I participated as the forum ambassador in November 2023. I got the opportunity to interact with laureates and young scientists from diverse ethnicities and academic backgrounds. I enjoyed the inclusive academic atmosphere during the conferences and social events during the forum. I have learnt a lot from the experience of both the experienced and upcoming scientists. The forum gave me the directions and motivations to further my studies in cancer research. Therefore, now I would like to contribute my research experiences and potentially inspire others who are in the same position as me two years ago. Apart from that, I am interested in science communications. I had previous experiences presenting my work in journal clubs and conferences. I enjoyed explaining complicated concepts in a simple and presentable way to people and I felt a sense of accomplishment when they understood my work. Joining as a young scientist grants me opportunities for communications such as poster presentations. Lastly, The forum is a great platform to raise awareness and exchange ideas with experts on peritoneal metastasis, which is a prevalent problem in Eastern Asia including Hong Kong I am researching at the moment.

Frank-Fan_CUHK_Transcript.pdf

Chun-Lun-Fan_Transcript.pdf

Pang Ching Cheung Scholarship
Dr Rebecca B W Ho Scholarship
Dean's Honor List 2020-2021, 2022-2023
College Dean's Head List
Poster Presentation at 3rd Asia-Pacific Neuroscience Student Congress 2023

Peritoneum is a common site of metastasis for gastric, colorectal and ovarian cancers. Gastric and colorectal cancers are particularly prevalent in Eastern Asia such as China and Japan. Peritoneal metastasis (PM) is generally considered a terminal stage for these cancers due to grave prognosis. Targeted delivery of chemotherapeutics using implantable devices is important to the treatment of peritoneal metastasis, which is ineffectively treated by conventional systemic chemotherapy due to poor accessibility to blood circulations. Current treatment of PM involves spraying the peritoneum with heated chemotherapy solutions through laparoscopic ports inserted at the abdomen of patients. Patients have to receive this treatment in day 1 and day 8 of 21-day cycle. My research focuses on developing a less invasive drug delivery method by implanting injectable hydrogels with Paclitaxel loaded PLGA microparticles at the peritoneal metastasis sites. The objective is to attain a more controlled and sustained release of paclitaxel from the system for at least 21 days. The efficacy of the system is evaluated by metabolic assays using patient-derived peritoneum cancer cell lines to give a quantitative analysis on its therapeutic effect. This research has the potential to improve treatment outcomes and reduce side-effects which ultimately improves patients' quality of life.