Two inventions by a group of researchers from the University of Macau’s (UM) State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine—one is a series of innovative Chinese herbal products and the other is a zebrafish screening system based on microfluidic technology—stood out from nearly 1,000 inventions and won gold awards at the 47th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva. The Chinese herbal products are the first modern Chinese herbal products from Macao to win this award.

Co-organised by the World International Intellectual Property Organisation and the federal government of Switzerland, the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva is the oldest and largest inventions exhibition in the world. All exhibits are evaluated by over 80 world-renowned experts from around the world. UM’s winning two gold awards at the event shows international recognition of the value of UM researchers’ inventions.

In recent years, UM has made significant progress in the development of innovative Chinese herbal products. The six innovative products exhibited in Geneva earned unanimous approval and attracted considerable interest from experts and participants. The zebrafish screening system comprises a microfluidic chip, an injection pump, and automation software. It allows simultaneous screening of a larger number of zebrafish, faster loading of embryos, and automatic mass collection of clear images, while eliminating the need for anaesthesia, thereby improving cost efficiency and shortening the product development cycle. It can be used for various purposes, such as the development of innovative Chinese herbal products, quality control for Chinese medicine, food quality monitoring, and environmental monitoring.