Open Educational Resources | Pao Yue-kong Library, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Video

PAIR distinguished lecture series: biomanufacturing of functional tissues and organs: exploration and progress

The lecture commenced with a warm welcome address by Prof. CHEN Qingyan, Director of PAIR, followed by a brief speaker introduction by Prof. WANG Zuankai, Associate Vice President (Research and Innovation) of PolyU. In his presentation, Prof. Yang highlighted that urgent need for tissue/organ biomanufacturing owing to the shortage of donation for organ transplantation. He pointed out some challenges in the in vitro manufacturing of tissues/organs, particularly in relation to accurate design, precise fabrication, and functional induction, which underscore the imperative need for new methods for tissue/organ manufacturing. Next, Prof. Yang outlined the development roadmap of biomanufacturing and shared specific examples demonstrating the research progress in 3D bioprinting. In concluding his presentation, Prof. Yang shared his insights on the future direction for biomanufacturing, as well as some significant accomplishments by him and his team at Zhejiang University in the field.
A question-and-answer session moderated by Prof. Wang was followed. Both the online and on-site audience had a fruitful discussion with Prof. Yang.
Even date: 2/1/2024
Speaker: Prof. Huayong Yang (Zhejiang University)
Moderator: Prof. Zuankai Wang (Hong Kong Polytechnic University)
Hosted by: PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research

Subjects:: Biology and Biomedical Engineering
Keywords:: Tissue engineering Biomedical engineering Three-dimensional printing Regenerative medicine
Resource Type:: Video

Video

PolyU-PDE distinguished lecture series : structured equations in biology; relative entropy, monge-kantorovich distance

Models arising in biology are often written in terms of Ordinary Differential Equations. The celebrated paper of Kermack-McKendrick (19271, founding mathematical epidemiology, showed the necessity to include parameters in order to describe the state of the individuals, as time elapsed after infection. During the 70s, many mathematical studies were developed when equations are structured by age, size, more generally a physiological trait. The renewal, growth-fragmentation are the more standard equations. The talk will present structured equations, show that a universal generalized relative entropy structure is available in the linear case, which imposes relaxation to a steady state under non-degeneracy conditions. In the nonlinear cases, it might be that periodic solutions occur, which can be interpreted in biological terms, e.g., as network activity in the neuroscience. When the equations are conservation laws, a variant of the Monge-Kantorovich distance (called Fortet-Mourier distance) also gives a general non-expansion property of solutions.
Event date: 19/1/2023
Speaker: Prof. Benoît Perthame (Sorbonne University)
Hosted by: Department of Applied Mathematics

Subjects:: Biology and Mathematics and Statistics
Keywords:: Biomathematics Equations
Resource Type:: Video

Video

The Cell Cycle

In this lesson, we'll be looking at the cell cycle. This is the lifespan of a eukaryotic somatic cell. A somatic cell is any cell in the body of an organism, except for sex cells such as sperm and egg cells. The cell cycle describes the sequence of cell growth and division. A cell spends most of its life a state called interphase. Interphase has three phases, the G1, S, and G2 phases. Interphase is followed by cell division, which has one phase, the M phase. Together these four phases make up the entire cell cycle. G1 of interphase is sometimes called growth 1 or gap phase 1. In G1, a cell is busy growing and carrying out whatever function it's supposed to do. Note that some cells, such as muscle and nerve cells, exit the cell cycle after G1 because they do not divide again. A cell enters the S phase after it grows to the point where it's no longer able to function well and needs to divide. The S stands for synthesis, which means to make, because a copy of DNA is being made during this phase. Once DNA replication is complete, the cell enters the shortest and the last part of interphase called G2, also known as growth 2 or gap phase 2. Right now, it's enough to know that further preparations for cell division take place in the G2 phase. Now that interphase is over, the cell is ready for cell division, which happens in the M phase. The M phase has two events. The main one is mitosis, which is division of the cell's nucleus, followed by cytokinesis, a division of the cytoplasm. So, at the end of M phase, you have two daughter cells identical to each other and identical to the original cell. Let's review. The cell cycle describes the life cycle of an individual cell. It has four phases, three in interphase and one for cell division. Most cell growth and function happen during G1. The cell enters the S phase when it needs to divide. In this phase the cell replicates its DNA. Replication just means the cell makes a copy of its DNA. In G2, the cell undergoes further preparations for cell division. Finally, we have cell division in the M phase. The M phase consists of mitosis, which is nuclear division, and cytokinesis, or division of the cytoplasm. We'll explore the details of mitosis and cytokinesis separately

Subjects:: Biology
Keywords:: Cell cycle
Resource Type:: Video

Video

DNA Technology

This mini-lecture gives an overview on how scientists have applied biotechnology techniques to develop medical treatment and food production through the manipulation of DNA. The Faculty of Applied Science and Textiles (FAST) and the Institute of Textiles & Clothing (ITC) organized the mini-lecture series for more than three years. The lectures aim to enrich students' knowledge in creative perspectives and arouse their interest in Sciences, Fashion and Textiles. In view of the unpredictable development of the COVID-19 pandemic, the upcoming mini-lecture Series will be switched from face-to-face mode to online mode.

Subjects:: Biology
Keywords:: Biotechnology Genetic engineering DNA
Resource Type:: Video

Video

Synthetic Biology for Industrial Biotechnology

Synthetic biology can be used in industrial biotechnology to engineer metabolic pathways to create high-value chemicals using model microorganisms such as yeast. During the Synthetic Biology in Action course, participants engineered yeast to produce beta-caretone for industrial biotechnology purposes. In this talk, they describe the steps they took to engineer an existing yeast pathway to produce the new chemical. These steps include modeling the metabolic pathway outputs, DNA design, amplification, and assembly, and analysis of the final result.

Subjects:: Electronic and Information Engineering, Biochemistry, and Biology
Keywords:: Synthetic biology Biochemistry Yeast fungi -- Biotechnology
Resource Type:: Video

Video

What Happens When Biology Becomes Technology?

"We've been promised a future of chrome -- but what if the future is fleshy?" asks biological designer Christina Agapakis. In this awe-inspiring talk, Agapakis details her work in synthetic biology -- a multidisciplinary area of research that pokes holes in the line between what's natural and artificial -- and shares how breaking down the boundaries between science, society, nature and technology can lead us to imagine different possible futures.

Subjects:: Technology and Biology
Keywords:: Synthetic biology Sci9ence -- Social aspects
Resource Type:: Video

Video

How Can Technology Transform The Human Body?

TED Fellow Lucy McRae is a body architect -- she imagines ways to merge biology and technology in our own bodies. In this visually stunning talk, she shows her work, from clothes that recreate the body's insides for a music video with pop-star Robyn, to a pill that, when swallowed, lets you sweat perfume.

Subjects:: Biomedical engineering and Biology
Keywords:: Synthetic biology Bioengineering
Resource Type:: Video

Video

The Technology of Touch

As we move through the world, we have an innate sense of how things feel -- the sensations they produce on our skin and how our bodies orient to them. Can technology leverage this? In this fun, fascinating TED-Ed lesson, learn about the field of haptics, and how it could change everything from the way we shop online to how dentists learn the telltale feel of a cavity.

Subjects:: Electronic and Information Engineering and Biology
Keywords:: Haptic devices Touch
Resource Type:: Video

Video

How Fast Is The Speed of Thought?

Your mortal enemy has captured you and hooked you up to a bizarre experiment. He's extended your nervous system with one very long neuron to a target about 70 meters away. At some point, he's going to fire an arrow. If you can then think a thought to the target before the arrow hits it, he'll let you go. So who wins that race? Seena Mathew examines the speed of thought.

Subjects:: Health Sciences and Biology
Keywords:: Neurons -- Physiology Thought thinking Brain -- Physiology
Resource Type:: Video

Video

Lessons From Fungi on Markets And Economics

Resource inequality is one of our greatest challenges, but it's not unique to humans. Like us, mycorrhizal fungi that live in plant and tree roots strategically trade, steal and withhold resources, displaying remarkable parallels to humans in their capacity to be opportunistic (and sometimes ruthless) -- all in the absence of cognition. In a mind-blowing talk, evolutionary biologist Toby Kiers shares what fungi networks and relationships reveal about human economies, and what they can tell us about inequality.

Subjects:: Biology
Keywords:: Mycorrhizal fungi -- Ecology
Resource Type:: Video

Video

Marvels of Bacterial Behavior – History & Physics of Bacterial Motion

Berg begins his lecture with a brief history of observations of bacterial motion. He then uses physics to describe the many hurdles that E. coli must overcome as it tries to swim up or down a chemical gradient. For instance, an entity as tiny as E. coli is constantly buffeted by Brownian motion and can neither stay still nor swim in a straight line. Then there is the question of how E. coli senses a gradient and translates that information into a change in its direction of movement. And finally, how does E. coli use its flagella to generate thrust at all? In Part 2, Berg explains that E. coli travels using a series of runs, when it moves in a straight line, and tumbles, when it changes direction. During a run, all of the flagella are moving counterclockwise in a tight bundle. During a tumble, one or more flagella switch to a clockwise movement and disengage from the bundle causing a change in the swimming direction. The motor that drives the rotation of the flagella is an amazing structure made of about 20 different protein parts. Berg tells us that chemosensory receptors on the cell surface detect a chemical gradient and transfer this information, via protein phosphorylation, to the motor. This chemical modification determines the direction of motor rotation and, hence, the direction the E. coli swims. An amazing system that E. coli has been perfecting for millions of years!