NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Chairman of VIVA Foundation for Children with Cancer (VIVA), Mrs. Jennifer Yeo, will be featured on the upcoming <我董你> programme on Channel 8 TV

Chairman of VIVA Foundation for Children with Cancer (VIVA), Mrs. Jennifer Yeo, will be featured on the upcoming <我董你> programme on Channel 8 TV this Sunday 19th Jan 2025, at 9 PM! Mrs Yeo will be sharing more about VIVA. Stay tuned!

Congratulations to Prof Allen Yeoh and his team on their groundbreaking cancer treatment breakthrough!

Congratulations to Prof Allen Yeoh and his team on their groundbreaking cancer treatment breakthrough! Your dedication to fighting childhood cancer is truly inspiring. We're honoured to support innovative research such as this.

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VIVA Gut Microbiome and Cancer Education Webinar Series:

Introduction to Gut Microbiome

9 July 2022 (Saturday) | 08:30 - 09:30 (UTC+8 | SGT) | Check your Time Zone

Programme Synopsis

Our gut is more than just a Gut. There are more microbes in our gut than human cells in a person. Gut microbiota is closely associated with our bodily functions including digestion, metabolism, immunological function and various gastrointestinal activities.

Microbiota in our body change throughout life: from birth when we acquire these microbes, to increasing complexity while approaching adulthood and attaining stability towards maturity. A balance of microbes and maintenance of microbial diversity is the key to healthy gut and our body. Instead of “good” buds and “bad” buds, evidence suggest that imbalance of microbiome, so-called Gut Dysbiosis, is the usual cause of diseases and complications. This include obesity, diabetes, intestinal and liver disease, and even cancers.

Manipulation of gut microbiome, using antibiotics, probiotics and even faecal material transplantation, has been studied extensively in recently years. In this lecture, the nature, evolution and disturbance of gut microbiome in relations to various conditions will be discussed.

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SPEAKER

Professor Joseph J Y Sung

Distinguished University Professor
Senior Vice President (Health & Life Sciences)
Dean, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Professor Sung received his medical degree (MBBS) from The University of Hong Kong, and conferred PhD in biomedical sciences by the University of Calgary and MD by The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He holds fellowships from the Royal Colleges of Physicians of Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, and Australia, the American College of Gastroenterology, the American Gastroenterological Association, the Hong Kong College of Physicians, the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine and Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong (ASHK). He is an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering of the People's Republic of China and Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences. He served as the Vice-Chancellor and President of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2010 – 2017) and the Chair of Worldwide Universities Network (2016 - 2017).

Professor Sung is currently Distinguished University Professor, Senior Vice President (Health & Life Sciences) and Dean, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is also Emeritus Professor of Medicine at CUHK.

He has published over 1000 full scientific articles in leading medical and scientific journals. He was listed as “Highly Cited Researchers”, released by the Clarivate Analytics, for the years 2018 to 2021. He has edited and authored around 30 books, as well as many chapters in major textbooks including the Oxford Textbook of Medicine (5th Ed.), Sleisenger & Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease (7th&8th Ed) and Yamada’s Textbook of Gastroenterology (4th Ed).

VIVA Gut Microbiome and Cancer Education Webinar Series:

Gut Microbiome and Effects of Cancer Therapy

1 Oct 2022 (Saturday) | 08:30 - 09:30 (UTC+8 | SGT) | Check your Time Zone

Programme Synopsis

Recent advances in preclinical to clinical research have uncovered intricate roles of the gut microbiome in cancer development and therapeutic response. The microbiome affects tumor initiation and progression through direct effects on the tumor cells. Understanding the impact of microbial metabolites on the genome and epigenome provides new cancer vulnerabilities. Moreover, the gut microbiota reprogram the immunity of the tumor microenvironment, thus influencing cancer immunotherapy, especially immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). This lecture will focus on the novel mechanistic insights from animal models that illuminate rational microbiota-based therapeutic strategies to potentiate the efficacy of ICIs. A deeper understanding of host–microbiome interactions in immuno-oncology is critical to realization of the full potential of microbiota precision medicine.

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SPEAKER

Prof Alfred Cheng

Assistant Dean (Research)
Professor and Chief (Cancer Biology and Experimental Therapeutics)
School of Biomedical Sciences
Faculty of Medicine
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong

Prof. CHENG Sze Lok Alfred (鄭詩樂) is a Professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Assistant Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He completed his Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. Joseph Sung in the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics at CUHK in 2002 and went on his postdoctoral training in Ohio State University until 2007. Prof. Cheng has published in international journals including Molecular Cell, Nature Genetics, Science Translational Medicine, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Nature Communications, Cancer Research, Gastroenterology, Gut and Journal of Hepatology. He has received >20 academic honors and awards, including recognitions from the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) and United European Gastroenterology (UEG). He was a recipient of the Most Promising Young Investigator Award by the Food and Health Bureau, Hong Kong SAR (2014) and CUHK (2015, 2019), and more recently the 10th Health and Medical Research Fund Anniversary Award by the Food and Health Bureau (2021). His current research focuses on unravelling the cellular and molecular determinants in tumor microenvironment for cancer immunotherapy.

MODERATOR:

Prof Joseph Sung

Senior Vice President (Health & Life Sciences)
Dean, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine
Distinguished University Professor
Nanyang Technological University
Singapore

Professor Sung received his medical degree (MBBS) from The University of Hong Kong, and conferred PhD in biomedical sciences by the University of Calgary and MD by The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He holds fellowships from the Royal Colleges of Physicians of Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, and Australia, the American College of Gastroenterology, the American Gastroenterological Association, the Hong Kong College of Physicians, the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine and Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong (ASHK). He is an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering of the People’s Republic of China and Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences.

He served as the Vice-Chancellor and President of the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 2010-2017 and the Chair of Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) in 2016-17.

He has published over 1000 full scientific articles in leading medical and scientific journals. He was listed as “Highly Cited Researchers”, released by the Clarivate Analytics, for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020. He has edited and authored around 30 books, as well as many chapters in major textbooks including the Oxford Textbook of Medicine (5th Ed.), Sleisenger & Fordtran’s Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease (7th &8th Ed) and Yamada’s Textbook of Gastroenterology (4th Ed).