A miniaturized robotic steerable surgical drill invented by three PhD students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong has won the top prize at a nationwide science and technology contest for the first time.

CUHK was the only Hong Kong university to receive the top and first prizes at the 17th "Challenge Cup" National College Students' Extracurricular Academic Science and Technology Contest (Challenge Cup) - famed as the Olympics for science, technology and innovation among university students in China.

Nearly 22,000 projects from 2,500 higher educational institutions across the country were submitted for this year's competition.

The miniaturized robotic steerable surgical drill for bone work in a confined space that bagged the top prize was developed by three PhD students - Wang Yan, Lin Hongbin, and Wang Xuchen - from the mechanical and automation engineering department, supervised by their professor Samuel Au Kwok-wai.

The miniature size of the tip is 4.5 millimeters in diameter and its distal bending angle can reach 65 degrees, allowing it to reach target surgical sites through small incisions while steering around anatomical corners.

"In bone surgeries in the past, since the surgical drill could not bend, the doctors may need to cut part of the human tissues to reach the target surgical sites, which could cause huge damage to the patient," Au said.

He said the surgical drill can reduce intraoperative damage to patients, thereby shortening hospitalization and recovery time and lowering the risk of complication.

Au said the team has filed a patent application for the surgical drill and is also in talks with some companies to commercialize the invention. It hopes that clinical trials can be conducted in two to three years.

The winners of the first prize are two PhD students from the department of anatomical and cellular pathology, Jeff Chung Yat-fai and Max Chan Kam-kwan, supervised by assistant professor Patrick Tang Ming-kuen. They have successfully developed a novel anticancer immunotherapy, through which they can genetically engineer the most abundant type of immune cells in our blood - neutrophils.

CUHK also received one second prize and two third prizes, sweeping the most awards out of participating universities from Hong Kong.

Supervised by Samuel Au, center, Wang Xuchen, top on screen, Wang Yan, bottom, and Lin Hongbin won the top prize for developing a miniaturized robotic steerable surgical drill.

From left: assistant professor Patrick Tang supervised first prize winners Jeff Chung and Max Chan.

CUHK at cutting edge in science contest triumph