BIOCHEMISTRY B U Z Z - Department of Biochemistry ...bch.nus.edu.sg/buzz/October14/October '14.pdfVolume: #20 Issue #October’14 6 Leading the way in Biomedical Sciences N E W S T

BIOCHEMISTRY

B U Z Z

If we missed any news or you have news to share, please contact The Editorial Team, Biochemistry : [email protected] Advisor: Professor Jean Paul Thiery Editors: Ms Aniza A Wahid & Ms Rebecca Jackson Writer: Ms Fa n Designer: Mr Ravi Gandhi

mailto:[email protected]

Volume: #20 Issue #October’14 2

Leading the way in Biomedical Sciences

On behalf of the Department, I am pleased to welcome two new Assistant Professors, Dr Jan Gruber and Dr Yvonne Tay. Dr Gruber is a familiar face in our Department, having been in Prof Barry Halliwell’s lab for the past 9 years. Dr Gruber now has a joint appointment between Yale NUS and the Department of Biochemistry with effect 1 July 2014. Dr Yvonne Tay, whose research interests focus on the characterisation of non-coding RNA regulatory networks in cancer, graduated from National University of Singapore and completed her postdoc at Harvard Medical School. Dr Tay has a joint appointment between Biochemistry and Cancer Science Institute, Singapore, and joined us on 2 September 2014. Please join me in welcoming our newest faculty members.

For our MD7 regularization, works are currently ongoing for levels 3, 4 and 5 and expected to be completed by end November 2014. Levels 1 and 2 are fully operational and, with the return of the Admin Office into MD7 next week, level 2 will soon be bustling with activities. Discussion has already begun for the planning of labs to shift back from MD6 to MD7 between December 2014 and latest by mid-January 2015. I know it involves immense efforts from all staff, students and PIs, and I salute all of your determination to ensure a smooth relocation and minimal disruption to teaching and research work.

I am also very pleased to see more participation from PIs at the Journal Club meetings. I encourage more staff to take time off from their schedule to attend and support the Journal Club meetings, Department weekly seminars and the Research in Progress seminars. We can only

create a dynamic scientific culture if staff and students are actively engaged in research exchanges both locally and overseas.

From my recent meetings with the Dean, I realised that the preclinical Departments may be facing some challenges to bring the School of Medicine at the forefront by 2020. However, I am confident that with our joints efforts in strategically capitalizing our resources and strengths in the 3 research thrusts, we could be contributing to the success of Vision 2020 in the School.

AY2014/2015 Semester 1 examinations will commence soon. As always, I appeal for everyone’s cooperation yet again to ensure all pre- and post exam SOPs are followed so that we can achieve 100% marks accuracy for all our results.

Professor Jean Paul Thiery

Message From HOD



The Department celebrates your achievements. Congratulations to all!

Awards

A/P Chua Kim Lee was awarded the Faculty Teaching Excellence Award AY2013/2014 by the Faculty of Dentistry and was presented the award by Singapore’s Minister of Education on 30-08-2014.

A/P Marie Clement was awarded the Certificate of Commendation for being a Role Model to Class 2014, presented by the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

Congratulations to Ms Dee Pham on being the recipient of the NUS Service Advocate Award 2014 for her outstanding contributions to the Department.

Congratulations to Mr Wong Veen Senn on being the recipient of the NUS Service Advocate Award 2014 for his outstanding contributions to the Department.



The Department celebrates your achievements. Congratulations to all!

Awards

Ren Bingbing was awarded the 2nd Prize at the Department’s Research in Progress (RP) Presentation AY2013/2014 on 21 August 2014. She is a postgraduate student in Dr Chen Ee Sin’s lab.

Zhao Wei was awarded the 3rd Prize at the Department’s Research in Progress (RP) Presentation AY2013/2014 on 21 August 2014. He is a postgraduate student in Dr Deng Lih Wen’s lab.

Akshamal Mihiranga Gamage was awarded the 1st Prize at the Department’s Research in Progress (RP) Presentation AY2013/2014 on 21 August 2014. He is currently postgraduate student under the supervision of A/P Gan Yunn Hwen.

Ma Hui was awarded the Best Research Publication Award at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine 4th Annual Graduate Scientific Congress 2014 on 11 March 2014. She is in her final year of PhD studies and her supervisor is Dr Wu Qiang.

Eng Loan Ping, Christine was awarded the APBioNet Travel Fellowship for a conference, InCoB 2014, in Sydney Australia from 31 July to 2nd August 2014. She is a postgraduate student and her supervisor is A/P Tan Tin Wee.



Name Supervisor

Xiang Gao (Shawn) Professor Fu Xin-Yuan

Yu Su E Dr Wu Qiang

Tay Song Buck, Terence Dr Yew Wen Shan

Student Conferment

Congratulations to all graduating students!

Grant Awarded (June – September 2014)

PhD Programme

Name Conferred Date Supervisor Cheung Wing Ngar Vivian 28-02-14 Dr Yew Wen Shan Hu Yong Li 31-05-14 A/P Tan Tin Wee Tan Chia Yee 31-05-14 A/P Thilo Hagen Poh Woon Cheng 31-05-14 Dr Takao Inoue Loo Ser Yue 31-05-14 A/P Marie Clement Chia Zhihui Joanne 31-05-14 Dr Frederic Bard (Adjunct) Au Yong Jie Ying 31-05-14 Professor Wang Yue (Adjunct) Wu Wei 31-05-14 A/P Maxey Chung

Xue Yangkui 30-06-14 A/P Markus Wenk

MSc Programme

Name Conferred Date Supervisor Yang Jin 30-04-14 Dr Takao Inoue Chin Meiyi 31-05-14 A/P Too Heng-Phon

Month Grant Type Principal

Investigator

Project Title Amount

July 2014

NUHS-CG BSL3 Core Seed Funding

A/P Gan Yunn Hwen Repurposing HMBA as a poten-tial therapeutic agent against meli-oidosis

$50,000

The following postgraduate students were awarded the Biochemistry Travel Fellowship for the July 2014 call.



NE

W S

TAF

F/S

TU

DE

NT

S

DrTayMeiSian,Yvonne Assistant Professor

Department of Biochemistry and Cancer Science Ins tute

Date Joined: 01-09-2014

DrNeerjaKarnani Adjunct Assistant Professor

Singapore Ins tute for Clinical Sciences


CheungChunYueMaurice Research Fellow

PI: A/P Ma hew Chang


ChuaShuXianSerene Research Assistant

PI: A/P Marie Clement


BohBoonKim Research Fellow

PI: A/P Thilo Hagen


DrJanGruber Assistant Professor

Yale-NUS and Department of Biochemistry


A/PJoannaHolbrook Adjunct Associate Professor

Singapore Ins tute for Clinical Sciences




DavidLubkowicz Research Associate



FongHeiTung Research Assistant

PI: Dr Takao Inoue


GireedharVenkatachalam Research Associate

PI: A/P Marie Clement


Hayden,TanWengSiong Research Assistant

PI: Dr Long Yun Chau


LiangXu Research Associate

PI: Dr Lim Yoon Pin


NgJuwin Research Assistant



NgTeeKheang Research Fellow



NguyenThiThuyTrang Research Assistant

PI: Dr Chen Ee Sin


ShenTong Research Assistant

PI: A/P Markus Wenk


NE

W S

TAF

F/S

TU

DE

NT

S SongZhijian

Research Assistant

PI: Dr Deng Lih Wen


TanKaiquan Research Assistant

PI: Dr Yeong Foong May


TangMingYi,Richard Research Assistant

PI: Professor Barry Halliwell




LiyanaBinteJamal Laboratory Technologist

(Department Funded)

RO: Dr Wu Qiang


CaiZhonghan Laboratory Technologist

(Department Funded)

RO: Dr Chen Ee Sin


Name Main Supervisor

Alisha Ramos Dr Lim Yoon Pin Azad Saei A/P Zeng Qi (Adjunct)

Desi A/P Mridula Sharma

Han Jian A/P Caroline Lee

Heng Yu Chyuan A/P Matthew Chang

Iwona Szczerbinska Professor Ng Huck Hui (Adjunct)

Joanna Tan Hui Juan A/P Tan Tin Wee

Lavina Prithi Miranda A/P Mathew Chang Lim Yen Ching Dr Xu Feng (Adjunct)

Loghman Salimzadeh A/P Zeng Qi (Adjunct)

Obed Akwasi Aning Dr Cheok Chit Fang (Adjunct)

Sultan Abda Neja A/P Vinay Tergaonkar (Adjunct)

Tan Bing Quan Justin A/P Too Heng Phon

Tesfahun Dessale Admasu A/P Thomas Walczyk

PhD Programme

MSc Programme

Name Main Supervisor

Ng Wei Xiong Jonathan A/P Markus Wenk Yee Zhuangli Professor Barry Halliwell

NE

W S

TAF

F/S

TU

DE

NT

S



Mami-Chouaib, F, P Kumar, AK Larsen, I Akalay, S Chouaib, B Janji, P Vielh, C Charpy, M Sabbah, J P Thiery* and TAN T Z, "Targeting of WNT1 inducible signaling pathway protein 2 (WISP2) alters human breast cancer cell susceptibility to specific lysis through regulation of KLF4 and miR-7 expression". Oncogene, (2014). (United Kingdom).

Sengai, V B A, C O E Wilfried, V N R Viasnoff, L L Yap and J P Thiery*, "Actin dynamics modulate mechanosensitive immobilization of E-cadherin at adherens junctions". Nature Cell Biology, (2014). (United Kingdom).

Schauder*, CM, X Wu, Y Saheki, P Narayanaswamy, T T Federico, M R Wenk, P De Camilli and KM Reinisch, "Structure of a lipid-bound extended synaptotagmin indicates a role in lipid transfer.". Nature, 510, no. 7506 (2014): 552-5. (United Kingdom).

Ng*, LF, J. Gruber, IK Cheah, CK Goo, W F Cheong, G Shui, KP Sit, M R Wenk and B Halliwell, "The mitochondria-targeted antioxidant MitoQ extends lifespan and improves healthspan of a transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans model of Alzheimer disease.". Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 71 (2014): 390-401. (United States).

Deng, L W, "Cystathionine-γ-lyase/hydrogen sulfide system maintains cellular glutathione status". Biochemical Journal, 460, no. 3 (2014): 425-435. (United Kingdom).

Odokonyero*, D, A Sakai, Y Patskovsky, VN Malashkevich, AA Fedorov, JB Bonanno, EV Fedorov, R Toro, R Agarwal, C Wang, NDS Ozerova, W S YEW, JM Sauder, S Swaminathan, SK Burley, SC Almo and ME Glasner, "Loss of Quaternary Structure is Associated with Rapid Sequence Divergence in the OSBS Family". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111, no. 23 (2014): 8535-8540. (United States).

Chua, E L C and B L Tang*, "Rab31 is expressed in Neural Progenitor Cells and plays a role in their differentiation". FEBS Letters, (2014). (Netherlands).

Tang, B L, "Class II HDACs and neuronal regeneration". Journal of Cellular Biochemistry, 115, no. 7 (2014): 1225-1233. (United States).

Kambadur, R, PS Shenoy, C McFarlane, B Bose and Sharma M*, "Lack of Myostatin Reduces MyoD Induced Myogenic Potential of Primary Muscle Fibroblasts". Journal of Cellular Biochemistry, (2014). (United States).

Lee, Z W, X Y Teo, EY Tay, Choon Hong Tan, T Hagen, K M Philip and L W Deng*, "Utilizing hydrogen sulfide as a novel anti-cancer agent by targeting cancer glycolysis and pH imbalance.". British Journal of Pharmacology, (2014). (United Kingdom).

Gamage, A, K O Lee and Y H Gan*, "Effect of oral N-acetyl cysteine supplementation in Type 2 diabetic patients on intracellular glutathione content and innate immune responses to Burkholderia pseudomallei". Microbes and Infection, (2014). (France).

Nin*, S D, CW Yew, SK Tay and L W Deng*, “Targeted silencing of MLL5β inhibits tumor growth and promotes gamma-irradiation sensitization in HPV16/18-associated cervical cancers.". Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, (2014). (United States).

Jha, S, "Negative regulation of signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 signaling cascade by lupeol inhibits growth and induces apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells". British Journal of Cancer, (2014). (United Kingdom).

Mah, W C and C G L Lee*, "DNA methylation: potential biomarker in Hepatocellular Carcinoma". Biomarkers, (2014). (United States).

June – September 2014

Publications



Chua, E L C and B L Tang*, "The role of the small GTPase Rab31 in cancer". Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, (2014). (Romania).

Nakamura*, Y, NZ Teo, G Shui, CH Chua, W F Cheong, S Parameswaran, R Koizumi, H Ohta, M R Wenk and T Ito, "Transcriptomic and lipidomic profiles of glycerolipids during Arabidopsis flower development.". New Phytologist, 203, no. 1 (2014): 310-22. (United Kingdom).

Cao, X, CM Kong, KM Mathi, Y P Lim*, V Cacheux-Rataboul and X Wang, "The use of transformed IMR90 cell model to identify the potential extra-telomeric effects of hTERT in cell migration and DNA damage response". BMC Biochemistry, 15, no. 1 (2014): 17. (United Kingdom).

Wong, LH, A K Nicholas, R Raj and H P Too*, "Spatially resolved microrheology of heterogeneous biopolymer hydrogels using covalently bound microspheres". Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology, (2014). (Germany).

Asad, M, M K Wong, Tan T Z, M Choolani, J H J Low, S Mori, M V David, J P Thiery and Y J R Huang, "FZD7 drives in vitro aggressiveness in Stem-A subtype of ovarian cancer via regulation of non-canonical Wnt/PCP pathway". Cell Death & Disease, 5 (2014): e1346. (United Kingdom). (PMID: 25032869).

Teo, W S and M W Chang*, "Bacterial XylRs and synthetic promoters function as genetically encoded xylose biosensors in Saccharomyces cerevisiae". Biotechnology Journal, (2014). (United States).

Kaur*, P, D S Karolina, D S Sugunavathi, A Armugam and K Jeyaseelan, "Expression profiling of RNA transcripts during neuronal maturation and ischemic injury". PLoS One, 9, no. 7 (2014): e103525. (United States).

McFarlane, C, P K Juvvuna, K Himani and Sharma M*, "Mega roles of microRNAs in regulation of skeletal muscle health and disease". Frontiers in Physiology, (2014). (Switzerland).

Wee, Z N, ZM Li, PL Lee, ST Lee, Y P Lim and Q Yu, "EZH2-Mediated Inactivation of IFN-γ-JAK-STAT1 Signalling Is an Effective Therapeutic Target in MYC-Driven Prostate Cancer". Cell Reports, 8 (2014): 1-13. (United States).

Cheng, H, L Zhou, B LI, M Zhu, H P Too and W K Choi*, "Nano-topology guided neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells is mediated by miRNAs". Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine, (2014). (United States).

Xiao, J Y, TF Christopher, Y Chen, S Imke, J Athur, B E Teh, JT Isabelle, FM Jeff and Y H Gan*, "Characterization and analysis of the Burkholderia pseudomallei BsaN virulence regulon". BMC Microbiology, (2014). (United Kingdom).

Mah, W C, T Thurnherr, K P Chow, Y F A Chung, P J L L Ooi, H C Toh, B T Teh, Y Saunthararajah and C G L Lee*, "Methylation Profiles Reveal Distinct Subgroup of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients with Poor Prognosis.". PLoS One, (2014). (United States).

Karolina*, D S, A Armugam, D S Sugunavathi, SLT Pek, MTK Wong, SC Lim, CF Sum, S Tavintharan and K Jeyaseelan, "miR-22 and miR-23a control glycerol-dependent gluconeogenesis by regulating aquaporin 9 expression". Metabolomics, (2014). (United States).



Friday,8August2014@9am MD4Level1,MD6Level9and14&CeLs 1stDepartmentofBiochemistryLabkeepingDay

The inaugural Department of Biochemistry Labkeeping Day was held on 8 August 2014. Almost all the labs in MD6, MD4 and CeLS took part in this important safety event. General lab areas as well as shared common spaces (such as cold rooms, cell culture rooms) were tidied up and cleaned. The Labkeeping Day will take place twice a year, and the Safety Committee would like to thank all PIs and lab members who have supported and participated in this event.

Thursday,31July2014@3pm LT35,MD6 DepartmentofBiochemistrySafetyTea

The 5th Department of Biochemistry Safety Tea was held on 31st July 2014 at LT 35 and was attended by almost 180 staff and students with an attendance of about 74%. HOD gave the welcome speech and reminded everyone to always be vigilant and to put on proper personal protective equipment when working in the lab.

Accidents/incidents that occurred recently in the Department, as well as recent Surveillance audit findings were shared by the Safety Committee during the townhall session. The new online card access application system and a new program called the “Biannual Housekeeping Day” were also introduced.

The Safety Tea ended with afternoon tea and snacks sponsored by the Department of Biochemistry. The Safety Committee would also like to congratulate the following labs with full attendance, namely the labs of A/P Matthew Chang, Dr Chen Ee Sin, A/P Maxey Chung, Dr Deng Lih Wen, A/P Gan Yunn Hwen, A/P Mridula Sharma and A/P Thilo Hagen.

Events



Wednesday,24September2014@11am S.E.A.Aquarium&TrickEyeMuseumatResortWorldSentosa DepartmentStaffWelfareAY2014/2015

The first Department staff welfare event for AY2014/2015 was held on 24 September 2014. It was a day of fun visiting the SEA Aquarium and Trick Eye Museum in Sentosa. It was hilarious seeing the effects of the fun shots and interesting poses at the Trick Eye Museum. The Department thanks the Staff Welfare Committee (Dr Sudhakar Jha, Ms Norindah and Ms Safia) for organizing this event and look forward to the next outing.

Events



Friday,26September2014@9am LT25,NUS 6thBiochemistryStudentSymposium

This event was organised to showcase the research achievements of postgraduate students in the Department of Biochemistry, as well as to foster greater collaboration and camaraderie among them. Since the graduate students in our Department are based in various locations and even institutes, this annual event serves as an opportunity for them to gather, share, and debate their scientific work, as well as to discuss non-academic aspects of graduate life with each other and with the supervisors.

The theme of this year's event was "Inspiring new ideas". It was very successfully organised and the Department would like to thank all who supported and attended this event and special acknowledgement to the Organising Committee (A/P Thilo Hagen, Akshamal Mihiranga Gamage, Hong Shin Yee, Shruti Srinivasan and Deepa Rajagopalan)

Events



Tuesday,14October2014@2PM CentreforLifeSciences(CeLS)@Level1,Auditorium InauguralNUHSDistinguishedMini-Symposium “ChallengesinBreastCancerandOncology”

The 14th day of the breast cancer awareness month in October 2014 saw the advent of the inaugural NUHS distinguished mini symposium series on “Challenges in Breast Cancer and Oncology”. Anchored by the Department of Biochemistry and co-organized by Cancer Science Institute, the symposium was successful to promote exchanges between clinicians and scientists, to educate, stimulate and facilitate the identification of challenges in breast cancer and oncology to spearhead translation of scientific discoveries into clinical practices that will improve the outcomes of our patients.

The event received a good response with registrations from about 80 participants from IMCB, GIS, BII, SGH, TTSH, CSI and NUHS. Following the opening address by Dr Lim Yoon Pin and the welcome address by the Head of Department of Biochemistry, Professor Jean Paul Thiery, five speakers including distinguished pathologist Dr Tan Puay Hoon (SGH), oncologists Dr Lee Soo Chin (NCIS) and Dr Wong Nan Soon (Oncocare Centre), surgeon Dr Tan Ern Yu (TTSH) and scientist Dr Alan Prem Kumar (CSI) delivered stellar talks on topics related to the triple negative breast cancers, neo-adjuvant and targeted adjuvant therapy that stimulated much discussions among the participants. The symposium closed with a candid closing speech by Professor Chia Kee Seng, Dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, who shared an illuminating epidemiological observation of the correlation of child birth with reduced breast cancer incidence.

The mini-symposium will return next year with a new set of speakers including those from overseas institutions.

The event was proudly sponsored and supported by NUHS, CSI, Roche and the Breast Cancer Foundation.

Events



Monday,3November2014–Wednesday,5November2014 TheAcademia,20CollegeRoad,Singapore169856 FrontiersinCancerScience(FCS)2014

HOD is the Chairperson of the Organising Committee for the Frontiers in Cancer Science (FCS) 2014, the 6th annual conference, which will be held at “The Academia”. The conference will showcase an impressive list of renowned, distinguished scientists from all over the globe and serve as a platform to converge the latest cancer discoveries around the world. The meeting promises to bring groundbreaking and innovative insights to a diverse repertoire of cancer research. It gives participants an opportunity to interact with 30 of the foremost cancer experts as they share their newest findings and gain invaluable networking opportunities locally and internationally.

Please refer to http://www.csi.nus.edu.sg/conference2014/ for more details regarding the conference.

Coming Our Way!

http://www.csi.nus.edu.sg/conference2014/



We bid farewell to our fellow colleagues who have contributed in their own

special ways to the Depar tment and wish them all the best in their future

endeavours!

Guo Huifang

Hu Yongli Lee Woan Ting Pallavi Tripathi Teo Wei Bing Wang Yuting Yee Zhuangli Zhang Yong

Zhao Jing

“If you are brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new Hello!”

Farewell

Documents

BIOCHEMISTRY B U Z Z - Department of Biochemistry ...bch.nus.edu.sg/buzz/October14/October '14.pdfVolume: #20 Issue #October’14 6 Leading the way in Biomedical Sciences N E W S T