Professor Dennis Lo
Email: loym@cuhk.edu.hk

Professor Dennis Lo is the Professor of Chemical Pathology and Li Ka Shing Professor of Medicine of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is also the Associate Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Medicine, the Director of the Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences and an Associate Director of the State Key Laboratory in Oncology in South China. He obtained his B.A. degree from the University of Cambridge and his B.M.B.Ch. degree from the University of Oxford. Following his clinical studies, he pursued a period of postgraduate research, resulting in the award of a D.Phil. degree from Oxford. He received his clinical training in internal medicine and chemical pathology from John Radcliffe Hospital, the teaching hospital of the University of Oxford Clinical School, where he was appointed University Lecturer in Clinical Biochemistry and Honorary Consultant Chemical Pathologist. Prof. Lo is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians ( London and Edinburgh) and a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of the U.K.

Professor Lo's main research interests lie in the clinical applications of molecular biology. He is a pioneer in noninvasive prenatal diagnosis using cell-free fetal DNA and RNA in maternal plasma/serum. Professor Lo is also actively pursuing the application of plasma-based molecular technology to the diagnosis and monitoring of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma. Professor Lo has produced over 243 publications in international journals. His research is currently supported by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, the Innovation and Technology Fund, the Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Diseases (from the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau), the Kadoorie Charitable Foundation and the Li Ka Shing Foundation.

Professor Lo is a past President of the Hong Kong Society of Clinical Chemistry. Professor Lo is an Associate Editor of Clinical Chemistry, and serves on the Editorial Boards of American Journal of Hematology, Disease Markers, Prenatal Diagnosis, Chimerism and Fetal Diagnosis and Therapy.

Selected publications from Prof. Lo's group include:

  1. Lo YMD , Chiu RWK. Prenatal diagnosis: progress through plasma nucleic acids. Nature Reviews Genetics 2007; 8: 71-77.

  2. Lo YMD , Tsui NB, Chiu RW, Lau TK, Leung TN, Heung MM, Gerovassili A, Jin Y, Nicolaides KH, Cantor CR, Ding C. Plasma placental RNA allelic ratio permits noninvasive prenatal chromosomal aneuploidy detection. Nature Medicine 2007; 13: 218-223.

  3. Lo YMD , Lun FM, Chan KC, Tsui NB, Chong KC, Lau TK, Leung TY, Zee BC, Cantor CR, Chiu RWK. Digital PCR for the molecular detection of fetal chromosomal aneuploidy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( USA) 2007; 104: 13116-13121.

  4. Chim SS, Tong YK, Chiu RWK, Lau TK, Leung TN, Chan LY, Oudejans CB, Ding C, Lo YMD. Detection of the placental epigenetic signature of the maspin gene in maternal plasma. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( USA) 2005; 102: 14753-14758.

  5. Ding C, Chiu RW, Lau TK, Leung TN, Chan LC, Chan AY, Charoenkwan P, Ng IS, Law HY, Ma ES, Xu X, Wanapirak C, Sanguansermsri T, Liao C, Ai MA, Chui DH, Cantor CR, Lo YMD. MS analysis of single-nucleotide differences in circulating nucleic acids: Application to noninvasive prenatal diagnosis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( USA) 2004; 101: 10762-10767.

  6. Ng EKO, Tsui NB , Lau TK, Leung TN , Chiu RWK, Panesar NS , Lit LC, Chan KW, Lo YMD. mRNA of placental origin is readily detectable in maternal plasma. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( USA) 2003; 100: 4748-4753.

  7. Chiu RWK, Lau TK, Leung TN, Chow KCK, Chui DHK, Lo YMD. Prenatal exclusion of beta-thalassaemia major by examination of maternal plasma. Lancet 2002; 360: 998-1000.

  8. Chan KCA, Zhang J, Hui AB, Wong N, Lau TK, Leung TN, Lo KW, Huang DW, Lo YMD. Size distributions of maternal and fetal DNA in maternal plasma. Clinical Chemistry 2004; 50: 88-92.

  9. Chan KCA, Zhang J, Chan ATC, Lei KIK, Leung SF, Chan LYS , Chow KCK, Lo YMD. Molecular characterization of circulating Epstein-Barr virus DNA in the plasma of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and lymphoma patients. Cancer Research 2003; 63: 2028-2032.

  10. The Chinese SARS molecular epidemiology consortium: He JF, Peng GW, Min J, Yu DW, Liang WJ, Zhang SY, Xu RH, Zheng HY, Wu XW, Xu J, Wang ZH, Fang L, Zhang X, Li H, Yan XG, Lu HJ, Hu ZH, Huang JC, Wan ZY, Hou JL, Lin JY, Song HD, Wang SY, Zhou XJ, Zhang GW, Gu BW, Zheng HJ, Zhang XL, He M, Zheng K, Wang BF, Fu G, Wang XN, Chen SJ, Zhu Chen Z, Hao P, Tang H, Ren SX, Zhong Y, Guo ZM, Liu Q, Miao YG, Kong XY, He WZ, Li YX, Wu CI, Zhao GP, Chiu RWK, Chim SSC, Tong YK, Chan PKS, Tam JS, Lo YMD. Molecular evolution of the SARS-coronavirus during the course of the SARS epidemic in China. Science 2004; 303: 1666-1669.