Archives   ::   Issue 41, July 2009     

Staff Movements

Our thanks and appreciation to these former LSI staff:

1. The following have transferred out from LSI to the NUS Environmental and Research Institute with effect from 1 July 2009:
Dr Sumita Anant, former LSI Scientific Manager
Ms Chang Shik Pen, former LSI Asst Manager

2. Mr Kannan Ramachandran, former LSI Safety Officer has left the University service for the private sector.

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We would like to welcome Dr Sini Mathew, the Safety and Health Manager who recently joined LSI. Dr Mathew is contactable at sini.mathew@nus.edu.sg or tel: 65166814 for all safety related matters.

Lecture by Nobel Laureate Prof Richard Ernst

Lecture by Nobel Laureate Prof Richard Ernst

Prof Ernst
Prof Ernst at CeLS auditorium.

We were privileged to have Prof Richard Ernst who delivered the LSI Distinguished Lecture on 22 July 2009.

Professor Richard Robert Ernst was a Swiss physical chemist and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1991 for his contributions towards the development of Fourier Transform nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy while at Varian Associates, Palo Alto and the subsequent development of multi-dimensional NMR techniques. These underpin applications of NMR both to chemistry (NMR spectroscopy) and to medicine (MRI). [READ MORE]

Associate Professor Yao Shao Qin

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He is recipient of the Dean’s Chair for the term 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2012 in recognition of his academic contribution to the Faculty and international recognition of his field of research.

Associate Professor Yao joined NUS in 2001 as an Assistant Professor and was later promoted to Associate Professor in 2006. [READ MORE]

Awards

Our congratulations to the following:

Professor Ding Jeak Ling

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She is a recipient of the inaugural Provost’s Chair. The Chair is for a 3-year term from 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2012, and is bestowed in recognition of her excellent academic contribution to the Faculty of Science and international recognition of her field of research.

She is from the NUS Dept of Biological Sciences and member of the LSI Biophysical Sciences Programme. [READ MORE]

Malaria Infected Blood Cell Image Bags Top Prize

Dr Li

Our congratulations to Dr Li Ang, who is Post-Doctoral Fellow from the Singapore-MIT Alliance and working at the NUS Division of Bioengineering. He garnered the first prize of 5,000 Euros at the International Scanning Probe Microscopy Image Contest 2009 (SPMage09). An international jury selected his winning entry from 250 entries submitted from over 30 countries for its scientific and artistic qualities. [READ MORE]

Scientific Achievement

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Assoc Prof Shen Han-Ming (from the Dept of Epidemiology and Public Health and member of the LSI Toxicology Programme) has recently been invited to join the Editorial Board of the journal Autophagy (Impact Factor 5.49), a leading international journal in the field of autophagy research.

In addition, a recent paper published by his research team entitled: “Activation of the PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway promotes necrotic cell death via suppression of autophagy” has been featured as the “most popular download” by the journal Autophagy. [READ MORE]

New LSI Director

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We would like to welcome Prof Peter FR Little to the Life Sciences Institute as he assumes the LSI Directorship with effect from 1 July 2009.

He is also Research Director and Professor at the NUS Department of Biochemistry.

He was previously Director of Research, University of New South Wales (UNSW) Asia, Professor of Medical Biochemistry, UNSW and Reader in Molecular Genetics, Imperial College. [READ MORE]

LSI Distinguished Lecture Series

In July:

LSI Distinguished Lecture Series

Prof Ying
Prof Ying (right) with Prof Sheppard
during the networking session.

The month of July 2009 saw two lectures being held at the CeLS Auditorium.

On 9 July, Prof Jackie Ying (Executive Director, Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, A*STAR) delivered a lecture on “Nanostructure Processing of Advanced Biomaterials and Biosystems”. Prof Colin Sheppard (LSI Bioengineering Programme Leader) chaired this lecture.

Prof Stern
Prof Stern (right) receiving
plaque from Prof Halliwell.

Prof Claudio Stern (Head, Research Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, UK) spoke on “Building A Brain: A Molecular Dissection of Neural Induction” on 15 July. This lecture was chaired by Prof Barry Halliwell (Deputy President (Research & Technology) & LSI Ageing/Neurobiology Programme Leader).

LSI Seminar

Prof Hari
Prof Harikrishna.

On 21 July, Prof Nakshatri Harikrishna, Departments of Surgery, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine & Walther Oncology Center, gave a talk on “Estrogen-AKT Axis in Luminal Type Breast Cancer and Tamoxifen Resistance”.

biophysical sciences

Biophysical Sciences Programme

“Topic to be advised”

Prof Lin Shengcai
Xiamen University

Date  :    Friday, 21 August 2009
Time  :    4 – 5pm
Venue:    LT 20, Faculty of Science, NUS
 

Bioinformatics Programme

“Topological Approaches to Tree (Re-) Construction”

Date  :    Monday, 17 August 2009
Time  :    3pm-4.30pm
Venue:    SR7, COM1, Level 2 Room 7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Editorial Team

Lim Chwee Teck
Ellice Lim
Siti Haryanti
Aziz Salim

Immunology Seminar

Immunology Programme

“Beyond PPARβ/δ”

Dr Tan Nguan Soon, Andrew
Assistant Professor, NTU

Date  :    Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Time  :    12 – 1pm
Venue:    Blk MD4, Level 3, Seminar Room
, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS

“Novel Lung Stem/Progenitor Cells in Infection”

Prof Steve Lin
Professor of Surgery
Chair in Paediatric Surgery
Imperial College London

Date  :    Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Time  :    4 – 5pm
Venue:    CeLS Auditorium

“Modulation of Innate Immunity by Bacterial and Host Factors: Molecular Insights from Infections of C. elegans by Human Bacterial Pathogens”

Dr Tan Man-Wah
Assistant Professor
Stanford University School of Medicine

Date  :    Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Time  :    12 – 1pm
Venue:    Blk MD4, Level 3, Seminar Room,Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS

“Autoimmune Disease: Fc Receptors, Epistasis and Augury”

Professor Ken Smith
Genzyme Professor of Experimental Medicine, Cambridge Institute of Medical Research,
University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine

Date  :    Tuesday, 18 August 2009
Time  :    12 – 1pm
Venue:    CeLS Auditorium

LSI Distinguished Lecture Series

LSI Distinguished Lecture Series

“The Ran GtPase as a Spatial Regulator of Nuclear Assembly in Mitosis”

Prof Iain Mattaj
Director-General
European Molecular Biology Laboratory, EMBL

Date  :    Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Time  :    11am – 12nn
Venue:    CeLS Auditorium