On February 18, Sinovac Holdings Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Kexing Holdings") and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (hereinafter referred to as "CUHK") jointly announced that they will jointly build a biosafety level 3 (P3) in CUHK. ) laboratory to carry out research work in the fields of epidemiology, immunology, and microbiology.
Sinovac Chairman, President and CEO Yin Weidong and CUHK President Duan Chongzhi signed the agreement on behalf of both parties.
Chang Duan Chongzhi (left) and Kexing Holdings Chairman, President and CEO Yin Weidong (right) (Photo courtesy of the company)
Yin Weidong said: "CUHK is not only a comprehensive research university, but also a world leader in stem cell research and gene therapy in professional fields. The P3 laboratory that we plan to jointly establish will enable us to quickly conduct research on Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. It is necessary to make preparations and judgments on the epidemic situation of infectious diseases, improve the monitoring level, and improve the implementation of vaccination strategies, so as to make sufficient technical reserves for future research related to emerging infectious diseases."
Duan Chongzhi expressed his expectations for the cooperation between the two parties: "I eagerly look forward to working with Kexing Holdings to jointly build the P3 laboratory and jointly carry out innovative biomedical research and development projects to contribute to the prevention and control of human diseases. In the country's '14th Five-Year Plan' Under the plan, CUHK will actively leverage its own advantages and collaborate with powerful partners to help build Hong Kong into a world-leading center for innovative biomedical research."
In recent years, CUHK has made great achievements in the fields of biology and medicine.
He was awarded the National Science and Technology Progress Award of China for his research on molecular targeted precision therapy of lung cancer and ischemic stroke, and the second prize of the National Natural Science Award for his research on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
During the epidemic, the CUHK research team also published a number of related research results, including a study by the School of Medicine that revealed that the imbalance of intestinal bacteria in patients with new coronary pneumonia is associated with the risk of long-term sequelae; the artificial intelligence system jointly developed by the School of Engineering and the School of Medicine can automatically analyze New coronary pneumonia infection lesions on chest computed tomography images, etc.
Four projects of CUHK have been selected for the "Second Round of Collaborative Research Fellowships and One-off Research Projects Related to COVID-19 and Novel Infectious Diseases" announced by the RGC earlier, to contribute to the fight against COVID-19 in the fields of engineering and medicine offer advice.