Description

The Centre for Novostics (Novostics), with the meaning of novel diagnostics, aims to push forward the frontier of molecular diagnostics. Novostics will focus on the development of cutting edge diagnostics based on cell-free nucleic acids in blood and other bodily fluids, particularly around prenatal diagnosis and cancer diagnostics. With the experience in developing prenatal testing of fetal chromosome disorders, the centre plans to extend the work to single gene disease and other pregnancy-associated conditions. A combination of genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic and fragmentomic technologies will be employed to tackle bottlenecks in cancer diagnostics and investigate the tissue origin of malignancy by cell-free nucleic acid analysis, particularly for cancer types prevalent in Hong Kong, mainland China and Asia. These research areas will accelerate the application of liquid biopsy and promote Hong Kong as a leading molecular diagnostic centre in the world.