Project Showcase | Gavin Lou, PhD

Managed portfolio

HK$4.91M across research, incubation, and venture delivery.

Approved and awarded programme value only. The composition below is non-overlapping; pending applications and separate recognition are excluded.

ITCFAS approved portfolio HK$3,020,490 · 62%

HKSTP Incu-Tech programme HK$1,290,000 · 26%

CUHK MAKE a DASH Fund HK$600,000 · 12%

Featured project · PSTS

Trial: Novel Device for Testing of Breath Ketone

ITF Public Sector Trial Scheme for incubatees

Led a public-sector trial from production planning through field operations, validation, recovery, and close-out. The programme joined hardware manufacture, human-subject logistics, calibration, cloud data operations, budget control, and public-sector reporting in one delivery plan.

March–November 2024 · Project coordinator and CEO · Trial partner: The Chinese University of Hong Kong

HK$674K approved project funding

9 months managed trial period

100 prototype devices produced

4,000 human-breath records from 50 volunteers

Delivery against plan

Every core output met or exceeded target.

Prototype devices 100 target → 100 delivered

100%

Human-breath records 3,000 target → 4,000 delivered

133%

Calibration records 360 target → 500 delivered

139%

GC–MS benchmark datasets 20 target → 20 delivered

100%

Validated close-out

Technical performance and user acceptance.

Detected 200 ppb acetone vapour with 93% accuracy compared with GC–MS.
Only two of 100 produced devices failed the reported device-quality check.
The public-sector user reported satisfaction with the trial, likely adoption, and very high satisfaction with the project team's performance.

Public-safe summary from the signed completion report, technical presentation, and trial-user evaluation. Internal identifiers and participant records are intentionally omitted.

Original project assets

Production and validation—without the slide canvas.

Each photograph and chart below was extracted from its original presentation object. Two device-screen close-ups and volunteer-facing images remain private because they contain unit identifiers or identifiable participants.

Multiple silver breath-analysis prototype units arranged on a three-tier production cart — Production
**Prototype batch** Production units staged for in-house assembly and quality checks within the 100-device delivery.

Multi-channel MEMS gas testing rig with valves, tubing, flow control, and sample vials — Calibration infrastructure
**Multi-channel MEMS testing chamber** A controlled multi-channel rig for sensor exposure, flow control, and calibration-data collection.

A stack of silver Mac laptops arranged in a laboratory storage cart — Trial operations
**Field-computing kit** Mac laptops procured for coordinated trial setup, device support, and data operations.

Multiple black smart watches and two black mobile phones arranged for project testing — Trial operations
**Mobile test endpoints** Watch and phone hardware used around mobile connectivity and trial workflows.

Acetone response curves at several concentrations over sixty seconds — Validation
**Concentration response curves** Extracted plot of the acetone response under controlled Tenax-assisted exposure.

Calibration curve plotting integrated sensor response against concentration in parts per billion — Validation
**Calibration curve** Extracted calibration plot connecting concentration in parts per billion with integrated sensor response.

Benchmark plot with six response series increasing across four measurement levels — Validation
**GC-MS benchmark** Extracted comparison plot used in the project close-out validation record.

Source: original objects extracted from the public-safe pages of the PSTS project close-out presentation.

Programme management

Six connected workstreams, one accountable delivery path.

The management load extended well beyond grant administration: physical production, people, protocols, data infrastructure, recovery planning, and formal close-out all had to stay synchronized.

01
Prototype manufacture

Coordinated molds, tooling, procurement, assembly, small-batch production, and in-house quality checks for 100 devices.
02
Trial mobilisation

Planned staffing, onboarding for 50 volunteers, device distribution, scheduling, operating instructions, and trial-site logistics.
03
Calibration and benchmarking

Managed MEMS gas-chamber calibration, concentration-curve work, and GC–MS comparison as validation gates.
04
Data operations

Ran device, app, gateway, and cloud workflows with data-quality monitoring and a local fallback path.
05
Recovery and controls

Replanned the schedule after benchmark-equipment downtime and resolved network saturation affecting uploads.
06
Close-out and handoff

Coordinated budget control, audit support, completion reporting, user evaluation, and OEM follow-up.

Management under pressure

Signals, decisions, results.

SignalCloud uploads initially reached about 80%.

DecisionAdded local storage fallback and revised the gateway and access-point topology.

ResultUpload reliability moved toward near-complete capture without blocking trial throughput.

SignalSensors needed roughly three minutes to stabilise.

DecisionIntroduced preheating, practice runs, and clearer onboarding guidance.

ResultReduced waiting friction while preserving the measurement protocol.

SignalBenchmarking equipment required repair and recovery.

DecisionSecured a three-month extension and resequenced validation and reporting work.

ResultCompleted the full benchmark and close-out package within the revised period.

Engineering artifacts

From routed board to experimental system.

Working artifacts from the design archive, shown as public-safe renders. The authenticated source projects stay private; the visible evidence does not.

Three-dimensional PCB preview of the blue Beagle embedded acquisition controller with headers, USB, storage, controls, and surface-mounted components

Embedded hardware · 3D assembly

Beagle acquisition controller

The assembled-board view connects the product story to the actual electronics: dual headers, sensor and pump interfaces, local storage, USB, controls, and power-management circuitry on a custom PCB.

Public-safe render captured from the owner-authorized EasyEDA project archive.

EasyEDA PCB layout view of the Beagle controller showing routed traces, copper regions, component placement, connectors, and mounting holes

Embedded hardware · PCB layout

Board routing and integration

The routed-board view shows the dense integration work beneath the enclosure: signal paths, component placement, connector access, power sections, and the physical constraints of an instrument controller.

Public-safe capture from the owner-authorized EasyEDA design workspace.

Thesis figure showing a pump, separation column, solenoid valve, ambient-air inlet, and headspace-vapour vial connected to a custom gas-chromatography controller

Research system · Thesis figure

Headspace gas-chromatography flow path

The thesis figure makes the sensing sequence concrete: a pump selects headspace vapour or ambient air through a solenoid valve, drives it across the heated separation column, and presents separated compounds to the modular sensing electronics.

Figure 3.2, rendered from the owner-authorized Overleaf thesis PDF.

Autodesk Fusion assembly view of a thesis mass-flow experiment with a gas cylinder, flow-control component, laboratory power supply, and laptop

Experimental systems · CAD

Mass-flow experiment assembly

A working spatial model for the thesis gas-sensing setup brings the experimental system into one view: gas source, flow-control hardware, bench power, and the acquisition computer used around the sensing workflow.

Public-safe render captured from the owner-authorized Autodesk Fusion thesis project library.

Interfaces

Software as part of the research record.

Screens captured from running or published project interfaces—not decorative mockups.

Open scientific software

MIB Studio — live monitoring

A Qt operator interface for microscopy acquisition, recording, review, and real-time analysis, shown from the project's published documentation.

Inspect the work

Analytical dashboard showing evidence counts by state

Research analytics

ITS209 analytical overview

A locally rendered research interface that turns an evidence dataset into explorable state and time-series views.

Inspect the work

In the room

Events, hosting, and media—shown with source context.

Each still or poster comes from the linked public article, institutional profile, or event post. The complete chronological record remains on the Engagement page.