Prof. LO Pui Chi (盧沛芝)

Dr Gigi Lo obtained her BSc degree in chemistry with first class honors and PhD degree from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). After staying shortly at CUHK, she moved to the Division of Biophysics and Bioimaging of the Ontario Cancer Institute serving as a Postdoctoral Fellow for 2 years, where she developed her research interest in smart theranostic agents for cancer diagnosis and treatment. In 2009–2014, she was appointed as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry of CUHK. She joined the Department of Biomedical Sciences of City University of Hong Kong (CityU) as an Assistant Professor in January 2015 and was substantiated and promoted to Associate Professor in July 2021. She has published more than 90 papers in international peer-reviewed journals with an H-index of 37 (excluding self-citations as of October 2021).

Research Interests

• Photodynamic therapy
• In vivo imaging
• Nanomedicine
• Molecular pharmaceutics
• Theranostic agents

1. Exploration of smart photosensitizers for targeted photodynamic therapy (PDT) and antimicrobial PDT
2. Development of stimuli-responsive mesoporous silica nanoparticles and polymeric micelles as multifunctional nanocarriers for imaging agents and photosensitizers
3. Design and preparation of nanodrugs through self-assembly of therapeutic components for cancer therapy
4. Concerted activation of photosensitizers and release of anticancer drugs through tetrazine-induced bioorthogonal decaging reactions