S*BIO Pte Ltd, a privately held biotech company focused on the research and clinical development of novel targeted small molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer, has entered into a two-year research partnership with NUH-NUS Tissue Repository (NUH-NUS TR).

The objective of this partnership is to conduct biomarker research and evaluate the responsiveness of tumours to S*BIO’s proprietary anti-cancer compounds.

Editorial Team

Lim Chwee Teck
Ellice Lim
Siti Haryanti
Aziz Salim

We would like to welcome the following colleagues who have joined the University and OLS:

• Ms Wu Yilian joined the Neurobiology/Ageing Programme on 1 July 2007 as Senior Administrative Officer.

• Miss Thandar Soe Lwin, joined the Office of Life Sciences on 2 July 2007 as Administrative Officer. She is supporting the Finance Section in OLS.

• Dr Jonnathan Libao Peneyra, joined the Laboratory Animals Centre as Veterinarian on 2 July 2007. He will assist in implementation of the LAC Veterinary Care Programme, ensure compliance with national animal research regulations and guidelines, and complement LAC’s efforts towards obtaining AAALAC accreditation.

A 2nd Singapore Lipid Symposium will be held next year from 5 to 7 March 2008 at CeLS. Organized by Dr Markus R Wenk from the Department of Biochemistry, the objective of this symposium is to bring together leading scientists and investigators from around the world with diverse backgrounds in lipid research. They will be presenting their latest research advances in a workshop-style forum and in three main sessions:

1. Biology of lipids
2. Novel technology for lipid research
3. Clinical aspects of aberrant lipid metabolism

For more information regarding the symposium, please visit http://www.lipidprofiles.com/symposium2008.

The OLS Cancer Programme and the Tohoku University will be organizing a COE Joint Symposium on the ‘Recent Development of Basic and Clinical Research on Signal Transduction Diseases’ on Wednesday, 5 September 2007, at the CeLS Auditorium. The full-day symposium will see a total of 10 talks by 5 speakers from each University. About 80 participants are expected to attend.

Seminar by Structural Biology & /Proteomics Programme (DBS)

“Purification and Expansion of Hematopoietic Stem Cells Based on Proteins Expressed by a Novel Stromal Cell Population”

Speaker: Prof Harvey Lodish
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
Cambridge & Dept of Biology,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA

Day/Date: Wednesday, 8 August 2007
Venue: DBS Conference Room
Time: 4 to 5 pm

Seminar by Immunology Programme

“Translational Research : The Example of Anti-TNF Therapy”

Speaker: Professor Marc Feldmann (Head, Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology Division,Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London)

Day/Date: Wednesday, 15 August 2007
Venue: CeLS Auditorium
Time: 12 to 1 pm

Seminar by Ageing/Neurobiology Programme

“Oxidative Damage Biomarkers”

Speaker: Dr. Andrew Jenner
Biochemistry, NUS

“Structure and Function of NMDA receptors”

Speaker: Dr. Low Chian Ming
Pharmacology, NUS

Day/Date: Wednesday, 8 August 2007
Venue: CeLS Seminar Room 1
Time: 12 to 1pm

“Alzheimer’s disease: A cell biological story from the bench to the bedside”

Speaker: Prof Edward Koo
Department of Neurosciences, UCSD

Day/Date: Monday, 13 August 2007
Venue: Blk MD7 Seminar Room M9, Level 2
Time: 2 to 3pm

“A Tale of Two Oligodendroglial Proteins”

Day/Date: Wednesday, 15 August 2007
Speaker: Dr. Liang Fengyi
Dept of Anatomy, NUS

Venue: CeLS Seminar Room 1
Time: 12 to 1pm

“Defining the Neurosphere Niche: Identification of Autocrine/Paracrine Survival Factors for Neural Stem cells/Progenitors”

Speaker: Dr Sohail Ahmed
Institute of Medical Biology, ASTAR

Day/Date: Wednesday, 29 August 2007
Venue: CeLS Seminar Room 1
Time: 12 to 1pm

OLS has submitted 8 NRF Research Fellowship applications to the Office of Research for consideration. A total of about 120 applications were received by OLS. ORE will be shortlisting the suitable applications by 24 August 2007 for submission to NRF in September 2007. The selection process will be completed by January 2008.

OLS is organizing a Safety Day on the 17 August 2007 in the CeLS auditorium. On this occasion we will launch our safety policy to highlight our commitment in ensuring the safety and well being of every person working in CeLS.

We will also launch our Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for biological, chemical, radioactive and fire safety. The Chairs of the subcommittees responsible for developing the SOPs will briefly explain the salient features of the SOPs and will be available for answering queries and gathering feedback.

OLS will also be in the process of creating a common site to electronically store the SOPs so that every person working in CeLS can access the information.

Our heartiest congratulations to Assoc Prof Yeoh Khay Guan (Vice Dean, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS and Principal Investigator, Cancer Programme) who has led a team of 19 researchers from NUS, NUH and the National Cancer Centre (NCC) to secure the TCR Flagship Grant Award. They developed “The Singapore Gastric Cancer Consortium (SGCC)” Programme which was jointly submitted by NUS-NUH-NCC to the National Medical Research Council (NMRC).

The $25m research grant over 5 years will be the first TCR Flagship Programme to be awarded from NMRC of the Ministry of Health.

This award is also the largest to be awarded to a single research project. The project aims to improve the early detection of gastric cancer by discovering biomarkers at an early stage and developing molecular classifications that can robustly predict disease behaviour and treatment response. Stomach cancer is Singapore ’s fourth most common cancer.

The SGCC proposal was selected out of a total of 17 applications during the NMRC grant call launched in October 2006. The proposal was selected for its significant clinical benefits to patients; its strong potential for establishing a leading centre in Asia for translational clinical research in oncology; and the creation of strong partnerships with both local and international research organizations. It also provided strong platform for future genomic and clinical studies.

It is the first grant award in Singapore that will bring research overheads (20% of $25million) to the respective institutions at NUS, NUH and NCC.

Other researchers from NUS who are involved in the research are Prof Yoshiaki Ito, Director, Oncology Research Institute & Programme Leader, Cancer Programme and Dr Goh Boon Cher, Adjunct Associate Professor, Oncology Research Institute and Senior Consultant, Dept of Haematology-Oncology, NUH.

OLS Distinguished Lecture Series

“Ap4A as a second messenger in a novel gene regulation pathway in immunologically activated mast cell”

Prof Ehud Razin
Dean, Faculty of Medicine
Department of Biochemistry
Hebrew University Medical School
Israel

Day/Date: Tuesday, 14 August 2007
Time: 4 pm
Venue: CeLS Auditorium

Young Investigator Seminar Series

“BCH domain as a novel modulator for cell dynamics”

A/Prof Low Boon Chuan
Associate Professor
Dept of Biological Sciences
Faculty of Science
NUS

“Novel risk factors for diabetic kidney disease”

Dr Daniel Ng
Assistant Professor
Dept of Community, Occupational & Family Medicine
Faculty of Science
NUS

Day/Date: Wednesday, 22 August 2007
Time: 4 pm
Venue: CeLS Auditorium

GEM⁴ Summer School on Cell & Molecular Mechanics in Biomedicine 2007

A Summer School on Cell & Molecular Mechanics in Biomedicine with a focus on Cancer was organised by GEM⁴ (Global Enterprise for Micro-Mechanics and Molecular Medicine) at the Centre for Life Sciences, from 25 June to 6 July 2007.

This was held in conjunction with the GEM⁴ Conference on Cancer at Suntec City from 1 July to 6 July 2007.

Prof Peter So from MIT giving his lecture.

GEM⁴ participants.

It was attended by over 60 participants from 33 universities/institutions and 10 countries.

The participants comprised of graduate students, post-docs, research fellows and faculty members.

Participants enjoyed interacting and networking during the two-week programme, which included talks by world renowned cancer biologists and bioengineers.

Participants interacting with one another during tea break.

Dr Kevin Tan (Dept of Microbiology,
NUS) giving an introductory note of
the next speaker,Asst Prof Paul
MacAry (Dept of Microbiology, NUS).

It was all smiles for the speakers and
participants as they took a group
photo at the end of the event.

OLS hosted a visit by Dr Satishchandra Ogale on 4 July 2007.

Miss Neo Yee Phing (left) from OLS taking Dr Satishchandra Ogale for a tour of CeLS

OLS Distinguished Lecture Series

The month of July 2007 held two lectures.

 On 19 July, Prof Patrick J Casey (Senior Vice Dean Research, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore) delivered a lecture on “Interrogating the Biology of CaaX Protein Prenylation: Implications for Design of Novel Anti-Cancer Therapeutics”.

Prof Patrick Casey giving his lecture.

Professor Ajit Varki (Distinguished Professor of Medicine & Cellular & Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego)  spoke on “A Uniquely Human Mechanism for Exacerbation of Atherosclerosis and Cancer” on 31 July.

Prof Ajit Varki.