At the Future Forum 2017 and inaugural ‘Future Science Prize’ Award Ceremony held in Beijing recently, Professor Dennis Yuk-ming Lo from the Faculty of Medicine at CUHK received the ‘Life Science Prize’, seen as the Chinese version of the Nobel Prize, in front of Nobel Prize laureates, scores of top international scientists and entrepreneurs, and over a thousand guests from around the world. The award is for his seminal contribution to the widely used, non-invasive prenatal test based on the original discovery of fetal DNA in maternal blood which has benefited millions of pregnant women globally.

With CUHK since 1997, Prof. Dennis Lo is the Associate Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Medicine, Chairman of the Department of Chemical Pathology and Director of the Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences. He and his colleagues are instrumental in making non-invasive DNA-based prenatal testing a clinical reality. His team has developed a Down syndrome test that has been adopted in over 90 countries and has been used by millions of pregnant women. With the use of massively parallel sequencing and the development of novel bioinformatics strategies, Professor Lo’s group succeeded in deciphering a genome-wide genetic map of the fetus through the analysis of traces of fragmented DNA floating in the blood of pregnant women. This scientific achievement lays the foundation for developing non-invasive prenatal diagnostic tests for multiple genetic diseases. The technology could also be applied to develop novel screening tests for multiple types of cancers.

‘To me, science is an integral part of my life. One of the most satisfying outcomes of my research is that the results can be widely utilised around the world and benefit lots of people,’ Prof. Dennis Lo said at the ceremony.

To welcome the Year of the Rooster, the Art Museum of CUHK has launched the exhibition ‘Heralds of Spring: Celebrating the Year of the Rooster’ on campus. The works come from the collection of the Art Museum as well as local private collections on the theme of auspicious birds.

As the only bird among the twelve Chinese zodiac signs, the rooster has been imparted with rich symbolic meanings since ancient times. The rooster, which guards the day and crows unerringly at the break of dawn, has become a symbol of trust and punctuality. As the old saying goes, “At the rooster’s call, the world brightens”. The rooster is regarded as the messenger of light that dispels darkness.

This exhibition showcases 53 sets of artefacts, dating from the Han Dynasty to the present. In presenting these auspicious images among artistic marvels from the long history of Chinese civilization, the exhibition also highlights the craftsmanship, history, and cultural significance of the works on display.

The Chinese New Year is around the corner. To share festive joy and gifts with our neighbours, volunteers of CUHK • Care paid friendly visits to homes of the elderly in Sha Tin and Tai Po for two consecutive Saturdays.

Since its inception in 2013, CUHK • Care has been working with different charity organisations to visit the elderly around the festive season. On 4 January, the volunteers visited the elderly in Tai Po through arrangement with the Salvation Army. Another New Year visit on 21 January was paid to elderly patients in Shatin discharged from the Prince of Wales Hospital. Besides the festive gifts, volunteers also brought much laughter and warmth to the elderly through cheerful conversation.

CUHK • Care Service Team now has nearly 1,000 members, including students, staff, alumni and friends of CUHK. Buoyed by the University’s benevolent, humanist culture, the team aims to bring together CUHK members’ time and capabilities to contribute to society. All are welcome to register and join the CUHK • Care Service Team.

CUHK • Care Service Team website: http://www.cpr.cuhk.edu.hk/en/cuhkcare.php