Congratulations on Hong Kong's scientific breakthrough

Today, a piece of news on Hong Kong's scientific breakthrough made the headlines of a major newspaper. This is unprecedented. It underlines not only the increasing prowess of our research capability, but also the greater importance that the whole community attaches to scientific research.

As reported in headline news of the newspaper, the Dean of Science of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Professor Nancy Ip, and her research team have made a breakthrough in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD), bringing good news to tens of millions of AD patients around the world.

After three years of hard work, the research team, led by Professor Ip and in collaboration with Professor Eddy Liew from the University of Glasgow and Professor Baorong Zhang from Zhejiang University, found that injection of the protein interleukin-33 in mice resulted in a remarkable and rapid recovery of their cognitive functions. The results have been published in a prestigious scientific journal in the United States. Professor Ip plans to translate the findings into clinical trials in the hope that the treatment can one day be used on humans. She is also ready to discuss collaboration plans with local scientific research companies.

I offer my sincere congratulations to Professor Ip.

We have received a very positive response from various sectors of the community on innovation and technology development since the establishment of the Innovation and Technology Bureau five months ago. There is now better co-operation among the Government, the industry, academia and the research sector. The Government will keep up its efforts. With a more mature environment for innovation and technology development, I believe that innovation and technology can become a new industry in Hong Kong, bringing new momentum to our economy and more opportunities to our young people.

April 22, 2016