19/04/2007
Professor Dennis Lo Honoured for Outstanding Publication
Prof. Dennis Lo, Dr. Li Ka Shing Professor of Medicine and professor of chemical pathology, has been conferred the 2007 The Sigi Ziering Award for Outstanding Contribution for a Publication in the journal Clinical Chemistry of the American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC). This award, sponsored by Diagnostic Products Corp. (DPC) in honour of its founder Sigi Ziering, is given in recognition of a paper published in Clinical Chemistry during the preceding calendar year, that most significantly advances clinical laboratory science and laboratory medicine. The first award was given in July 2000 for a paper published in 1999. The award includes a plaque and a US$5,000 honorarium. The ceremony for presentation of the awards will be held on 15 July during a special AACC Awards dinner at Balboa Park in San Diego. Prof. Dennis Lo is a world authority in the new research area that studies DNA and RNA molecules existing outside of cells, in the blood plasma of human subjects. His contributions to the area have been pioneering. In the last 10 years, Prof. Lo discovered the presence of cell-free foetal DNA and RNA in the plasma of pregnant women. This opened up a vista of possibilities for the non-invasive and safe prenatal detection and the monitoring of pregnancy-associated disorders, including pregnancy-associated high blood pressure (preeclampsia) and foetal Down’s syndrome.
[Original source: Press Release on 19 April 2007, CUHK Information Services Office Website http://www.iso.cuhk.edu.hk/images/publication/newsletter/296/pdf/NSL296_full.pdf8]