Gold is anti-inflammatory and has applications in the fields of jewelry, aviation, chemistry, and electronic circuit boards. Now researchers from CUHK Engineering have struck gold for psoriasis sufferers by developing a self-therapeutic gold nanoparticle that does not contain steroids and vitamin D analogs but has a similar effect, as proven in mice models. It was demonstrated that the gold nanoparticle could enter skin epidermal cells without causing hair loss and skin wrinkling.

The HK$5m Croucher Innovation Award to Engineer Professor Renjie Zhou’s programme brings closer a breakthrough in in vivo imaging technology which takes away the radiation risk from X rays in detecting eye diseases. His work on TPM aims for frequent scanning to catch eye degeneration early and monitor longer term disease.