Professor Y. M. Dennis Lo, Director of the Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, has been awarded this year’s Biochemical Analytics research award. The accolade, including prize money of EUR 50,000 provided by SARSTEDT AG & Co. KG, is presented every two years by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Klinische Chemie und Laboratoriumsmedizin e.V. (DGKL – German Society for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine).
Professor Lo has been recognized for his groundbreaking research in the field of molecular genetics and genetic laboratory diagnostics. As early as 1997, Prof Lo identified fetal DNA in the blood of pregnant women and has since been regarded as a pioneer in the field of liquid biopsy. His past research work has focused in particular on tumor and prenatal diagnostics based on the analysis of cell-free DNA. This allows close tracking of genetic tumor growth from an early stage and non-invasive diagnosis of trisomies in unborn children from the mother’s blood.
DGKL President Prof. Matthias Nauck and Rainer Schuster, Director for Sales/Research & Development SARSTEDT AG & Co. KG, presented the prize as part of a ceremony on the first evening of the four-day event.
Rainer Schuster’s speech focused on the freedom and independence of scientific research and teaching for the good of society, as enshrined in the constitution.
He stated that it, “ […] is the primary task of politics, but also industry, to create the conditions required to achieve this noble objective” and highlighted what a pleasure and honor it was for SARSTEDT as a company to be able to sponsor the award. Mr Schuster added that Prof. Lo‘s innovative work laid the foundations to enable long-term improvements in diagnostics, and expressed his great respect for Prof. Lo’s achievements on behalf of SARSTEDT.
This year’s annual convention was held on 25 to 28 September in Magdeburg – represented by the hashtag #moderndenken (think modern) – with the event focusing on current health policy issues and laboratory diagnostics. As well as innovative techniques from the field of personalized medicine, new diagnostic biomarkers and solutions in the digitalization of laboratory medicine were presented.
We began recognizing scientific work in 1986, initially awarding the SARSTEDT Research Prize a total of six times. Since 2008, we have also sponsored the DGKL Biochemical Analytics research award, providing prize money of 50,000 euros.
