Aptamer Hong Kong

HKBU encompasses eight Faculties/Schools offering a range of undergraduate programmes, associate degrees and higher diploma programmes as well as taught postgraduate programmes and research postgraduate programmes leading to the award of master and doctoral degrees. It prides itself on its dual focus on teaching and research and encourages service to society among its staff and students. One of the area of strengths at HKBU is in health and wellness, where we have a world-leading School of Chinese Medicine and Pharmacology.

At TechInnovation 2021, we are presenting a series of innovations and solutions for the betterment of your health and wellness.

Our Technology Offers

Aptamer-based Technology for Medical Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications

The human body contains 206 bones and they make up the body's skeleton. Bones are living tissue where they are constantly going through cycles of renewal (i.e. bone remodeling cycle). The imbalance between bone formation and bone resorption will lead to different diseases, such as osteoporosis, osteogenesis imperfecta (OI, or otherwise known as “brittle bone disease”). Moreover, when there is an uncontrolled growth of cells inside the bone, bone tumors occur, which may eventually lead to bone cancer.

Aptamers are short RNA or single-stranded DNA molecules that can fold into unique three-dimensional conformations. Aptamers can bind specifically to their targets (e.g. specific type of cells or proteins) with high binding specificity and affinity. Therefore, they can be promising agents in both diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

The technology presents highly-specific aptamers as diagnostics and therapeutic agents for bone remodeling disorders and cancers including osteosarcoma and pancreatic cancer.