The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is committed to promoting interdisciplinary research and transforming scientific achievements into impactful inventions to meet the rapidly changing demands in areas such as healthcare. 16 PolyU projects have received support from the Health and Medical Research Fund (HMRF) in its latest funding exercise, with a total funding amount of HK$14.3 million. These projects cover various research areas related to health technology and biomedical engineering, showcasing PolyU’s interdisciplinary proficiency in medical and healthcare research.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Information and Communication Technologies goes in this seventeenth edition to Anil Jain (Michigan State University, United States) and Michael I. Jordan (University of California, Berkeley, United States) for what the committee calls their “core contributions” to machine learning, which have unlocked “applications of far-reaching impact on society as a whole.”

Transition metals have long been used as catalysts to activate small molecules and turn them into valuable products. However, as these metals can be expensive and less abundant, scientists are increasingly looking at more common elements as alternatives. In a recent study, researchers used a concept called “frustrated Lewis pairs” to develop a transition metal-free catalyst for activating hydrogen. This breakthrough could lead to more sustainable, cost-effective, and efficient chemical processes.

On the road towards the development of a compact fusion reactor, the Plasma Science and Fusion Technology Lab of the University of Seville led the physics and engineering design as well as the construction and commissioning of a new and unique fusion device: the SMall Aspect Ratio Tokamak (SMART) that now achieved the first tokamak plasma.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers from the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT-Italian Institute of Technology) and IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, coordinated by Fabio Benfenati, head of the Center for Synaptic Neuroscience and Technology at IIT, and Stefano Di Marco, in collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano, has demonstrated the effectiveness of the Ziapin2 molecule as a promising new instrument in countering the effects of retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration, conditions that lead to the progressive deterioration of the photoreceptors in the retina, causing progressive blindness.

A research team led by Dr. Tetsuya Muramoto from the Faculty of Science at Toho University has demonstrated the mechanisms by which periodic chemical signal frequencies in cells regulate gene expression via transcription factors and influence the cell fate determination processes. This groundbreaking revelation was made using optogenetic technology, which facilitates the manipulation of biological phenomena using light. Their findings were recently published in the Development journal on January 14, 2025.