Professor Hongzhe Sun from the Department of Chemistry wins the HKU Innovator Award
The HKU Innovator Award is a university-level award established to recognise outstanding faculty members whose innovations demonstrate exceptionally high potential impact (legacy or projected legacy) with transformative results to foster development. Professor Hongzhe Sun from the Department of Chemistry received the HKU Innovator Award.
Metal ions play a crucial role in various life processes and metal compounds have long been used in clinics for diagnosis and therapy. Professor Sun and his team have been working on metals in biology and medicine for over 20 years. They designed novel metallodrugs and repurposed them for emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and widespread antimicrobial-resistant superbug infections.
During the outbreak of the pandemic, his team invented a cocktail therapy which effectively suppresses the replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from bench to bedside, offering domestic options for the treatment of this life threatening issue. Their inventions have attracted wide attention from local pharmaceutical companies to media coverage including Reuters and CGTN, actively fostering collaboration among government, university, and industry.
Professor Hongzhe Sun received the HKU Innovator Award 2023.