05/09/2007
LiHS's Revolutionary Research on Noninvasive Prenatal Testing Selected AoE
The Chinese University's project on 'Centre for Research into Circulating Fetal Nucleic Acids' has been selected one of the 2 funded local tertiary institution projects under the fourth round of the Areas of Excellence (AoE) scheme. The result was announced on 4 September by the University Grants Committee (UGC). The Centre has been awarded HK$29.92 million for long-term development with the aim of achieving an international standard of excellence.
In 1997, Prof. Dennis Y.M. Lo, Li Ka Shing Professor of Medicine, CUHK, and his research team discovered for the first time in the world the presence of cell-free foetal DNA in the blood plasma of pregnant women. This discovery has opened up new possibilities of noninvasive prenatal diagnosis. Prof. Lo's team then managed to measure the ratio of RNA molecules copied from gene copies which the foetus has inherited from the parents, and achieved the noninvasive prenatal detection with a 90% rate of sensitivity.
Currently, 200,000 babies with Down's Syndrome are born each year. The revolutionary prenatal testing not only would theoretically half the number of invasive tests and contribute to the early diagnosis of abnormalities, but would also lower the possible risk posed to the unborn child.
The Centre for Research into Circulating Fetal Nucleic Acids was established in 2004. Its main objective is to address a number of high-profile unsolved questions in the field of circulating fetal nucleic acids and refine the test so that it will be ready for routine utilization in the next few years. Prof. Lo acts as the project coordinator and Prof. Rossa W.K. Chiu of the Department of Chemical Pathology is the deputy project coordinator. Other members from CUHK include Prof. Lau Tze-kin and Prof. Leung Tse-ngong, both from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. They work closely with multidisciplinary basic scientists, clinician-scientists and clinical specialists from Hong Kong, USA, UK, the Netherlands and Italy.
The total budget of this AoE project is HK$58.56 million. On top of the UGC's AoE funding, CUHK will provide the project with funding support of HK$28.64 million from other sources, including $10 million from the Major Area of Biomedical Sciences.
The AoE scheme was launched by the UGC in 1998. CUHK has been playing the leading and coordinating roles for 4 out of 10 projects supported in the four rounds of AoE exercises.