Archives   ::   Issue 29, July 2008     

Visit on 18 July

Visit by Director of National Science Foundation, Sri Lanka

 

sri lanka
Dr Sumita Anant (extreme right) giving a presentation to the group.

 

LSI hosted a visit by Professor Noble Jayasuriya, Director of National Science Foundation, Sri Lanka and his team on Friday, 18 July 2008.

 Dr Anant Sumita, LSI Scientific Manager briefed the team on LSI which was then followed by a visit to the Neurobiology labs, led by Assoc Prof Ong Wei Yi.

CeLS Safety Day

The CeLS Safety Day will be held on Friday, 19 September, 2008.

The day-long event will include invited speakers from the various government regulatory agencies as well as safety talks by exhibiting vendors.

Please take time out to visit the exhibition, grab some food, attend talks, and participate in the quiz and the lucky draws. Our sponsors have lots of giveaways and it should be a fun event with your participation.

We will require help on that day and in the days leading up to the event, So if you would like to volunteer please drop an email to Sumita Anant at lsiasa@nus.edu.sg

Safety Awareness Training

Safety Awareness Training

Safety Awareness Training for new hires (formerly called CeLS safety orientation) has been restructured to include a test in order to be aligned with the Ministry Of Manpower’s guidelines. The first session was held on July 14 and was attended by 46 new staff.

The training will be held fortnightly by the CeLS Safety Officer till all new hires have completed their training.

Subsequently the training slides will be loaded onto the CeLS Matters Sharepoint. All new hires will need to study the slides at their convenience and then arrange to take a test.

A score of at least 70% is required on the test for card access to be granted. A certificate will be issued upon successful completion of the course. The CeLS Matters Sharepoint can be accessed by clicking here.

safety trg
Attendees going through the answers
on the Safety Quiz with Safety Officer
Kannan Ramachandran.

Awards

allen yeoh

Assoc Prof Allen Yeoh, PI with the Cancer Programme was recently awarded the Clinician Scientist Award. He was among the nine researchers from Duke-NUS Medical School (Duke-NUS) and NUS who were recognized for pushing the frontiers of translational research.

Other winners of the Clinician Scientist Award were Assoc Prof Aung Tin, Singapore National Eye Centre; Assoc Prof Ong Sin Tiong, Duke-NUS; Assoc Prof Tan Eng King, National Neuroscience Institute; and NUS Assoc Prof Chng Wee Joo, NUH.

Recipients of the Singapore Translational Research Investigator Award (STaR) were Prof Michael Chee and Prof David M Virshup both from Duke-NUS; Prof Daniel G Tenen, Director of the newly established Cancer Research Centre of Excellence at NUS and NUS Prof Wong Tien Yin, Singapore Eye Research Institute.

The awards were initiated by the Ministry of Health and A*STAR to build up a talent pool to bridge the gap between basic research and clinical applications.

tin wee1

Assoc Prof Tan Tin Wee, was conferred the 8th ASEAN Science and Technology Meritorious Service Award for his decade of 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 Singapore.

Assoc Prof Tan is a Deputy Head (Department of Biochemistry), member of the LSI Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Programme, member on the A*STAR-appointed Singapore Focal Point SubCommittee on Biotechnology and ASEAN COST (Committee on Science and Technology).

Seminars by Immunology Programme

Seminars by Immunology Programme

“Involvement of X-box binding protein 1 and nucleophosmin in cellular and viral transcription”

Dr Jimmy Sheng-Hao Chao
Research Scientist, Expression Engineering Group Bioprocessing Technology Institute

Date  : Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Time  : 11am – 12nn
Venue: CeLS Auditorium, Level 1
 
“Novel cytokines in infectious and inflammatory disease”

Professor Eddy Liew
University of Glasgow

Date  : Monday, 18 August 2008
Time  : 11am – 12nn
Venue: CeLS Auditorium, Level 1

“Techniques with Focused Laser Beam: Optical Tweezers and their Potential Applications to Biological Samples?”

Assoc Prof Chorng Haur Sow
Department of Physics, NUS

Date  : Tuesday, 26 Aug 26 2008
Time  : 11am – 12nn
Venue: CeLS Auditorium, Level 1

Editorial Team

Lim Chwee Teck
Ellice Lim
Siti Haryanti
Aziz Salim

Breast Cancer Symposium

Breast Cancer Symposium

The Centre for Molecular Epidemiology will be organizing a Breast Cancer Symposium on Monday, 11 August 2008 at the CeLS Auditorium.

For more information and registration, please click here. [READ MORE]

Seminar by SBPR

Seminar by Structural Biology & Proteomics Programme

“Regulation of Adipose Tissue Identity by Cide Proteins”

Professor Li Peng
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology,
Tsinghua University, China

Date  :  Friday, 1 August 2008
Time  :  4pm
Venue:  LT 20

“Structural Enzymology of Polyketide Synthase: Domain Architecture and Substrate Specificity”

Assoc Prof Sheryl Tsai
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, USA

Date  :  Friday, 8 August 2008
Time  :  4pm
Venue:  LT 20

LSI Distinguished Lecture Series

LSI Distinguished Lecture Series

An LSI Distinguished Lecture was held on 24 July 2008 at the CeLS Auditorium.

The speaker was Professor Jean-Paul Thiery, Deputy Director, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology(IMCB), A*STAR and Chief Scientific Officer, Experimental Therapeutic Centre. He delivered a lecture titled “Mechanobiology of Cell Adhesion”. LSI Director, Prof Ong Choon Nam chaired this lecture.

lin shengcai
Prof Jean-Paul Thiery delivering
his talk.

_____________________

 

prof lin sc
Prof Lin Shengcai (extreme right)
mingling with participants at the
end of the talk.

LSI is also honoured to have Professor Lin Shengcai deliver the LSI Distinguished Lecture. The lecture was chaired by LSI Deputy Director A/Prof Low Boon Chuan on 29 July 2008 at the CeLS Auditorium.

Professor Lin is a Cheung Kong Scholar and Dean of School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University. His lecture was on “Dynamic formation of Axin-based p53 regulatory complexes by Pirh2 and Tip60 in response to sublethal and lethal DNA damage”.

LSI Young Investigator Seminar Series

LSI Young Investigator Seminar Series

Speaker 1:

“Apolipoprotein E and Ab metabolism in Niemann-Pick Type C disease”

Dr Wong Boon Seng
Assistant Professor, LSI Neurobiology Programme
Department of Physiology, NUS

Speaker 2:

“Asymmetric Organic Reactions Mediated by Organocatalysts Containing Primary Amino Groups”

Dr Lu Yixin
Assistant Professor, LSI Medicinal Chemistry Programme
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, NUS

 

Date:   Thursday, 21 August 2008
Time:   4pm – 5pm
Venue: CeLS Auditorium, Level 1

LSI Distinguished Lecture Series

LSI Distinguished Lecture Series

“Chemical and Biological Mechanisms Linking Inflammation to Cancer and Other Diseases”

Professor Peter Dedon
Professor of Toxicology and Biological Engineering
Associate Head, Department of Biological Engineering
Deputy Director, Center for Environmental Health Sciences, MIT

Date:   Thursday, 7 August 2008
Time:   4pm – 5pm
Venue: CeLS Auditorium

“Cide Proteins and Metabolic Disorders”

Professor Li Peng
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology
Tsinghua University, China
Visiting Professor
Department of Biological Sciences, NUS

Date:   Thursday, 14 August 2008
Time:   4pm – 5pm
Venue: CeLS Auditorium

Visit by European Commission Delegation

ec del

Life Sciences Institute hosted a high level visit by Dr Jose Manuel Silva-Rodriguez, Director-General for Research European Commission on 10 July 2008.

He was accompanied by His Excellency Holger Standertskjold, Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Commission to Singapore; Mrs Mary Minch, Director of International Cooperation; Mr Alessandro Damiani, Head of Unit of International Framework Programme and Mr Pierrick Fillon-Ashida, Policy Officer, ASEAN Desk.

The delegates were given a brief introduction on LSI and its research programmes by LSI Director, Professor Ong Choon Nam. Assoc Prof Soong Tuck Wah then led the delegates for a tour of the Neurobiology Labs.