Interview with Fan Bai at the 2026 CCTB Conference: Bridging Physics, Genomics, and Translational Oncology
During the 2026 CCTB Conference held during April 24-26, we had the privilege of interviewing Fan Bai, a distinguished scientist and Editorial Board member whose research spans physics, biophysics, cancer genomics, and translational biomedical science. The conversation explored interdisciplinary innovation, circulating tumor cell (CTC) research, single-cell sequencing, and the future of metastasis research.
Watch the following video for expert insights from Dr. Fan Bai:
Interview Questions:
1. Your academic career spans the fields of physics, biophysics, and biomedical research. How has this interdisciplinary training shaped your approach to studying cancer and complex biological systems?
2. In 2013, your team was the first to report whole-genome sequencing of a single circulating tumor cell. How has this breakthrough advanced our understanding of metastasis mechanisms and the clinical utility of circulating tumor cells (CTCs)?
3. Your large-scale genomic study on hepatocellular carcinoma has highlighted characteristics specific to the Chinese population. How important is population-specific cancer genomics for precision medicine?
4. Do you believe that single-cell sequencing and circulating tumor cell research can be practically applied in clinical settings to directly improve patient outcomes? In which key clinical scenarios are these approaches being implemented, and what advantages do they offer compared to traditional methods?
5. Looking ahead, what do you consider to be the most critical unresolved mystery in the field of cancer metastasis?
6. What key advice or message would you like to convey to young scholars and colleagues dedicated to interdisciplinary and translational biomedical research?
About the Interviewee:
Dr. Fan Bai Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Genomics, China.
Dr. Fan Bai received BSc (Physics) from Peking University in 2003 and DPhil (Biophysics) from University of Oxford in 2008. He returned to China in 2011 and led his own research team. Dr. Fan Bai is pioneering the application of single cell sequencing in biomedical research. Dr. Bai and collaborators published the world's first whole genome sequencing of individual circulating tumor cells collected from cancer patients' peripheral blood (PNAS 2013, Genome Research 2017, Clinical Cancer Research 2019) and received broad media coverage. Recently, Dr. Fan Bai's team investigated multiple tumor lesions in patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma, revealing remarkable intra-tumor heterogeneity and the genetic feature of intra-liver metastases (Gastroenterology 2016, Cancer Cell 2019). By combining single-bacterium fluorescent imaging and sequencing, Dr. Fan Bai's team has revealed the mechanism underlying bacterial antibiotic persistence (Molecular Cell 2016, Molecular Cell 2019, received editorial comments from Nature).
Editor: Zoe Han
Production Editor: Ting Xu
Respectfully Submitted by the Editorial Office of Journal of Cancer Metastasis and Treatment
