The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) hosted the International Conference on Advanced Molecular Technologies 2014 (ICAMT2014) from 7 to 9 March 2014 in Hong Kong. Themed “New era of molecular diagnostics: the way forward”, the conference aimed to further expedite professional exchange in the development of advanced technologies and applications in molecular diagnostics, and was attended by over 300 scholars, researchers, professionals and practitioners.
The conference was organized by PolyU’s Department of Health Technology and Informatics (HTI) together with local and U.S. organizations, including the Hong Kong Society for Molecular Diagnostic Sciences (HKSMDS), Chinese American Association for Clinical Microbiology (CAACM) and Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP). More than 25 related topics, contributed from Hong Kong, Europe and the U.S., were discussed in the conference. At the same occasion Dr Daniel Tam, President of HKSMDS, and Professor Elaine Lyon, President of AMP, signed an affiliation agreement with the objective to further strengthening research collaboration in molecular technologies across the regions.
In the opening remarks, PolyU Vice President (Research Development) Ir Professor Alex Wai said, “Molecular diagnostics is one of the rapidly developing areas in the field of medical laboratory science, pathology and patient care. The conference will help drive more collaborations and identify synergies among different organizations, fostering the research in this field.”
A pre-conference workshop on next-generation sequencing (NGS) was also organized. NGS, also known as the technology of high-throughput, has rapidly moved from research to clinical applications in the past decade. This improved application of genomic technologies makes a significant impact on healthcare and benefits a lot of patients.
Supported with advanced technologies, healthcare practitioners nowadays can process diagnosis of disease more accurately, efficiently and effectively. For example, Down syndrome can be diagnosed with a non-invasive procedure before birth while the possibility of hidden cancers can be detected more easily and promptly by analyzing DNA of tumor cells through blood test. Particular medicines can be accurately used for curing specific cancers by detecting presence or absence of somatic mutation in tumor cells through molecular assays.
Diagnostic laboratory tests (including molecular assays) have to be performed by medical technologists registered with Medical Laboratory Technologists Board. In Hong Kong, PolyU’s Department of Health Technology and Informatics is the only academic department among local tertiary institutions which offers government-funded full-time Bachelor of Science (Honours) programme in Medical Laboratory Science. Graduates can register directly with the Medical Laboratory Technologists Board as registered practitioners. For details about this programme, please visit http://www.polyu.edu.hk/hti/programmes/prog_BScMLS_HKDSE.html.
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Press contact : Professor Shea-ping Yip
Chairman, Organizing Committee ICAMT2014
Professor and Associate Head of
Department of Health Technology and Informatics
Telephone : (852) 3400 8571
E-mail : [email protected]
