The 1st International Symposium on Materials Innovation For Life Sciences and Energy & The HKU-MILES First Anniversary Symposium was Successfully Held
On October 23, 2025, the 1st International Symposium on Materials Innovation for Life Sciences and Energy (MILES2025) & The HKU-MILES First Anniversary Symposium, hosted by Materials Innovation Institute for Life Sciences and Energy (HKU-MILES), was successfully held at Hetao Innovation Center in Shenzhen.
Many leading experts and scholars from worldwide top universities and research institutions gathered together and had in-depth communications on cutting-edge fields including nanotechnology, biomaterials, sustainable energy, flexible electronics, and cancer immunotherapy, presenting the latest progress and future potential of the interdisciplinary integration of life sciences, energy, and materials science.
The conference officially commenced at 8:30 AM with the MILES Theme Song, followed by an opening address by Founding Director of MILES, renowned scholar Prof. Hongjie Dai, who reviewed the construction and development journey of MILES. Prof. Dai stated, “We have finished the first mile, and we still have a lot of miles to go. However, I believe taking the first step is the most important, and we have made it”.
After the opening address, Prof. Hongjie Dai (Founding Dean of MILES), together with Dr. Meijie Tang (Director of MILES Technology Translation Center), Prof. Paul S. Weiss (MILES Advisory Board representative), Prof. Chi-Ming Che (MILES Advisory Board representative), and Prof. Shuhong Yu (MILES Decision Council representative), Ms. Mengdie Sun (Chief of MILES Director's Office), participated in a celebratory cake-cutting ceremony marking MILES’s first anniversary.
Subsequently, several MILES professors delivered project introductions, showcasing multiple innovative achievements in the interdisciplinary field of life sciences and energy materials.
In the morning speeches, Prof. Paul S. Weiss from the University of California, Los Angeles presented on “Nanotechnology approaches for biotechnology, medicine, and sustainability,” explaining how precise manipulation at the nanoscale can address major challenges in biomedical diagnostics, therapy, and environmental sustainability. Prof. Weihong Tan from the Hangzhou Institute of Medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences, delivered a report titled “Aptomics,” systematically introducing the innovative applications and translational prospects of nucleic acid aptamers in disease diagnosis and targeted therapy. After a pleasant tea break, Prof. Zijian Zheng from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, introduced his team’s achievement on flexible electronic devices combining comfort and high performance in his report “Permeable electronic skins,” with their applications in health monitoring and human-computer interaction.
The afternoon agenda continued with a speech by Prof. Shuhong Yu from the Southern University of Science and Technology titled “Emerging bio-inspired sustainable structural materials.” Prof. Yu discussed how to draw inspiration from nature’s intricate structures to design similar materials that can be synthesized artificially. Prof. Zaiping Guo from City University of Hong Kong, in her report on “Electrode and electrolyte design for metal-ion batteries,” elaborated on her team’s core material design concepts for enhancing the energy density, cycle life, and safety of lithium-ion batteries and aqueous zinc batteries. Prof. Qiang Xu from the Southern University of Science and Technology focused on “Engineering metal-organic frameworks for catalysis and energy,” demonstrating how a series of functionalized materials can be obtained through the modification and derivation of MOF materials.
After the tea break, Prof. Yang Chai from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University introduced “Bioinspired in-sensor computing for artificial vision,” offering a new pathway for developing next-generation artificial intelligence vision systems with low power consumption and high efficiency. Prof. Bilu Liu from Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School reported on “2D material homologous metal heteromaterials with chemically bonded metallic interface for stable high-current-density electrocatalysis,” presenting a series of novel catalyst design strategies to meet the challenges of efficient water electrolysis for hydrogen production under harsh industrial conditions. In the report “Skin interfaced electronics for healthcare and VR/AR” by Prof. Xinge Yu from City University of Hong Kong, he presented various flexible electronics that can be comfortably integrated with human skin, showing promising application prospects in personalized healthcare and virtual or augmented reality fields. Lastly, Prof. Zhuang Liu from Soochow University, with his talk titled “Biomaterials to boost cancer immunotherapy, from bench to bedside,” shared his team’s valuable experience in advancing technologies that utilize functional nanobiomaterials to efficiently combat tumors from basic research to clinical application.
After all academic presentations were completed, the symposium concluded officially in a warm atmosphere.
This symposium was not only a celebration of MILES’s first anniversary, but also a “celebration of science.” During the conference, participants engaged in in-depth discussions and active conversations. Meanwhile, the tea breaks, lunch, group photo session, and poster presentations provided valuable opportunities for attending experts, scholars, and young students to further discuss and spark collaborative ideas. The successful hosting of the first MILES symposium marks another step forward for MILES in its scientific research journey, and MILES is bound to inject strong momentum into future technological innovation and industrial application.
