We are interested in early-life human health including fetal development and diseases, pregnancy-associated disorders and how early-life environment may have long-term impact on health.

We study human clinical samples carefully phenotyped and prepared by our exceptional clinical collaborators, with a wide-variety of cutting-edge genomics and molecular technologies and bioinformatics tools – many of them developed in-house.

Awarded/allowed patents:

1. Haplotype Analysis, European patent No. 1587946, Charles Cantor and Chunming Ding
2. Method for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis, Australian Patent AU2004270220, Rossa Chiu, Charles Cantor, Dennis Lo and Chunming Ding
3. Quantification of Gene Expression, Australian Patent AU2003270397, Charles Cantor and Chunming Ding
4. Quantification of Gene Expression, Indian Patent 318/CHENP/2005, Charles Cantor and Chunming Ding
5. Methods for Prenatal Diagnosis of Chromosome Abnormalities, US patent: 7655399, Charles Cantor and Chunming Ding
6. Haplotype Analysis, HK patent: HK1083356B, Charles Cantor and Chunming Ding
7. Method for the detection of chromosomal aneuploidies, US patent: 7645576, Charles Cantor and Chunming Ding
8. Haplotype analysis, US patent: 7700325, Charles Cantor and Chunming Ding
9. Method for detecting and quantifying rare mutations/polymorphisms, US patent: 7709262, Charles Cantor and Chunming Ding
10. A method for the detection of chromosomal aneuploidies, Australian patent: AU2006224971, Charles Cantor and Chunming Ding
11. Methods for Pre-natal diagnosis of chromosomal abnormalities, US patent 7785798 B2, Charles Cantor and Chunming Ding
12. Fetal Methylation Markers, US patent 7754428
13. Marker for Prenatal Diagnosis and Monitoring, US patent 7709194

1.       Circulating DNA and RNA for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis of chromosome disorders

2.       Biomarkers for early prediction of preeclampsia

3.       Fetal epigenetic changes in association with maternal environmental factors

4.       A systematic epigenomics approach for discovering novel genomic imprinting

Tong YK, Jin S, Chiu RW, Ding C, Chan KC, Leung TY, Yu L, Lau TK, and Lo YM Noninvasive prenatal detection of trisomy 21 by an epigenetic-genetic chromosome-dosage approach. Clin Chem.2010 Jan;56(1):90-8.

Li XX, Wong GL, To KF, Wong VW, Lai LH, Chow DK, Lau JY, Sung JJ, and Ding C. Bacterial microbiota profiling in gastritis without Helicobacter pylori infection or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use. PLoS One 2009 Nov 24;4(11):e7985.

Heung M, Jin S, Tsui N, Ding C, Leung TY, Lau TK, Chiu R, Lo YM, Placenta-Derived Fetal Specific mRNA Is More Readily Detectable in Maternal Plasma than in Whole Blood. PLOS One (2009) 4(6):e5858

Luan J, Yuan J, Li X, Jin S, Yu L, Liao M, Zhang H, Xu C, He Q, Wen B, Zhong X, Chen X, Chan LY, Sung J, Zhou B, and Ding C, Multiplex detection of sixty Hepatitis B virus variations by automated MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, Clin Chem (2009) 55(8):1503-9

Ding C and Jin S, High-throughput methods for SNP genotyping. Methods Mol Biol. (2009) 578:245-54

Chim SS, Jin S, Lee TY, Lun FM, Lee WS, Chan LY, Jin Y, Yang N, Tong YK, Leung TY, Lau TK, Ding C, Chiu RW, Lo YM., Systematic Search for Placental DNA-Methylation Markers on Chromosome 21: Toward a Maternal Plasma-Based Epigenetic Test for Fetal Trisomy 21. Clin Chem (2008) 54(3):500-11

Ding C, MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry for Analyzing Cell-free Fetal DNA in Maternal Plasma. Methods Mol Biol. (2008) 444:253-67.

Chan KC, Lai PB, Mok TS, Chan HL, Ding C, Yeung SW, Lo YM, Quantitative analysis of circulating methylated DNA as a biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma. Clin Chem (2008) 54(9):1528-36.

Lo YM, Tsui NB, Chiu RW, Lau TK, Leung TN, Heung MM, Gerovassili A, Jin Y, Nicolaides KH, Cantor CR, and Ding C, Plasma placental RNA allelic ratio permits noninvasive prenatal chromosomal aneuploidy detection, Nature Medicine (2007) 13(2):218-23 PMID: 17206148

Chow KC, Chiu RW, Tsui NB, Ding C, Lau TK, Leung TN, Lo YM, Mass spectrometric detection of an SNP panel as an internal positive control for fetal DNA analysis in maternal plasma, Clin Chem (2007) 53(1):141-2.

Ding C, 'Other' applications of single nucleotide polymorphisms. Trends Biotechnol (2007) 25(7):279-83.

Tong YK, Chiu RW, Leung TY, Ding C, Lau TK, Leung TN, Lo YM, Detection of Restriction Enzyme Digested Target DNA by PCR Amplification Using a Stem-Loop Primer: Application to the Detection of Hypomethylated Fetal DNA in Maternal Plasma, Clin Chem (2007) 53(11):1906-14.

Tong YK, Ding C, Chiu RW, Gerovassili A, Chim SS, Leung TY, Leung TN, Lau TK, Nicolaides KH, Lo YM, Noninvasive Prenatal Detection of Fetal Trisomy 18 by Epigenetic Allelic Ratio Analysis in Maternal Plasma: Theoretical and Empirical Considerations, Clin Chem (2006) 52(12):2194-202 PMID: 17040955

Chan KC, Ding C, Gerovassili A, Yeung SW, Chiu RW, Leung TN, Lau TK, Chim SS, Chung GT, Nicolaides KH, Lo YM, Hypermethylated RASSF1A in Maternal Plasma: A Universal Fetal DNA Marker that Improves the Reliability of Noninvasive Prenatal Diagnosis, Clin Chem (2006) 52(12):2211-8 PMID: 17068167

Ding C, Wong VW, Chow K, Chan HY, Hui AY, Wong GL, Lo YMD, Sung JJ, Chan HL, Quantitative Subtyping of Hepatitis B Virus Reveals Complex Dynamics of YMDD Motif Mutants Development during Long-Term Lamivudine Therapy, Antiviral Therapy (2006) 11:1041-1050

Ding C, and YM Lo, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry for quantitative, specific and sensitive analysis of DNA and RNA. Ann N Y Acad Sci (2006) 1075:282-7. PMID: 17108222

Ding C, Qualitative and quantitative DNA and RNA analysis by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Methods Mol Biol (2006) 336:59-71. PMID: 16916253

Rachlin R, Ding C, Cantor CR and Kasif S, MuPlex: Multi-Objective Multiplex PCR Assay Design, Nucleic Acids Res (2005) 33:W544-7, PMID: 15980531

McCullough RM, Cantor CR and Ding C, High-throughput Alternative Splicing Quantification by Primer Extension and Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry. Nucleic Acids Res (2005) 33(11):e99, PMID: 15967806

Mao H, Ferguson TS, Cibulsky SM, Holmqvist M, Ding C, Fei H, Levitan IB, MONaKA, a novel modulator of the plasma membrane Na,K-ATPase. J Neurosci (2005) 25(35):7934-43, PMID: 16135750

Rachlin R, Ding C, Cantor CR and Kasif S, Computational Tradeoffs in Multiplex PCR Assay Design for SNP Genotyping. BMC Genomics (2005) 6:102, PMID: 16042802

Chim SS, Tong YK, Chiu RW, Lau TK, Leung TN, Chan LY, Oudejans CB, Ding C, Lo YM., Detection of the placental epigenetic signature of the maspin gene in maternal plasma. (2005) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A (2005) 102(41):14753-8, PMID: 16203989

Tsui NB, Chiu RW, Ding C, El-Sheikhah A, Leung TN, Lau TK, Nicolaides KH, Lo YM, Detection of Trisomy 21 by Quantitative Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Clin Chem (2005) 51(12):2358-62, PMID: 16306096

Karaoz U, Murali TM, Letovsky S, Zheng Y, Ding C, Cantor CR, Kasif S, Whole genome annotation using evidence integration in functional linkage networks. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A (2004) 101(9):2888-93, PMID: 14981259

Spira A, Beane J, Schembri F, Liu G, Ding C, Gilman S, Yang X, Cantor CR and Brody J, Noninvasive method for obtaining buccal mucosal RNA for measuring patterns of gene expression in epithelial cells from the mouth. Biotechniques. (2004) 36(3):484-7, PMID: 15038164

Ding C, Maier E, Roscher AA, Braun A and Cantor CR, Simultaneous quantitative and allele-specific expression analysis with real competitive PCR. BMC Genet. (2004)5:8, PMID: 15128429

Isaacs FJ, Dwyer DJ, Ding C, Pervouchine DD, Cantor CR and Collins JJ, Highly specific riboswitches based on cis-repression and trans-activation. Nat Biotechnol. (2004) 22(7):841-7, PMID: 15208640

Ding C, Chiu RW, Lau TK, Leung TN, Chan LC, Chan AY, Charoenkwan P, Ng IS, Law HY, Ma ES, Xu X, Wanapirak C, Sanguansermsri T, Liao C, Ai MA, Chui DH, Cantor CR, Lo YM, MS analysis of single nucleotide differences in circulating nucleic acids: application to noninvasive prenatal diagnosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A (2004) 101(29):10762-7, PMID: 15247415

Ding C and Cantor CR, Quantitative analysis of nucleic acids--the last few years of progress. J Biochem Mol Biol. (2004) 37(1):1-10. PMID: 14761298.

ENCODE Project Consortium, The ENCODE (ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements) Project. Science (2004) 306(5696):636-40, PMID: 15499007

Ding C and Cantor CR, A high-throughput gene expression analysis technique using competitive PCR and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A (2003) 100(6):3059-64, PMID: 12624187

Ding C and Cantor CR, Direct molecular haplotyping of long-range genomic DNA with multiplex PCR of single DNA molecules. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A (2003) 100(13):7449-53, PMID: 12802015

JIN Shengnan
Senior Research Fellow

Jaydon LEE Yew Kok
Research Fellow

Radhika Das
Research Fellow

LEE Sue-Ann
Research Fellow

Zheng Zejun
Research Fellow

Desmond Ng
Senior Research Officer

Yap Li Ping
Research Officer

Lim Yen Ching
Research Officer

Ives Lim
Graduate Student