BIOCHEMISTRY BUZZ

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October 2008 Issue, Volume 04

Message from HOD Contents

There is most certainly a buzz about the Biochemistry Department these days. Just looking at the list of achievements made by our staff and our students, especially in the news, there is certainly a lot to be proud of.

Page 2 OUR HEARTIEST CONGRATULATIONS 2 BABY ADDITIONS 3-6 WELCOME TO OUR NEW STAFF

This is a very important milestone for all of us in our 81st year of existence, and I am proud to say that your loyal support has been a tremendous boost to

this event. I hope that from this year onwards, we can have an annual gathering every year to help all of us identify ways we can collaborate with each other and to work together as a team.

7 GRANTS AWARDED 8-9 TIER 1 PUBLICATIONS 9-12 EVENTS 12 VISITS 13 BON VOYAGE

In this issue of the Biochemistry Buzz, I believe we have so many reports of the achievements of our departmental staff that underscores the excellent work we are doing. We must continue to press forward towards the real possibility of becoming a Global 10-10 as was mentioned in the speeches during our 80th Anniversary last year. We must aim for a higher plane of excellence. In the forthcoming months, I would like to chart out the plans for each and everyone of us in the Department and to encourage all of us to publish in better journals with higher citations through carrying out more impactful research that will change the way our peers think about research in our respective fields. All kinds of "me too" research must give way to those more novel, incisive, insightful and of high impact. Can we do it? I think if we

take a steady look at everyone in our department, as I have in the past six months, I believe we can, if we can pull together as a team and adopt a "can-do" spirit and a spirit of cooperation. To further improve our environment, work is in progress for us to renovate Level 3 in a way that opens up for greater collaboration amongst us. New staff are being recruited to boost our numbers and reduce our individual teaching loads, and open up new avenues of research. As more opportunities for research funding opens up every month, we should all come together to identify ways we can continue to clinch some of these grants through proposing challenging initiatives. If there is any way you believe we can further improve, you can be sure that the door to my office will always be open to you for an informal chat. If there is anything that needs to be rectified, feel free to email me now that I have a Blackberry connection. If there are students or anyone that needs help during this period of economic adjustment, please come to talk to

me about it and I will do my best. Finally, I would like to thank all staff and students who were involved in Biochemistry’s Research and Student Symposium. Your support made both events very successful and well received. I understand that in the past, our students have had such symposia before, but never on this large scale. For this, I must congratulate the energy of our student leaders and the support given by staff to this effort. Our students are our future. Therefore, this is the kind of vibrancy I hope we can continue to inject into the Biochemistry Department as we begin another 80 years of excellence and achievement.

Fu Xin-Yuan, PhD. Professor and Head

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October 2008 Issue, Volume 04

Our Heartiest Congratulations Academic Staff

Professor Barry Halliwell is the recipient of the 2008 Society for Free Radical Biology and Medicine

(SFRBM) Lifetime Achievement Award

Deputy Head, A/P Tan Tin Wee, is conferred the 8th ASEAN Science and Technology Meritorious

Service Award by COST Philippines (ASEAN National Committee on Science & Technology) on 7 July

08 for his effort and significant contributions towards the promotion and development of regional

cooperation in the scientific and technological fields, and the upgrading of the regional, scientific and

technological capabilities in the area of biotechnology (including bioinformatics)

Dr Song Jianxing has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure with effect from 1 July 2008.

Our adjunct staff, Dr Lisa Ng from SiGN (Singapore Immunology Network) won the ASEAN Young

Scientist & Technologist Award for her work in the fight against infectious diseases. She is the first

Singaporean and the first woman scientist to be honoured.

Biochemistry Alumni Dr Victor Tong Joo Chuan, currently a principal investigator at A*STAR's Institute for Infocomm

Research (I2R) and former PhD graduate from Biochemistry (PhD 2007), was conferred the TR35 award

by the MIT Technology Review for 2008. Each year, MIT's Technology Review journal selects globally

the top 35 most outstanding young innovators under the age of 35 whose inventions and research are the

most exciting and whose work is changing our world.Victor personally received his award for

"Personalised Designer Vaccines" at the Emerging Technology conference held in MIT on 25 September

2008, and earned for himself global recognition for his ground-breaking research which originated during

his PhD work in the Department.

Baby Additions Welcome to the Biochemistry Family!!

A/P Gan Yun Hwen’s baby girl

Cheong Wei Fun’s baby boy

Isabelle Chen’s baby girl

Lim Ting Ting’s baby boy

Amanda Lim’s baby girl

Evelyn Loh’s baby girl

Priya’s baby girl

Aniza’s baby boy

Evelyn’s Baby Girl,

Sik Ting En

Ting Ting,

with Baby Boy,

Aldan.

A/P Gan’s Baby Girl,

Kaylen Tan

Amanda with Baby Girl

Jaycee.

Wei Fun’s Baby Boy Jonathan.

Isabelle’s Girl, Chloe

Aniza’s Baby Boy, Aqil

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Welcome To Our New Staff Adjunct Staff Lab Technologist

Dr Lisa Ng (Adjunct Assistant Prof)

o Singapore Immunology Network

Chai Ee Chu, Caryn

o Dr Deng Lih Wen’s lab

Dr Starling Emerald Bright David (Adjunct Assistant Prof)

o Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences

Charlene Priscilla Poore

o Dr Sashi Kesavapany’s lab

Office Staff Loh Chay Boon

Musfirah Bte Musa o Prof Fu Xin-Yuan’s lab

Nurliana Bte Abd Rahim

Tan Shu Ping (Neurobiology Programme)

WELCOME!

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Welcome To Our New Staff Lab Executive Research Fellow

Chan Thing Lee, Trixie

o A/P Chua Kim Lee’s lab

Peng Zhao Feng

o A/P Mridula Sharma’s lab

Srinivasan Harini

o Dr Sashi’s lab

Soheila Sharghi-Namini

o Prof Fu Xin-Yuan’s lab

Tan Suan Liang, Kelvin

o A/P Mridula Sharma’s lab

Wang Fan

o Prof Fu Xin-Yuan’s lab

Research Fellow Research Assistant

Lufei Chengchen

o Prof Fu Xin-Yuan’s lab

Gan Fei Fei

o Dr Thilo Hagen’s lab

Md. Omedul Islam

o A/P Markus Wenk’s lab

Huang Huiwen

o Prof Barry Halliwell’s lab

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Welcome To Our New Staff Research Assistant Research Assistant

Lim Kai Jun Vania

o Dr Deng Lih Wen’s lab

Phua Meow Ling Cindy

o A/P Markus Wenk’s lab

Lissya Letissya Santoso

o A/P Markus Wenk’s lab

Rithika Venkatesh

o A/P Mridula Sharma’s lab

Ng Li Fang

o Prof Barry Halliwell’s lab

Sarah Patel

o A/P Markus Wenk’s lab

Nur-Ezan Muhammad

o Prof Barry Halliwell’s lab

Steven John Wolf

o A/P Caroline Lee’s lab

Ping Yueh Shyang

o A/P Marie Clement’s lab

Sushmitha Sathiyamoorthy

o A/P Mridula Sharma’s lab

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Welcome To Our New Staff Research Assistant Research Assistant

Wanpen Ponyeam

o Dr Thilo Hagen’s lab

Yew Chow Wenn

o Dr Deng Lih Wen’s lab

Wong Yee Ting

o Prof Barry Halliwell’s lab

WELCOME TO BIOCHEMISTRY!!

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Grants Awarded

Month Staff Amount Awarded Project Title

April

A/P Mridula Sharma $180,000

Role of Follistatin in Muscle Growth

Dr Yew Wen Shan $200,000

Quorum-based Technology: Developing N-

Acyl Homoserine lactonases as therapeutic

biomolecules

May

Dr Thilo Hagen $110,000

Characterization of the mechanism of action

of heteroaromatic quinol and ortho-

substituted cinnamaldehyde anti-cancer

agents

Professor Jeyaseelan,

Kandiah

$ 100,000.00

Modulators of Renal Aquaporins

Professor Sit Kim Ping $ 100,000.00

Microfluidic renal cell supplement

Dr Yew Wen Shan $145,000

Directed Evolution of barrel enzymes in the

shikimate biosynthesis pathway

June

A/P Mridula Sharma $180,000.00

Molecular mechanisms behind

mitochondrial myopathies

A/P Mridula Sharma $120, 000

Identification of molecular mechanism that

regulate inflammatory response during

skeletal muscle regeneration

CONGRATULATIONS!

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Tier 1 Publications February 2008

A/P Markus Wenk "Fld1p, a functional homologue of human seipin, regulates the size of lipid droplets in yeast". Journal

Of Cell Biology, 180, no. 3 (2008): 473-482. (United States).

A/P Song Jianxing*, "Mechanism for Controlling Dimer-monomer Switch and Coupling Dimerization to Catalysis of the

SARS-CoV 3C-Like Protease". Journal of Virology, 82, no. 9 (2008): 4620-4629. (United States).

March 2008

A/P Gan Yunn Hwen*, “Burkholderia pseudomallei infection of T cells leads to T-cell costimullation partially provided by

flagellin”. Infection And Immunity, 76, no. 6 (2008). (United States).

A/P Mridula Sharma, "Mighty is a novel promyogenic factor in skeletal myogenesis". Experimental Cell Research, 314

(2008): 1013-1029. (United States).

A/P Lee Guat Lay, Caroline, "Profiling microRNA expression in hepatocellular carcinoma reveals microRNA-224

upregulation and apoptosis inhibitor-5 as a microRNA-224-specific target". Journal of Biological Chemistry, 283 (2008): 13205-

13215. (United States).

A/P Song Jianxing*, "Identification, recombinant production and structural characterization of four silk proteins from the

Asiatic honeybee Apis cerana". Biomaterials, 29, no. 18 (2008): 2820–2828. (United Kingdom).

April 2008

Dr Sashi Kesavapany*, "Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 phosphorylation of human septin SEPT5 (hCDCrel-1) modulates exocytosis". Journal of Neuroscience, 28, no. 14 (2008): 3631-43. (United States).

A/P Tang Bor Luen, "Rab23 regulates differentiation of ATDC5 chondroprogenitor cells". Journal of Biological Chemistry,

283, no. 16 (2008): 10649-10657. (United States).

May 2008

A/P Lee Guat Lay, Caroline, “Paternal contribution of HLA-G*0106 significantly increases risk for pre-eclampsia in

multigravid pregnancies”. Molecular Human Reproduction, 14, no. 5 (2008): 317-324. (United States).

June 2008

A/P Chung Ching Ming, Maxey*, “Quantitative and Temporal Proteome Analysis of Butyrate-treated Colorectal Cancer

Cells”. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, 7, no. 6 (2008): 01174-1185. (United States).

A/P Mridula Sharma, “Decorin enhances the proliferation and differentiation of myogenic cells through suppressing

myostatin activity”. Journal Of Cellular Physiology, 215, no. 3 (2008): 856 – 867. (United States).

A/P Chung Ching Ming, Maxey, “Quantitative and temporal proteome analysis of butyrate-treated colorectal cancer

cell”. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, 7(6) (2008): 1174-1185. (United States).

A/P Song Jianxing*, "NMR Evidence for Forming Highly-Populated Helical Conformations in the Partially-Folded

hNck2 SH3 Domain". Biophysical Journal, (2008). (United States).

A/P Tang Bor Luen, "Integrative Genomics Identifies RAB23 as an Invasion Mediator Gene in Diffuse Gastric Cancer". Cancer Research, 68, no. 12 (2008): 4623-4630. (United States).

A/P Tang Bor Luen *, "Rab GTPases and their roles in brain neurons and glia". Brain Research Reviews, 58, no. 1 (2008):

236-246. (Netherlands).

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July 2008

A/P Markus Wenk, “Synaptojanin 1-linked phosphoinositide dyshomeostasis and cognitive deficits in mouse models of

Down's syndrome”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105, no. 27 (2008): 9415-

9420. (United States).

Dr Sashi Kesavapany, “Pin1 dependent prolyl isomerization modulates the stress induced phosphorylation of high molecular weight neurofilament protein (NF-H).". Journal Of Biological Chemistry, (2008). (United States).

August 2008

A/P Markus Wenk, “Caspase-dependent and -independent lipotoxic cell-death pathways in fission yeast”. Journal Of Cell

Science, 121, no. Pt 16 (2008): 02671-2684. (United Kingdom).

A/P Song Jianxing*, “Crystal Structure and NMR Binding Reveal that Two Small Molecule Antagonists Target the High-Affinity Ephrin-Binding Channel of the EphA4 Receptor”. Journal Of Biological Chemistry, 283, no. 43 (2008): 29473-29484.

(United States).

A/P Tang Bor Luen*, “Cell autonomous function of Nogo and reticulons - the emerging story at the endoplasmic

reticulum”. JOURNAL OF CELLULAR PHYSIOLOGY, 216, no. 2 (2008): 303-308. (United States).

Events

1. 2nd Singapore Lipid Symposium The 2nd Singapore Lipid Symposium, organized by A/P Markus Wenk and his team, was a huge

success. It was held from 5-7 March 08 at the Centre of Life Sciences Auditorium.

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Events

2. Staff Welfare Lunch The last staff welfare event organized by A/P Too and his team was a wonderful staff lunch. Needless to say, the event was filled with staff mingling, snapping photos and chatting.

3. Postgraduate Students Graduation Ceremony The Graduation was held on 8 July 08, Tuesday, to congratulate our PG students who have graduated with Msc/PhD. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours.

4. 2nd ASEAN-China International Bioinformatics Workshop 2008 & 3rd East Asia

Bioinformation Network (3rd EABN) 2008 The 2nd ASEAN-China International Bioinformatics Workshop organized by A/P Tan Tin Wee was held on 17 April 08 to 18 April 08, prior to the 3rd East Asia Bioinformation Network (3rd

EABN) which was held on 18 April. The events were held at the CIT Auditorium, Level 2

Computer Centre.

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Events

5. Safety Education Workshop The Safety Education Workshop for our new staff and students was held on 5 August 08 at our Seminar Room M9.

The Guest of Honour was Dr Peck Thian Guan, Director of OSHE.

6. Biochemistry’s First Research Symposium The Department’s first research symposium called, “Biochemistry And Molecular Medicine In The 21st Century: Our 1st Research Symposium To Mark 81 Years Of Biochemistry In NUS” was held over 2 days at Changi Village Hotel on 16 & 17 August 08. Well known scientists from various

institutes were invited to speak during the symposium.

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Events

7. Student Symposium

The Inaugural Student Symposium and Open House will be held on 22 September

2008 at the Clinical Research Centre Auditorium, MD11.

This event is organized by The Postgraduate Student Committee of the Department of Biochemistry.

Visits The following faculty candidates were invited by HOD and have visited the Department:

o Dr Chen Ee Sin, Postdoctoral Fellow 15 - 16 May 2008 National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD

Dr Feng Xu, Postdoctoral Researcher 3 - 4 July 2008

Department of Biological Chemistry, Geffen School of Medicine

University of California, Los Angeles, USA

Dr Juraj Gregan, Group Leader 10 - 11 July 2008

Department of Chromosome Biology

University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Dr Sherry Wang, Postdoctoral Fellow 15 July 2008

Cancer Biology and Pharmacology Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Singapore

Dr Takao Inoue, Former Postdoctoral Fellow 23 - 24 July 2008

California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA

Dr Wu Qiang, Research Associate 4 – 5 September 2008 Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute

University of Cambridge

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Bon Voyage! This year, we say farewell to many of our dear mentors, fellow colleagues and cherished friends.

Our Mentors

We would like to extend our deepest appreciation to A/P Tan Chee Hong, who has spent 39 years

with Biochemistry, and Ng Foong Har, who has been with the department for 38 years. Thank you for

the hard work and effort in making this Department into what it is today.

Our Colleagues & Friends

Au revoir to our fellow colleagues, Ong Yong Mei from A/P Chua Kim Lee’s lab, Jason Zhou from

Dr Deng Lih Wen’s lab, Ivan Yang from Dr Yeong Foong May’s lab and Hu Yongli from A/P Tan Tin Wee’s lab.

We also bid adieu to fellow office staff, Maslinda, Irwani and Ting Ting. Thank you for all your contributions to the Department.

We will miss you all of you!!

BIOCHEMISTRY BUZZ