NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Three Hong Kong universities have been awarded a total of about HK$117 million ($15 million) to fund genomic- and molecular diagnostics-based research.
The funding is part of six awards totaling about HK$248 million provided by the University Grants Committee, which advises the Hong Kong government on development and funding needs of higher educational institutions in the territory.
Among the projects receiving funding is one entitled "The Liver Cancer Genome Project: Translating Genetic Discoveries to Clinical Benefits." The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Hong Kong University will share the HK$45 million grant.
The three schools also will share a HK$40 million grant for a project called "Personalized Medicine for Cardiovascular Diseases: From Genomic Testing and Biomarkers to Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Platform."
Lastly, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong University is divvying up a HK$32 million grant for a project entitled, "Massively Parallel Sequencing of Plasma Nucleic Acids for the Molecular Diagnostics of Cancer."
A total of 89 preliminary proposals were submitted for the awards, from which 22 were asked for full proposals. From those, 15 were invited for selection interviews, the University Grants Committee said in a statement.