A grant of $2.9 million will help improve genetic research facilities at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CU).
The Research Grants Council 1995-96 allocation goes to the CU Biology Department, which will set up an 'automated molecular genetic analysis system'.
It is a collaborative project also involving the Department of Biology at the Hong Kong Baptist University and the Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The system will standardise molecular genetic analysis and enhance research efficiency.
Chairman of the CUHK Biology Department, Professor Norman Y. S. Woo, said the project would provide state-of-the-art automated instrumentation for molecular genetic analysis.
'Manual operations, which are tedious, variable and sometimes technically difficult, have made up the major approach in the past,' he said. 'With the installation of an automated system, which is reliable and highly reproducible, analyses can be completed more quickly and in a standardised manner.' Research projects to benefit from this acquisition range from studies on genes in micro-organisms to mutations underlying leukaemia.
The system will be installed on the CU campus but staff at the other sponsoring institutions will use it for collaborative research.
