MC3T3-E1 osteoblastic cells with stably low CKIP-1 expression by aptamer-targeted gene knockout, established by the HKBU research team led by Prof. Aiping Lyu and Prof. Ge Zhang, were loaded in China’s first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 and launched in April 20, 2017. This research project, aiming at investigating the role of CKIP-1 in the differentiation of osteoblast in microgravity circumstance, is the sub-project of the space life-science project on the Tianzhou-1 aircraft. HKBU is the only offshore tertiary institution to be invited to take part in the study.
They were invited to participated in the ‘Celebrations for 20th anniversary of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region - 2017 Hong Kong Youth Music Interflows’ held in Hong Kong coliseum, 30 June 2017. In the interflows, team members communicated with astronauts Mr. Yang Liwei, Mr. Jing Haipeng and Mr. Chen Dong.
Their work was also reported by Focus report (焦點訪談) of CCTV.
