HONG KONG, July 16 — 2026 marks nearly three decades since Yuk-Ming Dennis Lo first demonstrated the presence of circulating tumor DNA in the blood of cancer patients, a discovery that laid the foundation for what the diagnostics industry now calls liquid biopsy. Lo, a Hong Kong-born molecular biologist and professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, originally made that breakthrough in 1994. The finding showed that fragments of tumor DNA circulate in the bloodstream, opening a new window into cancer detection without invasive tissue biopsies.
The same principle underpins the non-invasive prenatal testing that made Lo internationally known. In 1997, he pioneered the detection of circulating fetal DNA in maternal plasma.
That work led directly to NIPT for conditions such as Down syndrome, a screening method now routine in many countries. Lo and his team first reported the use of massively parallel sequencing for NIPT in 2008, a technical leap that scaled the approach for clinical use. According to the body of research Lo has built, the same sequencing techniques that detect fetal DNA in maternal blood can be adapted to spot tumor DNA in cancer patients.
The connection between the two fields is direct: both rely on finding tiny amounts of cell-free DNA in plasma and distinguishing it from the background of normal DNA. The clinical implications are significant.
Liquid biopsy technologies, which trace their lineage to Lo’s 1994 paper, were highlighted at the ADLM 2026 conference as a key tool for cancer screening and biomarker discovery. The conference, a major gathering for the clinical laboratory and diagnostics industry, focused on how these blood-based tests can detect multiple cancer types at early stages. Lo has received recognition for his work across multiple continents.
He received the King Faisal International Prize in Medicine in 2014 and the Future Science Prize in 2016. Both awards cited his contributions to non-invasive diagnostics, a field he essentially created. The supply-chain impact is worth noting.
The reagents, sequencing platforms, and bioinformatics pipelines used in modern liquid biopsy tests all trace back to the core methodology Lo established. Companies developing cancer screening panels, from single-cancer tests to multi-cancer early detection assays, rely on the same technical principles: massively parallel sequencing of cell-free DNA, bioinformatic filtering to identify tumor-derived fragments, and statistical models to distinguish signal from noise.
For the diagnostics industry, the trajectory is clear. Lo’s 1994 proof-of-concept took years to mature into clinical products. NIPT became a commercial reality roughly a decade after his 1997 discovery.
Cancer liquid biopsy is following a similar arc, with regulatory approvals and clinical adoption accelerating. Figures from the field show the scale.
The global liquid biopsy market has grown substantially as more laboratories adopt the technology. Hospitals and diagnostic chains are investing in the sequencing capacity and analytical expertise required to run these tests. Lo continues his work at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where his laboratory remains a center of gravity for research into circulating nucleic acids.
The field he launched in 1994 now supports an entire ecosystem of diagnostics companies, academic collaborations, and clinical trials. What to watch next: how liquid biopsy platforms evolve from single-cancer tests to comprehensive screening panels that can detect multiple tumor types from a single blood draw. The technical foundation Lo built makes that goal achievable, though clinical validation and regulatory clearance remain the next hurdles. Consult your doctor for medical advice.
