Date: 2 May 2017
Time: 18:00-20:15
Venue: B102 (Banquet Hall)
MC: Mr. Andy Wei (Year 3 students, Applied Psychology Programme)
Chair: Prof. Clement Leung (Associate Dean, Division of Science and Technology)
Speaker: Prof. Stephen Chung (Dean, Division of Science and Technology)
Speech Topic: The Brave New World of Genetic Engineering
Language: English

About the speaker:

Professor Chung is world renown for his work on diabetes. He obtained his PhD degree from University of California (Berkeley). Before returning to Hong Kong in 1991, Professor Chung received his postdoctoral training at MIT and taught at the University of Illinois Medical School at Chicago for a few years. In Hong Kong, he was affiliated with the University of Hong Kong, first as the Principal Investigator at the Institute of Molecular Biology and later as a professor at the Department of Physiology. He pioneered the use of genetically engineered mice to investigate the mechanisms of diabetic complications. He received a prestigious award from the US-Japan Cataract Research Conference for his work on cataract and published more than 100 papers in influential journals such as Cell, PNAS (USA), FASEB J., J. of Biological Chemistry, Diabetes, etc. He had also organized many international seminars and had been invited to give speeches.

Abstract:

The elucidation of DNA as the universal genetic material led to the development of technologies to modify the genetic makeup of all organisms that was not possible before. Microorganisms are engineered to produce important drugs such as insulin, growth hormone, vaccines etc. to make them cheaper and safer. Genetic engineering is also applied to pest control, clean up oil spills and other environmental pollutants. While we welcome these benefits of genetic engineering, questions are raised about the safety of our genetically modified foods. Even more controversial is the possibility of using of this technology to modify our own genetic makeup. Are we ready for this “Brave New World of Genetic Engineering”?

Registration:

Online registration via MIS system. Students who have successfully registered for the event will receive an automatic reply email from MIS email. The seating plan will be sent by HTD email before 23:59, 28th April, 2017.