Professor Yuk Ming Dennis Lo, a molecular biologist from the Chinese University of Hong Kong has been awarded the 2022 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for the discovery of fetal DNA in maternal blood, leading to non-invasive prenatal testing for Down's syndrome and other genetic conditions.
Professor Lo demonstrated that cell-free fetal DNA is present in the mother's blood, rather than inside the mother's cells, where genetic material is usually found. He then developed analytics that detect genetic markers for Down's syndrome, creating a non-invasive test that is greater than 99 percent accurate for ruling out the condition.
'I am pleased that since its launch in 2011, non-invasive prenatal testing has become a standard of care.' said Professor Lo during his acceptance speech. 'It has also stimulated a global interest in the diagnostic applications of plasma DNA, especially in the area of cancer liquid biopsies and transplantation monitoring. I look forward to seeing these and other yet to be developed applications improving healthcare worldwide.'
Please visit the Lasker Foundation's winners page for more information.
