Our Assistant Professor Dr Wai Kit Chu has been awarded with the United College Early Career Research Excellence Award. The Award was established by Mr Joseph W N Cheung, College Trustee, to promote research excellence and to recognise and honour outstanding academic staff members of the College at the outset of their independent research careers. Dr Chu has an excellent track record in research.

Dr Chu’s research focuses on seven major areas, including the regulation of apoptosis in retinoblastoma, autoimmune eye inflammation, pathogenesis of a mitosis related corneal opacity disease sclerocornea, pathophysiology of pterygium, molecular mechanisms in glaucoma, thyroid-associated orbitopathy, and ultrasound eye drug delivery. By collaborating with Professor Andrew Schally, the 1977 Nobel Prize laureate in Medicine, Dr Chu published a research article as the first author in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America in 2016.

In the research of retinoblastoma, Dr Chu and his research team have been exploring an alternative pathway that can induce apoptosis to limit uncontrolled cell growth in retinoblastoma, which may open up new treatment options to treat this most common primary malignancy in the eyes of children. Dr Chu’s latest research projects, 3D Printing of Miniature Robots for Minimally Invasive Ophthalmological Treatment, has successfully received a highly competitive grant from the Research Grants Council of the University Grants Committee. Dr Chu has also received other major research grants, awards, and honours, such as the Innovation and Technology Fund (2018-2020), the National Natural Science Foundation of China Fund (2018-2021 and 2020-2023), and the Asia Pacific Academic of Ophthalmology Achievement Award (2019).

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