Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year Award

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Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year Award

The Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year Award, initiated by the Berlin-based Falling Walls Foundation, showcases and celebrates the most recent breakthroughs in science and society from all around the world. Awardees are selected by a jury comprising globally recognised experts in the fields.

The Falling Walls Foundation, a charity supported by the German government and numerous acclaimed academic institutions, foundations, companies, and NGOs, has been organizing the Science Breakthroughs of the Year Award to foster dialogue on research and innovation globally and promote the latest scientific findings. The event brings together the latest breakthroughs, outstanding science projects and bright minds behind them in scientific, innovation, and humanistic categories.

Laureate

Prof. Apple Chui, School of Life Sciences

Laureate – Science Engagement (Falling Walls Engage) | Breaking the Wall to Engage Schools in Coral Restoration

Prof. Apple Chui from the School of Life Sciences won the Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year 2024 award in the Science Engagement category with her project that has inspired more than 1,000 Hong Kong school students to take part in coral conservation. She presented the School Coral Nursery Education Programme at the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin on 7 November 2024, where it was selected from 130 applications across 60 countries and regions.

Co-launched in 2020 by CUHK’s School of Life Sciences and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government, the programme aims to raise awareness of coral conservation and promote stewardship among students and the broader community. Coral nurseries are set up at local schools where students can actively engage in coral culture, and the corals will be transferred by researchers into the ocean. The initiative is the first and only one in Hong Kong which directly engages primary and secondary schools in coral restoration efforts.

Introduction to Prof. Apple Chui’s winning project

Winners

Two CUHK researchers were shortlisted as one of the top 10 scientists in the category of Engineering and Technology, and top 25 Science Start-ups. They are:


Prof. Shih-Chi Chen, Dept. of Mechanical & Automation Engineering		Prof. Xiao Yang, Dept. of Microbiology
Top 10 Scientists – Engineering and Technology \| Breaking the Wall to Using Ultrafast Multi-Material 3D Nanofabrication		Top 25 Science Start-ups (Falling Walls Venture) \| Ynno Med Ltd.: Breaking the Wall to Novel Antibiotic Candidates
Prof. Shih-Chi Chen of the Faculty of Engineering developed a revolutionary nanoscale 3D printing platform based on femtosecond projection that achieved a record-setting resolution of 20nm, a printing rate of 400mm³/hour, and a lower cost at US$1.5/mm³. It supports nanofabrication with 20 different materials, addressing critical fabrication challenges in nanotechnology, photonics, energy, and biotechnology. Read more: ➢ Introduction to Prof. Shih Chi Chen’s work ➢ Prof. Chen’s interview article		Prof. Xiao Yang co-founded Ynno Med Ltd. (YnnoMed), which focuses on the discovery and development of first-in-class antimicrobial drugs using in-house developed AI-assisted technology, ultimately accelerating the availability of new drugs. YnnoMed has pioneered the development of bacterial transcription inhibitors as new antimicrobial drug candidates to combat the ever-present situation of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.

Finalists

Two CUHK researchers were shortlisted as finalists in two categories, including:


Prof. Li Zhang, Dept. of Mechanical & Automation Engineering		Prof. Shih-Chi Chen, Dept. of Mechanical & Automation Engineering
Engineering and Technology \| Wirelessly-powered soft medical devices that revolutionise clinical therapies		Science Start-ups \| Precision Cut Ltd.
Prof. Li Zhang of CUHK Faculty of Engineering is a world leading pioneer in developing wirelessly-powered soft medical devices that can revolutionise clinical therapies, in particular non-invasive treatments in the digestive system. His breakthroughs include electronic stents for gastric acid reflux treatment, and magnetic slime robot and soft robots that can be deployed in the digestive system for minimally invasive surgery, micromanipulation and targeted drug delivery.		Prof. Shih-Chi Chen co-founded Precision Cut Ltd, which presents an ultrafast microtome that sections fresh tissues and soft materials into thin slices. Combining with light sheet microscopy, Precision Cut offers a personalized medicine medical solution, e.g. tumors from patients are sectioned into thin arrays and cultured alive for drug screening. The 3D imaging platform also realises automated 3D super-resolution imaging. Introduction to Prof. Shih Chi Chen’s start-up: Precision Cut Ltd.

Finalists

Four CUHK researchers were shortlisted as finalists in four categories, including:


Engineering and Technology \| Prof. Li Zhang – Microrobot swarms: Fundamentals and clinical use		Social Sciences and Humanities \| Prof. Stuart M. McManus – The Global Renaissance
Prof. Li Zhang of the Faculty of Engineering is selected as a finalist in the category of Engineering and Technology. Prof. Zhang is a world leading pioneer in the development of microrobot collectives, from the fundamental understanding on their collective behaviors to in vivo tracking and intelligent delivery for clinical applications. His breakthroughs in microrobot swarm have high potential to revolutionise targeted therapy in tiny-and-tortuous lumens deep inside the body.		Prof. Stuart M. McManus of the Faculty of Arts is selected as a finalist in the category of Social Sciences and Humanities. His project examined how global reach of the Spanish and Portuguese empires prompted a remarkable flourishing of Renaissance culture in various parts of the early modern world.


Life Science \| Prof. Michael Pittman – Laser technology shows how dinosaurs took flight		Science Start-ups \| Prof. Maggie Haitian Wang – Computational biology solution to enhance vaccine design and effectiveness
Prof. Michael Pittman of the Faculty of Science is selected as a finalist in the category of Life Science. His laser technique tells us how dinosaurs took flight long ago by revealing soft tissue flying structures that no one has ever seen. These details show that ancestors of birds adopted diverse flight strategies and evolved flight more than once.		Prof. Maggie Haitian Wang of the Faculty of Medicine is selected as a finalist in the category of Science Start-ups. Her start-up, Beth Bioinformatics, provides a bioinformatics and computational solution to predict virus evolution and enhance vaccine design. Her team has developed a platform using genome analysis to predict the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines with 95% accuracy. Introduction to Prof. Maggie Wang’s work

Finalist

Science Start-ups | Prof. Weitian Chen – Illuminatio Medical Technology: Non-invasive technology to diagnose liver fibrosis

In 2021, Prof. Weitian Chen and his team from the Faculty of Medicine was selected as one of the Finalists in the Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year Award in the category of Science Start-ups.

Chronic liver disease (CLD) is a global health problem. The current gold standard for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis, a key CLD feature, is invasive biopsy. Current non-invasive methods still have limitations. The start-up develops a non-invasive MRI technology to directly measure relative collagen content in the liver to detect fibrosis. It does not need extra hardware or any contrast agent. It is convenient for routine clinical use, and for screening and treatment monitoring of liver fibrosis.

Top 10 Scientists

Introduction to Prof. Yi-Chun Lu’s work

Prof. Yi-Chun Lu’s interview with the Falling Walls

Engineering and Technology | Prof. Yi-Chun Lu – Breaking the wall of safe energy storage

In 2020, Prof. Yi-Chun Lu from the Faculty of Engineering was selected as one of the top 10 scientists in the Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year Award in the category of Engineering and Technology. Being the only female Asian scientist in the top 10 of this category, Prof. Lu was recognised for her ground-breaking invention of a safe, high energy, low cost, and environmentally friendly battery that serves as a substitute for commercial lithium-ion batteries which are ubiquitous in our daily lives.

Finalists

Four other CUHK scientists were shortlisted as finalists in other categories, including:

Digital Education | Vice-Chancellor Prof. Rocky S. Tuan – Breaking the wall of international education through virtual student exchange

Taking advantage of digital technology in higher education, the Virtual Student Exchange (VSE) program provides students within the Association of Pacific Rim Universities network an innovative, immersive virtual exchange experience through digital platforms. The VSE program includes academic courses and co-curricular cultural and social community activities.

Physical Sciences | Prof. Lin Liu – Breaking the wall to cryosphere monitoring

The cryosphere, the planet’s frozen parts, has undergone rapid warming in recent decades, posing profound threats to people and the earth systems. With innovative use of AI, computer vision, deep learning, and remote sensing for detecting, characterising, and monitoring changes of the glaciers and the frozen ground from big earth observation data, Prof. Liu’s project transforms our understanding of the polar changes and their global impacts.

Science Start-ups | Prof. Siew Chien Ng – GenieBiome Ltd: Breaking the wall of cancer using novel microbes

Growing evidence indicates that gut microbiome plays a central role in health and disease. With rapid expansion of global microbiome investment, GenieBiome has positioned itself to be a pioneer in the development of microbiome-based diagnostics and therapeutics in Asia. It has developed a non-invasive disruptive technology for detecting colon cancer. With this novel diagnostic stool test, regular screening colonoscopy will no longer be necessary.

Social Sciences and Humanities | Prof. Mee Kam Ng – Breaking the wall to ecological and humane urbanism

Hong Kong has been facing many challenges including socio-economic and spatial inequities, and political changes since its return to the Chinese rule in 1997. Working with other professionals, NGOs, district councilors and place champions, this project encourages community members to collaborate in place-making endeavors that restore the ecosystem and provide socio-petal spaces for convivial bottom-up community developments.

Please check out the videos for the breakthroughs.

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