Events
Yen Kwo Yung Lecture in Life Sciences- (2nd Online Lecture) “Translating Scientific Discoveries into Clinical Impact” by Prof. Dennis Lo
30 Mar 2022
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Online (Zoom)
Professor Dennis Lo YM
Li Ka Shing Professor of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Professor Dennis Lo’s research interests focus on the biology and diagnostic applications of cell-free nucleic acids in plasma. In particular, he discovered the presence of cell-free fetal DNA in maternal plasma in 1997 and has since then been pioneering non-invasive prenatal diagnosis using this technology. This technology has been adopted globally and has created a paradigm in prenatal medicine. He has also made many innovations using circulating nucleic acids for cancer detection, including the screening of early stage nasopharyngeal cancer.
In recognition of his research, Professor Lo has been elected as Fellow of the Royal Society, Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences, Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and Founding Member of the Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong. Professor Lo has won numerous awards, including the 2016 Future Science Prize in Life Science, the 2014 King Faisal International Prize in Medicine, the 2019 Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award, The 2021 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences and the 2021 Royal Medal.
In this talk, Professor Lo would discuss how he discovered the presence of cell-free fetal DNA in maternal blood in 1997. He would then discuss how one translated such a scientific discovery into a clinical test that is now used worldwide. He would discuss the challenges that one faced in such a journey. He would then talk about how a non-invasive fetal test would then inspire me to develop a multi-cancer early detection test. Finally, he would discuss the synergy between scientific research and entrepreneurship.
Language: English
