In response to the development of the novel coronavirus outbreak, Macau University of Science and Technology established the University’s Leadership Group for Prevention and Control of COVID-19 early on January 29, to oversee the deployment of forces in fighting against the epidemic and to stabilize the order of teaching and learning at the University. Later on February 9, the University launched Macau University of Science and Technology – University Hospital Scientific Prevention and Control of COVID-19 Information Platform to publish and release to the public important news and information related to the prevention and control measures enforced by the Central Government and the Macao S.A.R. Government, general knowledge for scientific prevention, self-guided health-keeping methods, scholars’ interviews, alumni stories fighting against COVID-19, international dynamics and responses, progresses related to diagnoses of diseases and drug research, and other information deemed to be of great significance. In the meantime, the University wasted no time to assemble cross-disciplinary elite research teams and deploy forces across the board toward solving key science and technology problems. At this particular time when the urgency lies in combating the COVID-19, the University opted for an ad hoc working approach to synchronize research development and research projects applications, which enabled the University’s research teams to have already had a large amount of work done related to COVID-19 diagnoses and drug selection even prior to the submission of the anti-COVID-19 research bids to Macao Science and Technology Development Fund (FDCT) on February 20, including being granted the first Guangdong-Macao joint research initiative to tackle key science and technology problems related to COVID-19.
Recently, Macao Science and Technology Development Fund announced the first approved research projects purposed toward solving key science and technology problems related to COVID-19 to be sponsored by the Macao S.A.R. Government. Of the total 26 projects, 15 belong to M.U.S.T., making the University the local university with the most approved projects in the bid. The approved projects cover a wide range of research areas in relation to COVID-19 with respect to its prevention, pathological mechanisms, precision diagnosis, new drugs research and development, and rehabilitation and therapies. In particular, the research project of Prof. Zhang Kang of the Faculty of Medicine titled “Artificial Intelligence (AI) System for Screening, Diagnosis and Prediction of COVID-19 Pneumonia” has the prospect of making significant improvement to the precision diagnosis standards of COVID-19 and to be widely applied at home and abroad.
Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, President Liu Liang said that M.U.S.T. put together its elite forces in an effort to combat COVID-19 and solve key science and technology problems related to COVID-19, which has become a top priority amongst all priorities of the University’s research projects. It is hoped that the University could fully comply with the call of the nation and the Macao S.A.R. Government to combat COVID-19, and especially make the right contributions of M.U.S.T. in scientific prevention of the epidemic.
