Page 25 - Sphere No.27 (Sep 2010)

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Sphere
leadership in scientific excellence and interna-
tional collaboration, the Li Ka Shing Institute of
Virology will discover new methods to prevent,
treat and cure virus related diseases and translate
these discoveries to provide improved patient care
around the world.
It was the largest single donation in the history
of the University of Alberta and garnered a further
CAD52.5 million in related new Alberta Govern-
ment funding, demonstrating the power of public/
private partnerships to spur innovations. CAD25
million will be used to establish the Li Ka Shing
Institute of Virology and CAD3 million will create
the Sino-Canadian Exchange Program, which
includes a joint doctoral programme between
the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry and the
Shantou University Medical College. The dona-
tion also gives the university the funds to attract
new talent to its research facilities, and to expand
its established research into influenza A, a field in
Opposite: Professor
Andrew Hamilton
thanks Sir Ka-shing
Li for his generous
donation of GBP 5
million to the
University’s Global
Health Programme;
below: the Global
Health Programme
brings together
Scholars from Shantou
University and Oxford
University.
“New diseases emerge all the time. Prompt action against
them can only happen with global collaboration . . . and
our future depends on it.” Sir Ka-shing Li
and closed doors. SARS killed 299 people in Hong
Kong (774 globally) and though it was contained
within four months it was a frightening taste of
what could happen if a viral disease took hold.
On the positive side though, if diseases can
go global, so can the fight against them. Set up
in 1980, the Li Ka Shing Foundation (LKSF) has
donated over HKD11.3 billion over the last 30
years and been strongly committed to promoting
global cooperation in the field of medical research
into viral diseases. At a time when the world lives
in fear from “newer” afflictions such as bird flu
and the afore-mentioned SARS and continues to
be threatened by older infectious diseases, such as
influenza, dengue fever, malaria, tuberculosis and
HIV, improvement in the treatment of viral disease
is vital.
This year alone LKSF has made two major do-
nations to help international efforts to fight disease.
In mid-May LKSF made an additional donation of
GBP5 million to expand the Uni-
versity of Oxford’s global health
research initiatives, especially in
Mainland China. This followed a do-
nation in April of CAD28 million to
the University of Alberta, Canada,
to further its efforts to treat and cure
virus-based diseases and to help
establish the Li Ka Shing Institute of
Virology.
Expert researchers at the Univer-
sity of Alberta are led by Dr Lorne
Tyrrell, known internationally for dis-
covering how to block the hepatitis B
virus from replicating in human liver
cells. His discovery resulted in the
development of lamivudine, the first
oral hepatitis B antiviral medication.
Now, thanks to the LKSF funding, Dr
Tyrell and his team, who are currently
dispersed among 10 departments, can
come together under one roof – the
state-of-the-art Institute – and can
unify under one mission: through