A research paper co-authored by Prof Yi Kuen Lee, Associate Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Prof Hsian Rong Tseng, Associate Professor of the Department of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology, University of California, Los Angeles, has been selected as the cover page story of the Angewandte Chemie International Edition (21 March 2011 issue), one of the prime chemistry journals in the world.

The paper was entitled “Highly Efficient Capture of Circulating Tumor Cells by Using Nanostructured Silicon Substrates with Integrated Chaotic Micromixers”. The collaborative efforts of Prof Lee’s micro chaotic mixer research and Prof Tseng’s nanobiotechnology research produced the second-generation circulating tumor cells (CTCs) capture technology, which is faster and cheaper than existing methods, and it captures a greater number of CTCs (a much higher CTC-capture rate).

CTCs play a crucial role in cancer metastasis, which is the most common cause of cancer-related death in patients with solid tumors and occurs when the tumor cells leave the primary tumor site and develop in other parts of the body. The new technology, which the research team engineered into a hybrid PDMS-silicon microfluidic chip device, can efficiently identify and capture the CTCs in the blood, allowing for early detection and diagnosis as well as improved monitoring and treatment of cancer diseases. With cancer as the no. 1 killer in Hong Kong for over 20 years, the new device is set to bring much benefit to the medical sector for cancer diagnosis and treatment and improve public’s health.

The research was also featured in Nature Medicine (March 2011 issue), a monthly biomedical research journal.

Other co-authors of the research included Shutao Wang, Kan Liu, Jian Liu, Zeta T. F. Yu, Xiaowen Xu, Libo Zhao, Tom Lee, Eun Kyung Lee, Jean Reiss, Leland W. K. Chung, Jiaoti Huang, Matthew Rettig, David Seligson, Kumaran N. Duraiswamy and Clifton K. F. Shen.

As a research-intensive school, HKUST School of Engineering (SENG) is well recognized for its research excellence. Faculty members are actively involved in multidisciplinary and theme-based research that cut across the boundaries of engineering departments around the world. This research work relates to one of the three key research areas of SENG – healthcare, along with environment and energy.