If you cannot view this email properly, please click here.

Welcome to InnoSci, the research newsletter of the School of Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Through this newsletter, we are excited to share with the academic community the recent research discoveries and achievements of our faculty members, showcasing their novel ideas and unwavering commitment to scientific advancement. This newsletter will serve as a platform for exchanging insights and fostering collaborations with researchers around the globe in the pursuit of scientific excellence and innovation. Identifying New Multiple Majorana Zero Modes in Superconducting SnTe that Paves the Way for Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing A    collaborative    research     team,    led    by Prof. Junwei LIU from the Department of Physics at HKUST, along with Prof. Jinfeng JIA and Prof. Yaoyi LI from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), has identified the multiple Majorana zero modes (MZMs) in a single vortex of the superconducting topological crystalline insulator SnTe. The team has also utilized crystal symmetry to regulate the coupling between the MZMs. This novel discovery offers a new pathway to realizing fault-tolerant quantum computers. Nature volume 633, pages71–76 (2024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07857-4 Two-Dimensional Non-Hermitian Skin Effect in An Ultracold Fermi Gas In  a  recent  study,   a  research  team   led   by Prof. Gyu-Boong JO from the Department of Physics at HKUST, in collaboration with Peking University, has simulated an intriguing phenomenon—the non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE)—which involves the accumulation of eigenstates at the boundary of an open system. This quantum simulation demonstrates the non-Hermitian skin effect in two dimensions using ultracold fermions. This successful demonstration marks a crucial advancement, as previous experimental realizations of the non-Hermitian skin effect were limited to lower dimensions or classical systems rather than quantum systems. Nature 637, pages565–573 (2025) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08347-3 Identifying Alzheimer’s Disease-Protective Genetic Factors and Unraveling Disease Mechanisms An    international    collaborative    study    led    by Prof. Nancy IP, President and the Morningside Professor of Life Science at HKUST and Director of the Hong Kong Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (HKCeND), has identified an Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-protective genetic variant, Hap_A of SORL1, through a comprehensive analysis of East Asian and European populations. This study revealed that the Hap_A variant, highly prevalent in East Asians including Chinese and Japanese, is linked to better cognitive function and reduced neurodegeneration. The findings demonstrated how genetic studies in different populations could help unravel the effects of genetic factors on AD. A protective coding variant of a specific SORL1 protein isoform was discovered and could be a promising target for further mechanistic studies of the disease. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association Volume 21, Issue 1, e14214 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.14214 Chiral Cobalt Complex Enables Asymmetric Nitrile Reduction via Steric Pairing with Disubstituted Malononitriles In a collaborative study between HKUST and the University   of   Hong   Kong   (HKU),   a   team   led   by Prof. Zhenyang LIN from the Department of Chemistry at HKUST and Prof. Zhongxing HUANG from HKU discovered that asymmetric nitrile reduction can be achieved through steric pairing of a chiral cobalt complex with prochiral, disubstituted malononitriles. While the facile substitutions of malononitrile can provide structurally diverse quaternary carbons, the access to enantioenriched molecules, particularly chiral amines prevalent in bioactive compounds, remains rare. In this work, the team reported a cobalt-catalysed desymmetric reduction of disubstituted malononitriles to yield highly functionalized β-quaternary amines. Nature Chemistry volume 16, pages1845–1854 (2024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-024-01592-z High-Order Compact Gas-Kinetic Scheme in Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian Formulation Gas-kinetic schemes (GKS) have been developed for simulating compressible flow for a long time. Recently,  a  GKS  scheme,  developed by Prof. Kun XU from the Department of Mathematics at HKUST, has been further advanced to extend the high-order compact gas-kinetic scheme (CGKS) for compressible flow simulation using an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method on unstructured meshes. The ALE approach divides the mesh into tetrahedrons and integrates flux functions locally to maintain geometric conservation. It employs a third-order compact reconstruction for updating cell-averaged flow variables and their gradients, using HWENO-type nonlinear reconstruction and gradient compression for improved accuracy. Numerical experiments demonstrate the scheme's effectiveness in accurately simulating both low-speed and highly compressible flows with strong shock waves. Journal of Computational Physics Volume 515, 113270 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2024.113270 Thaumarchaeota from Deep-sea Methane Seeps Provide Novel Insights into their Evolutionary History and Ecological Implications Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) of the phylum Thaumarchaeota mediate the rate-limiting step of nitrification and remove the ammonia that inhibits the aerobic metabolism of methanotrophs. However, AOA that inhabit deep-sea methane-seep surface sediments (DMS) are rarely studied. Using global DMS metagenomics and metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), the research group led by Prof. Hongbin LIU from the Department of Ocean Science, investigated the metabolic activity, evolutionary history, and ecological contributions of AOA. They found that AOA in deep sea methane seep sediments have an evolutionary history of around 800 million years and spread into shallower waters during a major ice age. The research indicates that AOA in methane seep environments require more carbon sources and rely on consuming organic matter, emphasizing their ecological significance. Microbiome volume 12, Article number: 197 (2024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-024-01912-y Novel Gene Discovery Paves the Way for Treating Central Nervous System Injuries A research team led by Prof. Kai LIU from the Division of Life Science has discovered a novel gene with potential implications for nerve regeneration. The team designed a new shRNA targeting lipin1 mRNA, encapsulated in an AAV vector for delivery to neurons, effectively reducing lipin1 levels by 63%. This reduction increased the amount of PA and LPA, leading to enhanced activation of mTOR and STAT3, two key signaling molecules. These changes significantly boosted nerve regeneration. This discovery suggests that a feedback loop involving lipin1-PA/LPA-mTOR plays a key role in inhibiting nerve regeneration, offering new therapeutic possibilities for treating central nervous system (CNS) injuries. PNAS Volume 121 (39) e2404395121 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2404395121 Genetic and Microenvironmental Evolution of Colorectal Liver Metastases under Chemotherapy Collaborative research between HKUST and Southern Medical University, led by Prof. Jiguang WANG from the Division of Life Science, investigated colorectal cancer liver metastasis (CRLM) during chemotherapy, focusing on drug resistance. Analyzing data from 49 patients treated with bevacizumab (BVZ), the team found minimal genomic changes in 92% of cases but significant transcriptomic variations. They identified that intrinsic resistance is associated with SMAD4 mutations and chr20q copy-number gain, while acquired resistance is influenced by infiltrating hepatocyte and myeloid cell. It was found that SMAD4R361H/C mutations promote resistance through STAT3 signaling. Combining BVZ and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) with the STAT3 inhibitor GB201 can restore treatment effectiveness in resistant cells. This research enhances the understanding of CRLM evolution and suggests new strategies to combat drug resistance. Cell Reports Medicine Volume 5, Issue 12101838 DOI: https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/fulltext/S2666-3791(24)00609-8 Unveiling the Possible Origin of Life from Deep Earth A collaborative research team, led by Prof. Ding PAN from the Department of Physics and the Department of Chemistry at HKUST, has made significant progress in studying the abiotic synthesis and stability of biomolecules in C-H-O-N fluids under deep Earth conditions. This study found that under high temperature and pressure, five-membered ring ribose is more stable, suggesting that RNA assembly originated from this form created in deep underground environments. These ribose molecules could have been transported to the surface during early geological activities, combining with other components to form early RNA and initiating life's evolution. Journal of the American Chemical Society Vol 146/Issue 45 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c11680 New Theoretical Framework for Oceanic Current Instability The research team led by Prof. Jianping GAN from the Department of Ocean Science has developed a new framework of geophysical fluid dynamics to analyze fully three-dimensional nonlinear and secondary instabilities for oceanic currents. This novel framework enables the identification of the underlying formation mechanism for the current-undercurrent system globally. The study demonstrates how current meanders evolve nonlinearly and break into small-scale cyclones observed in the northern Western Pacific Ocean (WPO). This work deepens the physical understanding of ocean dynamics and helps improve the numerical capability for better resolution of three-dimensional circulations and climate change. Physical Review Fluids 9, 103801 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.9.103801 UCS: A Unified Approach to Cell Segmentation for Subcellular Spatial Transcriptomics A research team led by Prof. Can YANG from the Department of Mathematics at HKUST developed a unified approach to cell segmentation (UCS) for Subcellular Spatial Transcriptomics (SST) data obtained from various platforms, including 10X Xenium, NanoString CosMx, MERSCOPE, and Stereo-seq. UCS leverages deep learning techniques to achieve high accuracy in cell segmentation by integrating nuclei segmentation from nuclei staining and transcript data. It allows precise transcript assignment to cells and enhances large-scale SST data analysis. UCS supports downstream analyses like subcellular gene classification and missing cell detection, helping researchers better understand gene expression patterns and tissue architecture. small methods Issue 2400975 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/smtd.202400975 Novel Polymer Design Rationale for Enhanced Efficiency and Stability in All-Polymer Solar Cells All-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) have advanced rapidly due to high-performance polymer acceptors, primarily derived from the small molecular acceptor Y6 through “end-to-end” polymerization. Research led by Prof. Henry YAN from the Department of Chemistry at HKUST introduced a completely different “core-to-core” linking mode by polymerizing the Y-series monomers at the central core position. This innovative strategy results in a significantly altered molecular configuration that resembles a “double decker,” with intramolecular packing between different monomer units in the same polymer. The enhanced molecular packing improves charge delocalization and charge transport, leading to the PffBQx-T-based ternary blend achieving an outstanding efficiency of 18.7%. This achievement is attributed to enhanced absorption response, improved packing, and efficient charge dynamics. Joule Volume 8, Issue 8 p2304-2324 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2024.06.010 Email ssci@ust.hk for feedback and questions. UNSUBSCRIBE Copyright © School of Science, HKUST All Rights Reserved.