）的世界賽中榮獲金獎。今年為慶祝這項比賽的十周年紀念，iGEM基金會在美國波士頓海恩斯會議中心舉行世界大賽，全球共243隊大學隊伍近三千人參加了今年的比賽，有79隊奪得金獎。

中大隊伍今年參賽項目主題為 ”固氮菌集束轉型蛋白缺氧表達系統(ABCDE)”。今年中大同學的硏究開發項目，開展了利用固氮細菌在缺氧下表達蛋白質生產，長遠更可利用這改造過的集束基因轉移系統來操控固氮酶的表達，或加入了氫酶，更可以吸收二氧化碳來生產甲烷氣體能源。當然，這生物合成系統更有其工業應用價值，亦可以應用在泥土或者污水中缺氧情況下利用氨氣表達蛋白質，作生物修復工程之用。可以在以下網址找到中大隊伍的更多資訊及圖片: http://www.sls.cuhk.edu.hk/index.php/undergraduate-programmes/msbbs-article-2/dream-program-2/igem-2014. (此項目部分資助由教學發展基金,2012-15,贊助。)


iGEM比賽簡介

iGEM比賽為國際合成生物學界每年一度的盛事。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，有效推動解決醫學、食品營養、能源及環境等方面難題的硏究。網址：http://www.igem.org。

2014年11月10日

聯絡人:

陳竟明教授(生命科學學院: 3943-4420)


Information:
1. iGEM Asia 2014 CUHK Team Website

2. Team Members

3. Videos of iGEM CUHK Team Project Presentation: 

    Part 1: Introduction
    Part 2: Biobricks
    Part 3: Modeling
    Part 4: Human Practice and Conclusion
    Part 5: Discussion

2014 iGEM from Above IMG 6492   IMG 6490
 IMG 6491  IMG 6494  IMG 6493


 



 

 

 

 

6 Oct  2015


A genetic engineering team formed by 13 undergraduate students of science and engineering at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has recently won a gold medal at the International Genetic Engineered Machine (iGEM) 2015 Giant World Jamboree held in Boston, USA. This is the fourth time that a CUHK team has won gold in the annual premier synthetic biology competition worldwide among, this year, more than 280 student-led teams from around the world. The winning project designed by the CUHK team has extensive potential applications and may even help solve the recent lead-in-water problem in the city. 

 

The winning project of the CUHK team was named ‘Magnetosome Forming Azotobacter vinelandii’. The students devised a synthetic biology system to generate magnetosome, a kind of biological magnetic particles with hundred times surface-to-volume ratio than the current nanoparticles, inside a soil bacterium called Azotobacter vinelandii under an intracellular anaerobic condition. This innovative system can absorb metals in contaminated waters and soils, thus making it useful to tackle marine pollution problem or the lead contamination problem affecting Hong Kong recently. Potentially, it can also be used to extract any protein or enzyme, and therefore may find its applications in, for instance, food and pharmaceutical industries. With nitrogenase added, the system can also be used to improve the efficiency of biological fuel cells. This project has been supported by the UGC Teaching Development Grant. 

 

Prof. Chan Ting-fung, one of the instructors of the team and associate professor of the School of Life Sciences, CUHK remarked, ‘The judging panel is especially delighted to see the CUHK team’s effort in making standard biobricks for magnetosome biosynthesis which has huge application potential, and their ingenious choice of using Azotobacter as the bacteria of choice, as the biogenesis of magnetosome requires an anaerobic condition, of which the bacterial cells can readily provide.’ 

 

For more information about the winning project, please click the link below:

 

http://2015.igem.org/Team:Hong_Kong-CUHK 

 

About iGEM Competition  

 

iGEM is an annual premier synthetic biology competition worldwide for high school, undergraduate and postgraduate students.  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 or provide solutions to tackle real-world problems in medicine, food and nutrition, energy, and the environment.  For more information, please visit http://www.igem.org.

 


中大基因工程學生隊伍在波士頓再奪遺傳工程世界賽金獎

 

中大基因工程學生隊伍在波士頓再奪遺傳工程世界賽金獎 

由香港中文大學（中大）理學院及工程學院十三位本科生組成的基因工程隊伍在國際遺傳工程機器設計競賽（iGEM）的世界賽中再獲金獎。iGEM是一年一度備受學界重視的比賽，本年度共有 280隊來自世界各地的學生隊伍參賽，中大隊乃第四度在這個比賽中奪金，成績驕人。是次中大的獲獎項目具有廣泛的應用潛力，甚至可協助解決近日困擾港人的鉛水問題。 

中大隊伍今年的參賽項目名為「磁小體固氮菌」。學生們設計了一個生物合成系統，讓一種存在於泥土中的固氮細菌（名為Azotobacter vinelandii）在細胞內缺氧狀態下產生磁小體蛋白質。磁小體蛋白質是一種帶有磁性的生物粒子，其表面積對體積比例較一般納米粒子高出數百倍。此嶄新的系統可用於吸收水和泥土中的金屬，從而解決海洋污染，以及香港最近食水含鉛量超標的問題。長遠而言，此系統可用以分離及抽取任何的蛋白質和酵素，應用於食品及製藥等不同行業。此外，若在系統中加入氫酶，更可以提升微生物燃料電池的能源效益。此項目曾獲教資會教學發展基金的資助。 

中大基因工程隊的指導老師之一、中大生命科學學院副教授陳廷峰教授表示：「比賽評委非常讚賞中大隊參賽項目的概念，為磁小體蛋白質的生物合成研發出標準的生物零件，並巧妙地利用Azotobacter細菌以提供產生磁小體蛋白質所需的缺氧環境。此項目的應用潛力將十分具大。」 

請按以下連結瀏覽更多有關中大隊伍及其項目的資訊： http://2015.igem.org/Team:Hong_Kong-CUHK 

iGEM比賽簡介 

iGEM比賽為國際合成生物學界每年一度的盛事，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，能有效解決醫學、食品營養、能源及環境等方面的難題。iGEM網址：http://www.igem.org。

 

聯絡人:

陳竟明教授(生命科學學院: 3943-4420)

 

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>> Additional Photos

 



 

 

 

 

27 June 2013

Hong Kong-CUHK iGEM Team 2013 Synthetic Biology Talk


1. Invitation Letter

2. Reply Sheet

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7 Oct 2013

Press Releases

CUHK Undergraduate Students Win Silver Medal at iGEM Asia
Heading to US Next Month for World Championship

A genetic engineering team formed by 14 undergraduate students of science and engineering at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has won a silver medal at the iGEM  (international Genetic Engineered Machine) Asia Regional Jamboree.  They also won the Best New BioBrick Part or Device (Engineered) Award and were qualified to compete for the world championship with over 50 elite teams in the iGEM World Jamboree to be held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in November. 

 

The 2013 iGEM Asian Jamboree was held on the CUHK campus during the last weekend (October 4-6).  A total of 65 teams from different universities in over 20 Asian nations or regions joined the competition, among which only 19 teams can compete for the world championship.  Officiating at the opening ceremony, Prof. Joseph Sung, Vice-Chancellor of CUHK expressed his appreciation to all participating students who showed their innovative ideas and dedications in carrying out the experiments.  The students were required to use genetic engineering and synthetic biology approaches to design new strains of bacteria which can produce new materials to solve problems associated with sustainable development, food and energy crises, and to improve medical technologies. 

 

The winning project of the CUHK team was named 'Switch Off PAHs'.  They have designed a voltage switch to control the enzymatic reactions of bacteria so that they can degrade poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) more effectively, such as benzo-a-pyrene (BaP), a common environmental pollutant and a well-known carcinogen.  This innovative technology may be useful in improving air quality and public health.  Over the past five months, the CUHK team had been devoted to developing the project from scratch with great team spirit, from defining themes and experiments to developing new parts, models and biobricks.  They have also published a wiki page, produced posters and introduced the project and the new devices on public occasions. 

 

About iGEM Competition 

 

iGEM is an annual premier synthetic biology competition worldwide for high school, undergraduate and postgraduate students.  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銀獎
下月赴美參加世界賽

由香港中文大學（中大）理學院及工程學院十四位本科生組成的基因工程隊伍在國際遺傳工程機器設計競賽（iGEM）的亞洲區比賽中榮獲銀獎，並同時獲頒最佳生物工程新零件獎。中大隊將於下月赴美國麻省理工學院參加iGEM世界決賽，與全球五十多個精英隊伍一較高下。 

亞洲分區賽昨天（10月6日）在中大舉行，共有六十五隊來自亞洲廿多國家和地區的隊伍參加，當中只有十九隊可晉級世界賽。中大校長沈祖堯教授為比賽主持開幕儀式，並表示十分欣賞參賽學生的創意，全力投入實驗室工作的認真態度。比賽要求學生利用基因工程和合成生物學的方法來改變細菌，使它們能夠生產有用材料，以幫助解決環境、食品及能源等問題，並促進醫療應用技術的發展。 

中大隊伍的參賽項目名為「去掉多環芳香族碳氫化合物 (PAHs)」，他們利用電流刺激來加強不同細菌酵素的連繫，更有效地用細菌分解 PAHs, 例如苯丙芘（常見的環境污染物和致癌物質）。此項嶄新技術可望應用於改善空氣質素及人類健康。中大隊自今年五月起積極籌備比賽，由訂定題目、設計實驗，到創造生物零件及模型等，皆完全由學生自行構思。隊員分工合作，盡顯團結精神，還發表了維基網頁、印製海報，並在公開演說中介紹其構思的課題及創作的新零件。 

iGEM比賽簡介 

iGEM比賽為國際合成生物學界每年一度的盛事，分為高中生、本科生及研究生組別。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。

igem2013-4in1

Additional Information:
1. iGEM Asia 2013 CUHK Team Website igem2013 logo

2. Team Members

3. Photo Album

4. Videos of iGEM CUHK Team:  Part 1 and Part 2

5. Photo Album of iGEM 2013 CUHK team in MIT, US-- Part 1.

6. Photo Album of iGEM 2013 CUHK team in MIT, US-- Part 2.