Danson Loi

DPhil Cancer Science, 2022

Danson is a biotechnologist and computational biologist in training, reading for a DPhil in Cancer Science as a Hong Kong Jockey Club Scholar at the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS). His current research revolves around developing new genomic technologies and Machine-Learning pipelines to answer biological questions such as how tumour heterogeneity contributes to drug resistance in cancer.

Having immersed himself in the innately failure-prone scientific research for the past 7 years, Danson is grateful that he still has the audacity to churn out defeats after defeats. He is therefore inevitably drawn to unorthodox tales of struggle, grit, resilience and tribulation, like a kid burying his head in his favourite fantasy books with eyes twinkling with mirth. In his spare time, Danson plays Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and occasionally swims.

Danson has been passionate about healthcare innovation, entrepreneurship, and mentorship of the next-generation scientists. He co-developed a web-based virtual triage and remote queuing system (QueueCOVID) to minimise physical wait in hospitals and thus risk of infections, which was selected as the winning pitch in the MIT HealthHack 2020. He also served formerly as an advisor (2017-2019) of HKUST’s team in the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM).

Danson is an alumnus of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), graduated with a BSc in Biochemistry and Cell Biology in 2019, and a MPhil in Life Science in 2022.

Contact: danson.loi@gtc.ox.ac.uk