GROUP MEMBERS
CAROLINE LEI WEE
Principal Investigator
Ph.D. in Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (2016)
B.A. Cornell University, College of Arts and Sciences, Ithaca, NY (2009)
Double Major in Biological Sciences (Neurobiology and Behavior) & Psychology
Distinction in all subjects
Summa cum laude
A*STAR NSS (BS-PhD) Scholarship (2006, 2010)
Caroline's research interest is in understanding the fundamental mechanisms governing motivated behaviors such as feeding and stress, with the goal of improving human health and well-being. Towards this goal, she has won several significant fellowships and grants, including the A*STAR National Science Scholarship (NSS BS-PhD, 2006, 2010), National Medical Research Council Young Individual Research Grant (2020) and National Research Foundation Fellowship (Class of 2021). She is also a lead Principal Investigator in A*STAR's Brain-Body Initiative.
RUEY-KUANG CHENG
Senior Research Fellow
Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina (2010)
M.S. National Cheng-Chi University, Taipei, Taiwan (2002)
B.S. National Cheng-Chi University, Taipei, Taiwan (1999)
Ruey has more than 10 years of experience in both zebrafish and rodent behavioral neuroscience research, and trained in the lab of Dr. Suresh Jesuthasan (NTU-LKC, Singapore). His expertise includes behavioral and in vivo calcium imaging, electrophysiology, and hardware/software development for animal behavior analysis. His research interests include timing and time perception, learning and memory, decision making, and emotional control of behavior.
VINDHYA CHAGANTY
Research Fellow
Ph.D. in Developmental biology, National University of Singapore (2021)
M.Sc. Biotechnology V.I.T University, India (2016)
B.Sc. Biotechnology V.I.T University, India (2014)
During her Ph.D., Vindhya used zebrafish as a model organism to study neurodegenerative diseases. Her current research interest is in understanding the neural circuitry and genetics of appetite control. Her expertise includes microscopy, behavioral analysis, and transcriptomics.
WEN LIE
PhD Student (joint with Prof. Eric Chan)
A*STAR Graduate Scholarship (Singapore) (2021)
Pharmacist, Singapore Pharmacy Council (2021)
B.Sc. (Pharmacy) with Honours (Highest Distinction), National University of Singapore (2020)
Research Experience:
Developed a mammalian expression system expressing SARS-CoV-2 proteins for production of virus-like particles
Investigated the metabolizing enzymes and disposition kinetics of two synthetic cannabinoids and their metabolites
Research Interests:
Gut microbiome
Drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics
TERUMI NAKASHIMA
PhD Student (Joint with Ajay Mathuru Lab)
Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA) Scholarship (2023)
M.S. in Microbiology and Parasitology, Universidade Federal Fluminense (2021)
B.S. in Biomedical Sciences, Universidade Federal Fluminense (2018)
My previous research experience was to perform diagnosis of parasitic diseases in children in Brazil, focusing on gastrointestinal parasites. During my Master's Degree, I conducted a systematic review and meta analysis on the prevalence of Cryptosporidium species in animals in Latin America.
My current research interest is to understand how the gut microbiome can influence behaviour and dietary choices.
YEO HUI LI
Senior Research Officer
B.S. (Hons) in Biotechnology, First Class Honours, Northumbria University (2016)
Hui Li trained in the lab of Dr. Sudipto Roy (IMCB). She has more than 5 years of zebrafish research experience and extensive expertise in molecular biology, genetics, and microscopy. She also manages daily lab operations and procurement.
GUAN ZHEN
Senior Research Officer (IMCB & Bioinformatics Institute, A*STAR)
B.Sc. in Mathematical Sciences (Statistics), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Research Experience:
Collaborated with Dr Huang Weimin’s team from I2R (A*STAR) and GE Japan on segmenting coronary artery from 3D heart CT images. Developed a reconstruction algorithm which improves recall, precision and f1 score by 9.5%, 1.6% and 5% respectively.
Research Interests:
Machine/deep learning application on biomedical data
Action recognition & action detection
GAYNAH DOBLADO
Laboratory Officer
Diploma in Marine Science and Aquaculture, Republic Polytechnic (2021)
Research Experience:
Intern at the Environmental Engineering cluster in Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), under the integrated theme of Marine Biofilms & Microbiomes.
Research study under Dr Grace Loo to investigate presence of genetic markers in shrimps.
Research Interests:
Genetics and Marine Biology
CHUA KAI XIN
Research Officer
B.S. in Business and Environmental Sciences, Majoring in Aquaculture, James Cook University Singapore (2020)
Research Experience:
Research on ciliopathies using zebrafish and mice as animal models
Population Dynamics and Phylogenetic Analysis of Canine Parvovirus
Research interests:
Physiology of eating disorders and mental health
DINAH YUSOFF
Research Officer
Previously Research Assistant (SGUnited Traineeship)
B.Sc. in Pharmacology, Monash University, Australia (2020)
Research Experience:
Tableting trials to determine appropriate quality parameters for Diana Food (nutraceutical)
Handling of mice in effects of centrally acting drugs on mice behaviour, and neurological and autonomic functions under the Department of Pharmacology, Monash University
Research interests:
Drug interactions and Neuropharmacology
VALARIE THAM
Research Officer
B.Sc. in Molecular Biology, La Trobe University (2018)
Research Experience:
Final Year Project in collaboration with National University of Singapore on the Optimization of a Diagnostic Platform for Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika
Research in Genome Institute of Singapore that targets Metabolic Vulnerabilities in Liver Cancer
Research Interests:
Genetics and Neuromuscular Diseases
JOLIN TAN
Laboratory Officer (Aquaculture)
Diploma in Marine Science and Aquaculture, Republic Polytechnic (2022)
Research Experience:
Intern at the St. John's Island National Marine Laboratory under the South East Asian Microplastic Project under Dr Neo Mei Lin.
Research study conducting probiotics feeding trial In Whiteleg Shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei).
Research Interests:
Marine Biology & Aquaculture
SANDRA TAN
Research Officer
B. Sc. in Medical Biosciences, First Class Honours, Imperial College London (2022)
A*STAR NSS (BS) Scholarship (2019)
Sandra is interested in how neural circuits and brain signals mediate lived human experiences – such as dementia and appetite. Most recently, she led a research project under Dr Yu Ye (UK Dementia Research Institute) establishing a novel cell-based tauopathy model using TIRF microscopy. She previously assisted Dr Hasan Mohammad in Dr Fu Yu’s lab (IMCB) studying appetite regulation in mice, and is now looking into novel effects of neuropeptides on appetite and food preference in zebrafish.
JOVIAN LIN
Laboratory Officer
Diploma in Biomedical Science (Biomedical Research), Singapore Polytechnic (2022)
Research Experience:
Intern at the Bioinformatics Institute (BII, A*STAR), under the Aging Biology Intervention Research (ABIR) group. Studied the mechanisms of FDA-approved drugs and natural compounds on aging, obtained from high-throughput screening in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae model under Dr Mohammad Alfatah. Published in Lin, Cheng et al. (2022).
Research Interests:
Microbiology and Molecular Biology
PHOEBE TAN
Research Officer (Joint with Leslie Beh Lab)
B.S. in Biomedical Sciences, Upper-Second Class Honours, University of Sheffield (2022)
Phoebe completed her undergraduate thesis under the guidance of Dr. Elena Rainero on the link between Extracellular Matrix degradation and cancer metastasis. Prior to her undergraduate studies, she received her Diploma in Biomedical Sciences from Republic Polytechnic, where she completed a 20-week internship and Final Year Project, with Dr. Juwita Rahmat in the Department of Surgery at the National University of Singapore, on the use of nanoparticles in photodynamic therapy in bladder cancer. She hopes to branch out into the field of oncogenomics further into her research career. Additionally, she is keen on using bioinformatics and software programming to support her research work.
MASTER'S STUDENTS
SASMITHA SINGH
MSc Student in Biotechnology, National University of Singapore
INTERNS
IGNATIUS HWANG-SHIN (NUS, A*STAR RESEARCH INTERNSHIP AWARD)
DARREN LAM (NUS, A*STAR RESEARCH INTERNSHIP AWARD)
DEVIN TANG (SINGAPORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY)
JENNY ZHANG (NUS PHARMACY FYP STUDENT)
YU XIN TAN (NUS PHARMACY FYP STUDENT)
ALUMNI
BECKHAM KANG KUAN YUAN
Singapore Polytechnic
KENNETH SUHARDJO
Anglo-Chinese Junior College
KAI LIN CHUA
National University of Singapore
FENGLIN LI
Graduated with Msc in Food Science and Human Nutrition, NUS
DINGMING CHEN
Graduated with Msc in Food Science and Human Nutrition, NUS
KELLIE WONG
Student Intern (NUS, A*STAR Research Internship Award)
WEE LENG TAN
Student Intern (NUS, A*STAR Research Internship Awardee)
CHLOE LIN
Student Intern (Singapore Polytechnic, A*STAR Science Awardee)
Currently in NUS (School of Medicine)
RYAN ANG
Student Intern (Singapore Polytechnic, A*STAR Science Awardee)
JAZLYNN TAN
Research Officer
Currently pursuing a PhD (A*STAR NSS-PhD scholarship)
XIPING LE
H3 Programme Student (Hwa Chong Institution) and SSEF Gold Medalist
YUCHENG JIN
H3 Programme Student (Victoria Junior College) and SSEF Silver Medalist
CHERYL TAN
Research Officer (previously on SGUnited Traineeship)
Currently pursuing a Masters at the National University of Singapore
DANIAL ASRI
Research Assistant (SGUnited Traineeship)
JERRICK KWAN
Student Intern (Republic Polytechnic, A*STAR Science Awardee)
JERRYL TAN
Student Intern (Republic Polytechnic, A*STAR Science Awardee)