I wish to join the Hong Kong Laureate Forum as I am passionate about interdisciplinary, innovative and diverse cross-cultural science. I am excited to interact and network with 200 young scientists from across the world, as I believe this is the best way science is done. I am eager to hear and learn from the Shaw Laureates, their great knowledge will have a huge impact on all young scientists, I am always aiming to learn from well-established scientists, so I believe attending this forum will align with this goal. I hope to bring a unique point of view, experience and research to the presentations and discussions. It would be a privilege to present my research in front of these established scientists and I hope to gain insightful feedback about how to improve my projects. I aim to represent my university and research team to a high standard.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive and lethal brain tumour in humans. GBM is still incurable due to its resistance to standard therapies and lack of effective drug carriers able to target and penetrate the tumour cells specifically. Given the poor survival rate, new therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. So far, the use of nucleic acids to block or stimulate the T-cells has also not been too successful, due to them being hard to transfect. A challenge that is faced is delivering the nucleic acid to the correct locations and loss of therapeutics to non-desirable cells. Conjugating a specific targeting agent (aptamers) to the nucleic acid could be a way to tackle this, as the targeting agent guides nucleic acid to the desired T-cell. Aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotides that bind strongly and specifically to diverse targets. Aptamers can be targeted drug carriers, increasing efficacy and minimising side effects.
This research aims to create a therapeutic delivery system using novel T-cell targeting aptamers to improve the therapeutic effect of mOX40 being delivered to immune cells in GBM in vivo models. Delivering mOX40 to T-cells will overexpress this marker and trigger an immune response with the T-cells and other immune cells.