FOREWORD

On behalf of the Student Organizing Committee, it is my pleasure and privilege to welcome you to the 21^st Research Postgraduate Symposium (RPS), which has been held annually since 1996 at the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of The University of Hong Kong.

The theme of the symposium this year is “Research without limit: Unfolding the mystery of diseases”. We are honoured to have three distinguished scholars from abroad to share their knowledge and explore possibilities in disease oriented research. I wish to express my most sincere appreciation for Professor Cuihua Liu, Professor Philippe Soriano and Professor Yi Zeng for conferring the plenary lectures on their respective areas of developmental biology, infectious diseases and stem cell. We also have presentations on a wide variety of areas from our research postgraduate students who have been working with persistence and enthusiasm. This year, we have 32 oral and 95 poster presentations in total, and the best presenters will be awarded.

The aim of the RPS is to promote inter-disciplinary communication among postgraduate students and Principal Investigators from different fields of research in the Faculty. The lectures and presentation sessions during these two days would allow substantial interaction between researchers and students through Q&A and discussion sessions. This event could therefore lead to inspirations and potential collaborations which ultimately benefit our community both scientifically and socially.

We would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude for the promising support from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, as well as all our generous sponsors to make this symposium possible. We also wish to give special thanks to Professor Danny Chan, Ms Vikkie Chan, Ms Kimmy Liu and Ms Clare Wong for their tremendous help on organizing this event.

We hope you enjoy the two very productive days of interesting and inspiring discussions. We believe the symposium will be a great success in facilitating a collaboration platform amongst the Faculty’s many research areas and encourage the continuous effort from young researchers and scientists to further achieve in the betterment of human health.

Mr Simon Chi Chin Shiu
Chairperson, Student Organizing Committee of the 21^st Research Postgraduate Symposium