On May 29, 2026, at the invitation of Associate Professor Zhang Liye from the School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Professor Carmen Chak-Lui Wong — Assistant Dean (Core Platforms and Outreach) of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, Professor of Pathology, and Research Scientist at the State Key Laboratory of Liver Research (The University of Hong Kong) — delivered an insightful lecture titled Targeting Different Liver Cancer Hallmarks to Boost Immunotherapy Response at the L Building Lecture Hall of the School of Life Science and Technology.
Professor Wong has long studied the mechanisms of liver cancer initiation and drug resistance, with a focus on tumor metabolism and the formation of the immune microenvironment. She has developed a series of efficient somatic gene editing animal models for liver cancer to understand how genetic mutations determine tumor immune characteristics and consequently influence responses to immunotherapy.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly genetically heterogeneous malignancy, and patient responses to immunotherapy vary significantly. To improve therapeutic efficacy, it is essential to clarify how various tumor-intrinsic features regulate the host anti-tumor immune response. Professor Wong's team utilized somatic gene editing mouse models to construct a panel of HCC models with distinct genetic backgrounds. These models exhibit diverse tumor immune microenvironment features, enabling the investigation of interactions between tumor genotypes and immune evasion. This study systematically dissects core cancer hallmarks — including metabolic phenotypes, genomic instability, immune evasion, and other hallmark pathways — elucidates their roles in shaping tumor immunogenicity, and screens and preliminarily validates specific genetic and metabolic vulnerabilities that can be targeted to improve immunotherapy responses.
After the presentation, faculty and students engaged in a lively discussion with Professor Wong on the content of the lecture.
[About Professor Carmen Chak-Lui Wong]
Professor Carmen Chak-Lui Wong is currently the Assistant Dean (Core Platforms and Outreach) of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, Professor of Pathology, and Research Scientist at the State Key Laboratory of Liver Research (The University of Hong Kong). She obtained her Ph.D. from The University of Hong Kong and completed her postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins University in the United States. Professor Wong has received the National Outstanding Youth Science Fund Project, the National Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Hong Kong and Macau), the HKU Outstanding Young Researcher Award, the HKU Outstanding Research Supervisor Award, and the Li Ka Shing Prize, among others. As corresponding author, she has published multiple research papers in high-impact journals such as Gastroenterology, Gut, Journal of Hepatology, Hepatology, Nature Communications, Journal of Clinical Investigation, PNAS, and Science Advances. She has been listed as an ESI Top 1% Highly Cited Researcher for 2023–2025. Professor Wong is also an elected member of the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences, serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Hepatology Communications(AASLD) and a member of the Editorial Board of Hepatology(AASLD), and is a Council Member of the International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA).
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