Oct 25, 2018
Miss Lin GUO, a final-year PhD student supervised by Professor Min Wang in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has won the Second Prize at Young Persons’ World Lecture Competition 2018 (YPWLC 2018) which was held at Port Elizabeth in South Africa in the YPWLC Week of Oct. 6 - 12, 2018. The Second Prize this year includes £1,500 and an Apple’s MacBook Air laptop computer, as well as a prize certificate. The competitors were judged on the standard and structure of their presentation, technical content, and handling of questions. Miss Guo is the Champion of Hong Kong’s Young Persons’ Lecture Competition 2018, which was organized by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (Hong Kong Branch), and represented Hong Kong in the Final of YPWLC 2018. Her trip to South Africa for the YPWLC 2018 competition was financially supported by CBMM and Rolls-Royce.
UK’s Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) invites students and young professionals, up to the age of 28, to deliver a short lecture on a materials or materials-related subject at regional and national competitions. Winners of national competitions are finalists in YPWLC which is held every year in a different location around the globe, with previous venues being in Araxa (Brazil), Drogheda (Ireland), Gainesville (Florida, USA), Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), London (UK), Perth (Australia), Port Elizabeth (South Africa), Riverside (California, USA), Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Singapore. IOM3 has been organising YPWLC since 2005.
Miss Guo’s lecture in the competition is entitled “Combating Cancers with A New Superweapon”, which is based on her PhD research on advanced tissue engineering scaffolds incorporated with theranostics that has been conducted exclusively in HKU. The abstract of her lecture states, “Stomach cancer causes millions of human deaths and is mostly treated by surgery. After surgery, new tissue must form at resection sites for restoring body functions. Scaffolds, biodegradable porous structures that support cell activities, are often used for regenerating body tissues. Another major issue for postoperative cancer patients is the high cancer recurrence rates. Recently, gold nanoparticle-based theranostics, which can provide highly desired diagnostics and therapeutic functions for cancer, are hotly pursued. With expertise in both tissue engineering and cancer theranostics, we have developed a new superweapon - multifunctional medical devices that integrate nanofibrous scaffolds with nano-sized theranostics for both regeneration and early detection, and effective treatment of recurrent cancer. These advanced devices, which also contain growth factors and live cells for enhancing tissue regeneration, are made using novel fabrication techniques. Therefore, no more fears, cancer patients - we are here with you to combat cancer with a new superweapon!”
Giving her lecture at the competition during the YPWLC Week.
Miss Lin GUO (3rd from left) at the podium with the First Prize and Third Prize winners and also judges in the Young Persons’ World Lecture Competition 2018 (Port Elizabeth, South Africa)