Briefs | Airport to add 102 flights over Lunar New Year

The Macau International Airport will add a total of 102 flights over the Chinese Lunar New Year period to help cope with an anticipated surge in passenger numbers. The new flights will connect Macau to cities in the mainland, Taipei and Kaohsiung in Taiwan, and popular Southeast Asian cities such as Bangkok and Da Nang. According to a statement published on the airport’s website, the decision to add the flights stemmed from an “operation meeting” held to coordinate arrangements with airlines and airport entities. The extra flights will be operated in the period from January 18 to February 6. The Macau International Airport predicts that the aviation base will serve 716,000 arriving and departing passengers during this period, representing an increase of 5.9% year-on-year.

UM team develops new screening method for cancer drugs

An interdisciplinary research team from the University of Macau (UM) has developed a new screening method for cancer drugs. Using a digital microfluidic system, the research team can run single cell drug screening tests with a limited amount of biopsy samples. As an efficient and precise method, the screening process for a cancer patient can be completed within 24 hours, which can help provide timely guidance for doctors on medication prescription. The interdisciplinary research project was led by UM’s Institute of Microelectronics, and jointly conducted by UM’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Sun Yat-sen University. According to UM, the research results have been published by the authoritative international journal Microsystems & Nanoengineering under Nature Publishing Group. UM researcher Zhai Jiao is the paper’s first author and Jia Yanwei, an assistant professor in UM’s State Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI, is the corresponding author.

DSI launches online system for association management

The Identification Services Bureau (DSI) has officially launched an online system for the management of the city’s associations and foundations, through which persons in charge of associations and foundations can register, check and update the information about members of the leadership structure at any time. If the association or foundation has never elected the members of the leadership structure, the founder who has been approved to use the name of the association or foundation may use this system to register the first member list of the leadership structure. The online management system has been running on a trial basis since December 26 last year. It also enables citizens to lodge applications without the need of in-person visits to the department. In addition, the issuing time of the certificate was shortened from 12 working days to three working days, making it possible to go through all formalities “in one visit.”