Professor Michael Yang Mengsu is currently Senior Vice-President (Innovation and Enterprise), Chair Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, and Director of both the Tung Biomedical Sciences Centre and Shenzhen Biotechnology and Health Centre of City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK). He is responsible for “HK Tech 300”, the largest university-based entrepreneurship programme in Asia. He received a Bachelor’s Degree of Science from Xiamen University, China, a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from the University of Toronto, Canada, and postdoctoral training from The Scripps Research Institute, the United States.
Professor Yang’s research interests focus on studying cancer biology and developing biochips and nanotechnology for diagnostics and therapeutic applications. He has published over 280 peer-reviewed scientific papers, received 33 US/China patents, delivered over 150 lectures in international conferences and academic institutions, and trained over 40 PhD graduates and 30 postdoctoral fellows. He co-founded Prenetics and Cellomics, biotech companies based on technologies developed in his laboratory in CityUHK.
Professor Yang was listed among the top 2% of the world’s most highly cited scientists, according to metrics compiled by Stanford University in 2020 and 2021. He serves on the Hong Kong’s Research Grants Council, the Health and Medical Research Fund, and the Innovation and Technology Fund. He holds Honorary Professorships at the Institute of Microsystems of the Chinese Academy of Science, Zhejiang University, and the Army Medical University. He was awarded the “Chunhui Scholar Award” by the Ministry of Education of China in 2003, the “K. C. Wong Foundation Award” in 2004, the “Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Award” in 2006, the “Hong Kong Technological Achievement Grand Award” in 2007, the “Natural Science Award, Second-Class” from the Ministry of Education in 2015, the “Wuxi AppTech Life Science and Chemistry Award” in 2016, and a Gold Medal at the 47th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva in 2019.