23/12/2019

Professor Dennis Lo and Professor Rossa Chiu Named World’s “Top 20 Translational Researchers of 2018”.

Professor Dennis Lo and Professor Rossa Chiu Named World’s “Top 20 Translational Researchers of 2018”

Professor Dennis Yuk Ming LO and Professor Rossa Wai Kwun CHIU from the Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) have been named the “Top 20 Translational Researchers of 2018” by the world-renowned scientific journal Nature Biotechnology. They are the only Hong Kong scientists on the list and it is the third consecutive year for Professor Lo to receive this honour.

The two professors received the honour for their achievements in the areas of cancer and fetal diagnostics. Nature Biotechnology ranked the top translational researchers in biotech based on the number of patents granted in 2018, the researcher’s top-cited patents over the past five years, and the citation scores of their publications (H-index) as the indicators of how their biomedical research results have been effectively translated into clinical applications, being appreciated as Translational Research.

Known as ‘the Father of Non-invasive Prenatal Test’, Professor Dennis LO is Director of the Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, Associate Dean (Research) and Chairman of the Department of Chemical Pathology of the Faculty of Medicine at CUHK. Professor Lo joined CUHK in 1997 and reported the presence of cell-free fetal DNA in maternal plasma in the same year. He and his colleagues have been instrumental in making non-invasive DNA-based prenatal testing a clinical reality. The non-invasive prenatal test for Down syndrome developed by the team has been widely regarded as a significant breakthrough in the global scientific community. The test has been widely adopted in over 90 countries and used by millions of pregnant women globally.

Professor Rossa CHIU, also from the Department of Chemical Pathology of the Faculty of Medicine at CUHK, is currently Associate Dean (Development) of the Faculty and Choh-Ming Li Professor of Chemical Pathology. Professor Chiu has made significant contributions to the development of non-invasive prenatal diagnosis and successfully applied DNA sequencing technology for cancer detection with Professor Lo. The latest blood test developed can non-invasively map out multiple types of aberrations in a cancer genome. The ultimate goal of the research is to enable early cancer detection and treatment.

For the professors’ work on fetal diagnostics, Nature Biotechnology highlighted their work on the development of new class of prenatal diagnostic markers that are based on DNA methylation. DNA methylation refers to a type of biochemical change of DNA that allows one to trace the tissue of origin of a DNA molecule. Such tracing would help one identify if a DNA molecule is coming from the fetus or the mother.

Based on the above achievements, Professor Lo and Professor Chiu have been listed in the “Top 20 Translational Researchers” recently by the authoritative scientific journal Nature Biotechnology.

Original source: Press Release on 22 December 2019, CUHK Communication and Public Relations Office Website Two CUHK Scholars Named World’s “Top 20 Translational Researchers” | Professor Dennis Lo Receiving the Honour for the Third Consecutive Year