CUHK
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The School of Life Sciences (SLS) at The Chinese University of Hong Kong has entered into a five-year agreement with the University of California at Berkeley’s (UC Berkeley) Departments of Integrative Biology and Molecular & Cell Biology, under which up to five students from CUHK will be sent to enroll in the ‘Berkeley Biosciences Study Abroad (BBSA) Programme’ for a semester every year.  The students will also get internship opportunities at the research laboratories of the two departments of UC Berkeley.  As an initiative to encourage students to pursue their aspirations in scientific research, the units obtained by the participating students from the BBSA Programme will be recognized as their respective major programme requirements back in CUHK, and the University will also subsidise the students with the tuition fees at UC Berkeley. 

Today, Prof. Randy Wayne SCHEKMAN, Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley and 2013 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, visited CUHK to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Prof. Kam-bo WONG, Director of SLS at CUHK.  Professor Schekman has been in close collaboration with Prof. Liwen JIANG of SLS on research projects about cell proteins under the Area of Excellence (AoE) Scheme, as well as on education and student training. 

The new study option is open to year 2 or above students from the six undergraduate major programmes under SLS, namely Biochemistry, Biology, Cell and Molecular Biology, Environmental Science, Food and Nutritional Science and Molecular Biotechnology.  In the coming spring semester in 2017, SLS will send a total of five students to join the programme.  Apart from enriching their studies at one of the world’s renowned universities, it is expected that the students will broaden their cultural horizons as well as connect with peers from across the globe. 

Prof. Kam-bo WONG, Director of SLS said, ‘The mission of SLS is to provide quality education to our students and to inspire them to become the next generation of scientists.  Apart from gaining learning from a semester at UC Berkeley, SLS students will get internship opportunities at the research labs of the Departments of Integrative Biology and Molecular & Cell Biology there.  We believe that this new collaboration with UC Berkeley will further enhance the education and research opportunities for our students, in particular those who are passionate in pursuing basic science and translational research.’ 

Ample research opportunities offered by SLS 

To nurture students’ interests in scientific research, SLS has in place the Dedicated Research Exchange and Mentorship (DREAM) Programme and the Young Scientist Mentorship and Research Training (SMART) Programme to expose students to the frontiers of life science research and offer research experience to first-year students.  Research opportunities are offered both locally and overseas.  SLS also supports students to participate in the annual International Genetic Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition, in which CUHK teams have performed extraordinarily year after year.  Their winning innovative projects have extensive potential applications and may help solve many problems in the city.