Nobel laureate inspires HK students at St. Joseph’s College forum

St. Joseph's College and The Croucher Foundation co-hosted a landmark educational forum on Wednesday (Mar 18), welcoming Nobel Laureate Gregory P. Winter. The event, initiated by the College alumnus Dennis Lo Yuk-ming, Vice-Chancellor of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, drew over 400 students and educators from Hong Kong and abroad.

Winter delivered a keynote on protein engineering, sharing his journey from childhood curiosity to Nobel-winning breakthroughs. The program featured a lively panel discussion with Lo and moderator Lee Hok-lam, covering topics like research inspiration, ethics in science, and the growing influence of AI.

Winter, who was born in Leicester and spent part of his youth in Ghana, credited his early curiosity and experiments with family as key influences on his scientific path. He later studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, and earned his PhD from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, where he pioneered methods to humanise antibodies—making them more effective for medical treatments.

His invention of phage display revolutionised the development of antibody drugs, earning him the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

The event inspired a passion for science among participants and reinforced St. Joseph’s College’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of scientific leaders.