走科学之路 · 筑健康生命——第六弹

香港中文大学（深圳）生命与健康科学学院（School of Life and Health Sciences, 简称LHS）于2018年11月14日正式成立，是港中大（深圳）继经管学院、理工学院、人文社科学院之后建立的第四所具有从本科至研究生培养体系的学院。

学院的发展壮大离不开老师们的付出和努力。自2019至今，学院加入了一批优秀教授，下面就由小编带领读者去了解他们的科研背景与兴趣。

Hajime Hirao

Hajime Hirao博士于2020年12月正式加入香港中文大学（深圳）生命与健康科学学院，担任副教授。

教育背景

学士（京都大学）

硕士（京都大学）

博士（东京大学）

研究领域

计算化学方法在化学反应和分子相互作用中的开发和应用，尤其是与酶催化、药物设计、生物无机化学、合成催化剂和多孔材料有关的方法。

01

What is your learning experience?

I learned chemistry at the Department of Industrial Chemistry of Kyoto University, admiring Prof. Kenichi Fukui (1981 Nobel Laureate), who was a renowned theoretical chemist and had previously studied and taught in the same department. I later obtained my PhD degree in pharmaceutical sciences from The University of Tokyo. I also had the opportunity of working for a pharmaceutical company (Novartis). There I had the privilege of working with experimentalists (chemists, biologists, and pharmacologists) and learning a lot about how chemistry can be used to improve our everyday life. I did my postdoctoral studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Emory University, and Kyoto University, where I was influenced and inspired by the ways the supervisors looked at things and lived their lives. These experiences have made me interested more in both fundamental and practical aspects of chemistry.

1. 您的学习经历是怎样的？

我曾就读于京都大学工业化学系，十分欣赏该系的著名理论化学家福井谦一教授（1981年诺贝尔奖获得者）。随后，我在东京大学学习并获得了药学科学博士，曾任职于瑞士诺华制药公司，在那里与化学、生物、药学等领域的实验家一起工作，学到了许多用化学改善日常生活的方法。之后，我在耶路撒冷希伯来大学、埃默里大学和京都大学完成了博士后研究，与此同时我的世界观和人生观也受到了导师的影响与启发。这些经历让我对基础化学和应用化学产生了浓厚兴趣。

02

What is your scientific research experience?

Ever since my undergraduate days for the final year project, I have long been engaged in computational chemistry research at various institutions including Novartis, Nanyang Technological University, and City University of Hong Kong. I have had so many chances to work with experimentalists along the way. In industry, I carried out computer-aided drug design to discover potent and selective inhibitors for cathepsin S, which is a cysteine protease and had been identified as a potential target for the treatment of neuropathic pain. When I was a postdoc, I mainly studied chemical reactions of enzymes and biomimetic metal-oxo complexes, and I also wrote quantum chemistry codes. Since getting an academic position, I have worked with group members on the development and application of computational chemistry methods for studying a wide range of systems including biological ones. I have also attempted GPGPU acceleration of our quantum chemistry code.

2. 您的科研经历是怎样的？

我从本科毕业设计开始，就在诺华制药、新加坡南洋理工大学和香港城市大学等多家公司和学校从事计算化学研究，因而有许多机会与实验家共事。在工业界，我进行了计算机辅助药物设计，从而发现了组织蛋白酶S的强效选择性抑制剂。该酶是一种半胱氨酸蛋白酶，已被确认为治疗神经性疼痛的潜在靶点。博士后阶段我主要研究了生物模拟的金属-氧复合物的酶促反应，并编写了量子化学代码。自获得学术职位以来，我和小组成员一起开发并应用计算化学方法于生物系统等更广泛的研究领域。我也尝试了对我们的量子化学代码进行GPGPU加速。

03

Can you introduce your research areas?

Broadly speaking, my research area is categorized as computational chemistry. More specifically, I am interested in computational and theoretical descriptions of chemical reactions and molecular interactions occurring in chemistry and biology. When I was a student, I studied rather small molecules, but my research targets have become more and more complex over the years. So today biological molecules such as enzymes are among the most important research targets of mine. Using computational chemistry, I try to understand chemical and biological events at the quantum mechanical level, and thereby derive design principles for obtaining molecules of practical significance such as drugs. While pursuing these interests, I also hope to pioneer new research fields with other people at CUHK(SZ).

3. 能介绍一下您的研究方向吗？

广义上讲，我的研究领域是计算化学。具体来说，我对化学、生物中的化学反应、分子相互作用的计算和理论描述感兴趣。学生时期我的研究对象是小分子，随着研究时间的增长，我的研究对象变得越来越复杂。如今，我最重要的研究对象之一是像酶这样的生物分子。利用计算化学，试图在量子力学的水平上理解化学和生物事件，从而设计有实际意义的分子(如药物)原则。在研究这些兴趣方向的同时，我也希望能和其他同事一起在香港中文大学(深圳)开拓新的研究领域。

04

Why did you choose to join CUHK(SZ)?

Most importantly, I was attracted by the academic environment of CUHK(SZ). I wanted to develop myself in this high-quality environment for education and research. Another important reason was the helpful atmosphere of the community. Soon after I had visited CUHK(SZ) in December 2019, the COVID-19 problem broke out, and then visa restrictions were imposed. I initially wondered if I could ever come to Shenzhen, even though I lived in the neighborhood (Hong Kong). However, through communication with the university people, I became increasingly aware of the helpful environment here, which made me inclined to work at CUHK(SZ). I deeply appreciate the help that I have already received so far.

4. 您为什么选择加入港中大（深圳）？

我被香港中文大学(深圳)的学术环境所吸引，想在这个有高质量教育和研究环境中寻求发展。并且，这里助人为乐的氛围，也是我选择在这里工作的另一个重要的原因。我曾于2019年12月访问香港中文大学(深圳)，不久后，新冠肺炎疫情爆发，签证受到限制。虽然住在香港，但不确定是否能来深圳工作。通过与学校沟通，感受到了浓厚的人文关怀，让我坚定在香港中文大学（深圳）工作的想法。也由衷地感谢学校对我的一切帮助。

05

Can you talk about your teaching philosophy?

One of my pedagogical goals is to let students understand how abstract concepts of computational/theoretical chemistry are linked to real-world problems. For that I draw upon my past experience working in industry; for example, I could work with synthetic chemists and biologists there, and I witnessed how computational chemistry techniques were applied to problems of practical importance like drug discovery. Indeed, this experience has already helped me a lot so far. As for the teaching in research activities, I am always happy when I see students creating their own scientific problem no matter how trivial or infeasible it might look to other people. While providing specific tasks and advice, I also encourage students to create and consider (if not solve) new questions.

5. 能谈一下您的教学理念吗？

我的教学目标之一是让学生理解计算/理论化学的抽象概念如何与现实问题相联系。为此，我借鉴了在工业界的工作经验。例如，我与合成化学家和生物学家一起工作时，目睹了计算化学技术是如何应用于药物开发等领域。并且，到目前为止，这段经历也给我提供了很大的帮助。对于科研活动的教学，我也会鼓励学生多思考，提出自己的科研问题。

06

What are your personal hobbies?

I used to play table tennis, but in recent years, most of the time I prefer to watch games rather than play myself. I know many outstanding Chinese table tennis players; in fact, this is one of the reasons I respect the Chinese culture!

6. 您有什么个人爱好？

我过去常打乒乓球，但近年来，我更喜欢看比赛而不是自己打。我认识许多优秀的中国乒乓球运动员。事实上，这也是我尊重中国文化的原因之一!

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