Description of impact
Key points
• From prenatal screening to disease diagnosis, molecular diagnostics is increasingly important in health care, and demand is growing for population-specific research; the Hong Kong government has also called for more trained technical professionals in this area.
• Hong Kong Metropolitan University is contributing to local and international knowledge of the human genome, genomics-based molecular diagnostics, and education that will train the next generation of laboratory scientists.
• Genomics researchers at HKMU are also investigating the intersection of animal and human health using a One Health approach, and at the same time exploring opportunities for collaboration and entrepreneurship.
Introduction
Modern medicine has seen many technological advances in the past few decades, but few have been as game-changing as the advent of genomics. Thanks to genome sequencing technology, disease diagnosis has been transformed. Now single gene disorders that lead to rare diseases can be detected, and other medical conditions with a genetic component can be treated with personalized medical interventions.
Research in genomics, the branch of molecular biology that studies the structure, function, evolution, and mapping of an organism’s entire set of DNA (i.e., its genome), first took off in Western countries, and the resulting understanding of genomics was skewed towards Western populations. In more recent years, various Asian genomics projects have sought to unravel the genetic particularities of specific populations. These projects have begun to address the underrepresentation of Asian populations in prominent international genomic databases, and have helped countries build a picture of their own populations from a genome perspective.
Local Genomics Research
Like the Chinese Mainland, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, Hong Kong is in the process of filling the local population genomics knowledge gap, through the Hong Kong government-established Hong Kong Genome Institute. Alongside this, scientists across the city are contributing to this local body of knowledge through their own work. That cohort includes Dr. Kelvin Yuen-kwong Chan, Associate Professor of Diagnostic Sciences in the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU). His career encompasses research, clinical work, education and, more recently, entrepreneurship, making HKMU's position as a University of Applied Sciences a natural fit for him.
Earlier in his career, after a stint as a Research Assistant Professor in the University of Hong Kong's Department of Pathology, Chan switched gears and went into clinical service, putting his theoretical knowledge of genomics into practice in molecular diagnostics. He joined the Prenatal Diagnostic Laboratory at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Tsan Yuk Hospital and Queen Mary Hospital, where he went on to oversee provision of prenatal diagnostic and screening laboratory services. Chan was then a Senior Scientific Officer (Medical) in the Hong Kong Genome Institute (HKGI), where he worked with the HKGI's scientific team to design the laboratory setup and operations for the Hong Kong Genome Project, the first population-scale human genome project in Hong Kong, and was involved in the HKGI's early work.
The next generation of experts
As both a researcher and educator, Chan relishes being in an environment that encourages small teams of people to engage in projects that have demonstratable societal impact and benefit from its status as a University of Applied Sciences. Having set up the Bachelor of Science (BSc) with Honours in Medical Laboratory Science degree (Programme pamphlet), Chan and colleagues went on to design a master's programme. The university now offers a Master of Applied Science (MASc) in Medical Laboratory Science degree (Programme pamphlet and Instagram), which serves as a professional conversion programme, providing a pathway for individuals with a biomedical and life science backgrounds to enter the medical laboratory technology industry. Both the bachelor's and master's programmes have been specifically designed to meet the criteria for accreditation by the Hong Kong Medical Laboratory Technologists (MLT) Board. Chan and his team worked diligently to complete the Board's initial accreditation assessment visit for the MASc programme and a subsequent assessment visit for the BSc programme in January 2026.
Chan continues to collaborate on genomics research projects with former HKGI colleagues who are now working at other institutions across town, notably a specialist in clinical geneticist in the Hospital Authority, and a leading expert in computational genomics and bioinformatics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The three bring unique attributes and resources, including state-of-the-art genome sequencing technology housed at HKMU.
“We work slow due to each of our own different commitments, but we're a good team because we are collecting very rare disease cases that have remained undiagnosed,” Chan explains. “In cases of a rare disease here, we need to improve the underlying algorithm, because the current one is based on existing bioinformatics. There may be some unseen genetic rearrangement that cannot be detected using the standard sequencing and analysis protocol, and we are hoping that we can develop new protocol algorithm or sequencing approaches to achieve higher sensitivity and faster turnaround time, hence shortening the undiagnosed journey for the Hong Kong population, and hope that this approach can help resolve the unanswered cases.”
Cutting-edge technology
The establishment of the cutting-edge technology in the Medical Science Laboratory at HKMU on site was made possible thanks to the funding support from HKMU's Quality Enhancement Measures scheme. This support helped establish the state-of-the-art sequencing and data processing platforms to enhance and enrich teaching and research activities at HKMU. Chan and his team are currently working closely with MGI Tech and BGI College, both part of the Beijing Genome Institute Group, offering next-generation and third-generation sequencing training and educational sessions to HKMU bachelor's and master's students, as well as research staff, and co-organizing professional continuing development workshops. “This very unique program is helping to shape our students to be suitable candidates for laboratories of the future and to train the existing medical laboratory staff, which increasingly relies on molecular diagnostics, and at the same time we can grow our research team,” says Chan.
One Health: humans and animals
A new area of research that Chan would like to focus on is human and animal cohabitation. “I'm interested in how they affect each other, or to put it more bluntly, contaminating each other through saliva sharing and the presence of animal faeces, because people's living area in Hong Kong is relatively small,” says Chan. This is an example of the principle of One Health, i.e., that human, animal and ecological health are inseparable and interrelated, and that tackling the health of one can benefit another. “One Health is very appropriate to what we do in HKMU. The School of Science and Technology has environmental science, and our school has both health nursing and diagnostic sciences, and these three groups can work closely together,” says Chan.
Chan is now looking at Hong Kong-specific research into the human-companion animal health nexus through microbiomes for his next research project. “We'd like to investigate this, how it’s affecting people, and also to develop algorithms for diagnosis of animal disorders,” he explains. “Pets cannot speak and it's often only when they are very sick that the owner can seek for veterinary care, so we would like to develop tools to help monitoring and early diagnosis.”
Chan shares that in future the existing Medical Laboratory Science programme should enhance by offering elective courses with components of veterinary laboratory science. This will expand the employability of the graduates, as companion animal ownership continues to increase in Hong Kong. This is especially so now that the Hong Kong government is actively promoting the pet economy and industry, and introducing new pet friendly policies. This will in turn increase the demand of veterinary laboratory services which will require more laboratory technologists and scientists.
Partnership and entrepreneurship
In late 2025, Chan stepped into the entrepreneurship arena. He and the other three founders set up ConEdu which has been awarded a $250,000 from HKMU's Incubation Programme. The funding is to develop an innovative digital platform that automates the tracking and management of continuing professional development (CPD) points for the health care sector. Chan is committed to medical laboratory technologist education and CPD. He envisions a pressing market need and a pain point in managing CPD credit points when the mandatory CPD scheme for allied health professionals is implemented in July 2026. Participation in this new scheme will become a prerequisite for the renewal of practising certificates. The service provided by ConEdu has been well-received, with over 1,000 subscriptions to its platform so far and growing interest from CPD providers. The HKMU Angel Fund Programme has subsequently invested another $500,000 to enhance ConEdu business operations and development.
Another start-up that Chan is working on together with a HKMU colleague and two founders is to use existing data, and molecular sequencing technology to identify and study of microbiomes dysbiosis and zoonotic diseases in companion animals and their owners. “It is now possible to detect a microbiome in human's faeces, and then based on the profile to reflect their health conditions and well-being. With this information, they can take specific probiotics to improve their gut environment and even their health,” says Chan. “The same applies to companion animals to improve well-being. Later on, we will work with different manufacturers to develop tailored probiotic products and diets for pets and their owners based on our proprietary microbiome analysis. This is another way to use research findings, translate them into something meaningful, and give back to the community.”
| Category of impact | Social impacts |
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