Bulletin Number Four 1985

submit a research report by the end o f the first year. A t the end o f the second year, the student must submit a thesis and attend an oral examination. Research Activities Over the years, staff o f the Department have been recruited to undertake undergraduate teaching and direct postgraduate research. There are fourteen academic staff in the Department, and research in a variety o f subdisciplines has been carried out by individual members o f staff and their graduate students. This arrangement has been quite productive as attested by the submission o f seventy theses for higher degrees and the production o f more than 650 publications. The great majority o f research papers was published in international journals. Recently much thought has been given to assembling 'Teams' for research purposes. Oppor tunities for individual research should be retained, but team research should be encouraged to a greater extent. There are now under the Department two major research groups: the Research Laboratory for Food Protein Production and the Marine Science Laboratory. Research Laboratory fo r Food Protein Production Research activities o f the Laboratory are carried out along two main directions: (1) Production o f algal protein as food for aquaculture and feed for livestocks from sewage wastes, and (2) Production o f mushrooms from cotton wastes and used tea leaves. Both research efforts are correlative w ith the dual goal to convert waste materials through microbial activities into food or feed protein on one hand, and solve the problem o f waste disposal in order to minimize environmental pollution on the other. A t present, active research concentrates on the following projects: a) Studies o f protoplast production and fusion in edible fungi, b) Analysis o f vitamin contents and other chemical composition o f edible mushrooms, c) Cultivation o f edible mushrooms, d) Determination o f animal manure and sewage sludge effects as supple­ mentary feeds for livestock and fish, e) Studies on algal protoplasts, and f) Chemical analysis o f a high protein blue-green alga grown in sewage effluent. Marine Science Laboratory The research activities o f the Laboratory involve studies on the physiology o f several species o f fish (sea breams and groupers) and the penaeid shrimps which are o f maricultural importance. Studies on fish include investigations on the effects o f hor mones, diets and environmental factors (salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen) on growth and intermediary metabolism. Research on shrimp physio logy has been extended into the areas o f nutritional energetics, development and transport physiology. Besides academic interests, these studies w ill provide the basic information required for the development o f scientific methods in mariculture. It is hoped that these studies would eventually benefit the local mari culture industry, which at the present time, is still at a developing stage. To maintain a constant contact w ith the local mariculture industry, the Laboratory has been producing enough shrimp larvae for sale to local fishermen at nominal prices. Members o f the Department also contribute to other interdepartmental research groups, notably the Research Centre on Chinese Medicinal Materials and the proposed Biotechnology Laboratory. In addition, active research is conducted in areas o f bacteriophage genetics ， microbial genetics, physio logy and metabolism, microbial protoplast fusion, comparative endocrinology, embryology o f fish and crustaceans, entomology, environmental pollution (especially by heavy metals) and plant physiology (including tissue culture). Host o f Local, Regional and International Organizations Hong Kong Research Council in Biological Education Since 1971, the Department has been the base o f the Hong Kong Research Council in Biological Education, which has published several editions o f the textbook Modem Biology for secondary school students, in both English and Chinese. UNESCO Regional Network fo r Microbiology in Southeast Asia The Department serves as the Headquarters o f the Regional Network for Microbiology in Southeast Asia, which is under the auspices o f UNESCO, from March 1984 to February 1987. The Microbiology Newsletter is published by the Headquarters o f the Regional Network twice yearly, and three issues have so far been published in Hong Kong. International Mushroom Society fo r the Tropics The International Mushroom Society for the Tropics was founded in Manila, the Philippines in 1980. Since then the Department has been the host o f the Society. The Mushroom Newsletter fo r the Tropics, the official publication o f the Society, is published quarterly. Five volumes, in total twenty issues, o f the Newsletter have been published since 1980. The Newsletters contain contributions on all aspects o f the research, cultivation and economics o f edible mushrooms, particularly those which can be grown in tropical climates. Hong Kong Society o f Microbiology The Department served as host to the Hong Kong Society o f Microbiology from 1979 to 1984. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS 13