L E A D I N G T H E WAY I N B I O M E D I C A L S C I E N C E Sbch.nus.edu.sg/buzz/november12/november12.pdf · · 2018-02-15Assistant Professor Lim Yoon Pin ... Dr Wang Xueying

Volume 15 2012

November

November 2012

L E A D I N G T H E W A Y I N B I O M E D I C A L S C I E N C E S

Dear Colleagues,

Time has passed very quickly and it has now been slightly more than half a year since I joined the

Department. The past months have been a learning experience for me and I am grateful to all the

colleagues who have assisted me patiently in more ways than one.

There were some significant changes and events in the Department over the past 6 months. One was

the relocation of some our PIs and their labs from MD4A to MD6 while renovations are being carried

out. Veen Senn has been coordinating this smoothly and we expect the groups to move back into a

new, spacious and safer MD4A building in the 2nd half of 2013.

The 2nd Biochemistry Safety Tea was organised in August 2012 to reiterate the importance of safety and

the role that every staff and student plays in creating a safe working environment. We should never be

complacent or let our guard down, especially in the research labs.

Our Postgraduate Student Committee, led by Dr. Thilo Hagen, organised the 5th Biochemistry Student

Symposium in September 2012 and it was very successful and well-received. I am sure the lessons the PgSC learnt through the

organisation of this event went beyond what textbooks can teach them and I hope to see more student-centric activities being

organised by our postgraduate students.

On the fun side for staff bonding, the Staff Welfare Committee organised a ―Prawning session‖ for our staff at Punggol Marina Country

Club. I was told that there were many excited moments when our staff caught their first prawn during the time given and that staff

enjoyed the barbequing of the freshly caught prawns thereafter.

I am also proud to announce that our Department has scored full marks (100 out of 100) for the annual OSHE Fire Safety Inspection,

which qualifies us to receive, again, the Platinum Fire Safety Award. This is a remarkable achievement and my deepest appreciation to

the Safety Committee, including the Fire Safety team, and all staff and students in the Department for their full cooperation.

We are now approaching the examination period of Semester 1 AY 2012/2013, which is understandably a stressful time for our

academic and administrative staff due to the tight deadlines. I urge all staff involved in the examination process to uphold the high

standards in the Department by adhering closely to our SOPs and ensuring accuracy for all our examination marks.

As the year draws to an end, let us take the opportunity to reflect on the memories and lessons from 2012 and recharge ourselves to

embrace the challenges of 2013.

Wishing all of you an advanced season’s greetings, Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year ahead!

Wish best wishes,

Head of Department

Pg 2 - Congratulations | Pg 3 - Welcome | Pg 7 - Grants | Pg 7 - Publications

| Pg 10 - Events | Pg 14 - Sharing of Experiences | Pg 16 - Bon Voyage

Volume 15

Volume 15 2012

2 November

STAFF

Professor Barry Halliwell

Recipient of Outstanding Researcher Award 2012

Associate Professor Theresa Tan

Recipient of Faculty Teaching Excellence Award for AY2010/2011

Assistant Professor Lim Yoon Pin

PCT filed 25 August 2012: A Protein involved in detection of cancer metastasis and treatment thereof.

Invited to give 2 talks: ―Proteomics, a valuable tool in Basic and Translational Research‖ Bioprocessing Technology

Institute, A*STAR. July 11 2012 and ―Beyond the Usual Suspects in Gastric Cancer Targeted Therapeutics‖,

Joint Singapore Gastric Cancer Consortium (SGCC)-Cancer Science Institute (CSI) seminar, May 8 2012.

Appointed Member, Review Committee, Inaugural SERI Graduate Scholarship Programme.

National Day Long Service Medal Recipients

Mrs Kalimuthu Malihay

Mrs Lee Mui Khin

CONGRATULATIONS!

STUDENTS

Volume 15 2012

3 November

OUR WARMEST WELCOME!

STUDENTS

Volume 15 2012

4 November


STAFF

Dr Law Kai Pong

PI: Dr Lim Yoon Pin

Assumed Duty: 06.06.2012

Dr Nin Sijin Dawn

PI: Dr Deng Lih Wen


Dr Juvvuna Prasanna K.

PI: A/P Mridula Sharma


Dr Rebecca Jackson

PI: Prof Jean Paul Thiery


Dr Yap Lai Lai

Reporting Officer: A/P Caroline Lee


Professor Arthur Mark Richards

Appointment: Honorary-Joint Professor

Host Department: Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine


Volume 15 2012

5 November


STAFF

Ms Xie Xiaojin

PI: Dr Wang Xueying


Ms Wei Xiaona

PI: Prof Fu Xin-Yuan


Mr Yang Yuanyong

PI: A/P Chua Kim Lee


Ms Sudarkodi Sukumar

PI: A/P Markus Wenk


Ms Lim Jing Yan

PI: A/P Markus Wenk


Ms Truong Nhat

Quynh Thuyen



Mr Balamuralidhar

Vanniarajan



Ms Thean Su Ming

PI: Dr Kenneth Ban


Ms Han Xiaoyan



Ms Karolina Dwi Setyowati

PI: Prof Jeyaseelan, K.


Ms Leow San Min

PI: A/P Marie Clement


Ms Yee Zhuangli

PI: Prof Barry Halliwell


Volume 15 2012

6 November

Baby Girl Yew Si Xian, second child of

Dr Yew Wen Shan & Dr Yap Lai Lai.


BABIES

Baby Boy Benjamin Teh, second child of Ms Vivian Low

(PA for Prof Fu Xin-Yuan).

Baby Boy Orion Wong, second child of Ms Dee Pham.

Baby Girl Tong Jing Xuan, first child of Ms Lim Kai

Ying (of Prof Jay’s lab).

Volume 15 2012

7 November

GRANTS AWARDED

PUBLICATIONS APRIL—OCTOBER 2012

Wu, W, WC Juan, M Y R C Liang, K G Yeoh, B Y J SO and M C M Chung*, "S100A9, GIF and AAT as potential combinatorial biomarkers in

gastric cancer diagnosis and prognosis". PROTEOMICS - Clinical Applications, 6, no. 3-4 (2012): 152-162. (Germany). (PMID 22532451).

Ponnusamy*, S, H Zhang, P Kadam, Q Lin, T K Lim, S S Jaspal, N Kothandaraman, P M Aniza, A Biswas, A Venkat, C L Hew, S B Joshi, M C

M Chung and M Choolani, "Membrane proteins of human fetal primitive nucleated red blood cells". Journal of Proteomics, (2012).

(Netherlands).

SY, Loo*, K X Chang, S H Chua, AP Kumar*, S Pervaiz and M V Clement, "NHE-1: a promising target for novel anti-cancer therapeutics".

Current Pharmaceutical Design, 18, no. 10 (2012): 1372-82. (Netherlands). (PMID: 22360552, I.F(5) 4.265).

T H Nim, L Luo, M V Clement, J K White and L Tucker-Kellogg, "Systematic Parameter Estimation in Data-Rich Environments (SREDRE)

for Cell Signaling Dynamics". BIOINFORMATICS, (2012). (United Kingdom).

Gao, Shuanhu, Qiaoling Wang, Gelin Wang, Brett Lomenich, J LIU, Chih-Wei Fan, L W Deng, Jing Huang, Lawrence Lum and Chuo

Cheng, "The Chemistry and Biology of Nakiterpiosin". Synlett, (2012). (Germany).

F Cheng, J Liu* and L W Deng*, "Mixed Lineage Leukemia 5 Maintains Genomic Integrity by Regulating the Stability of the Chromoso-

mal Passenger Complex". Journal of Cell Science, (2012). (United Kingdom).

Lee Y H*, Ma H, Tan T Z, Ng SS, Soong R, Mori S, Fu X-Y , Zernicka-Goetz M and Q Wu, "Protein arginine methyltransferase 6 regulates

Embryonic Stem cell identity". Stem Cells and Development (2012). (United States). (Epub; PMID: 22455726, I.F(5) 4.382).

K S Tan, K O Lee , K C Low, A Gamage, Y Liu, GY Tan , HQ Koh, S Alonso and Y H Gan, "Glutathione deficiency in type 2 diabetes impairs

cytokine responses and control of intracellular bacteria". Journal of Clinical Investigation, 122, no. 6 (2012): 2289-300. (United States).

K P Suresh, , J. Gruber*, L N Lakshmanan, B Halliwell and R Gunawan, "Is mitochondrial DNA turnover slower than commonly assumed?".

Biogerontology, (2012). (Netherlands).

Volume 15 2012

8 November

LN Lakshmanan*, J. Gruber, B Halliwell and R Gunawan, "Role of Direct Repeat and Stem-loop Motifs in mtDNA Deletions: Cause or Coinci-

dence?". PLoS ONE, (2012). (United States).

J Gruber*, S Fong, S L Yoong, C Chen, G Pastorin, S Schaffer, C K Irwin and B Halliwell, "Mitochondria-targeted Antioxidants and Metabolic

Modulators as Pharmacological Interventions to slow Ageing". Biotechnology Advances, (2012). (United Kingdom).

SC CHAI, S C, A Armugam, PN Strong and K Jeyaseelan*, "Characterization of bumarsin, a 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme reductase

inhibitor from Mesobuthus martensii Karsh venom". Toxicon, 60 (e-pub a head of print) (2012): 272-279. (United Kingdom).

H H P Duong*, N T S Chung*, K Jeyaseelan, A Armugam, J Yang and MH Hong, "Planar biomimetic aquaporin-incorporated triblock copoly-

mer membranes on porous alumina supports for nanofiltration". Journal of Membrane Science, 409– 410 (2012): 34-43. (Netherlands).

D S Sugunavathi, A Armugam, E M Wintour and K Jeyaseelan*, "MicroRNA 130a represses transcriptional activity of Aquaporin 4 promoter".

Journal of Biological Chemistry, 287 (2012): 12006-12015. (United States).

K Jeyaseelan*, N T S Chung*, K Jeyaseelan and A Armugam, "Stabilization and immobilization of aquaporin reconstituted lipid vesicles for

water purification". Colloids and Surfaces B-Biointerfaces, (2012). (Netherlands).

Y Wang, H C Toh, P Chow, A Y F Chung, D Meyers, P A Cole, L L P J Ooi and C G L Lee*, "MicroRNA-224 is Up-regulated in Hepatocellular

Carcinoma through Epigenetic Mechanisms". FASEB Journal, 26, no. 7 (2012): 3032. (United States).

W C Mah, M Thomas Thurnherr and C G L Lee*, "Comprehensive Profiling of DNA methylation in Hepatocellular Carcinoma". 4th Australian

Scientific Conference: Epigenetics 2012. (Invited paper) (The National Wine Centre of Australia, Adelaide, Australia).

C G L Lee*, ST Toh, L Liu, Y Jin, J Wang, Farbod Babrzadeh, Baback Gharizadeh, Mostafa Ronaghi, H C Toh, P K H Chow, A Y F Chung and L L

P J Ooi, "Deep Sequencing of Hepatitis B Virus in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients". In European Human Genetics Conference 2012. (23 -

26 Jun 2012, Nürnberg, Germany).

J W Steven and C G L Lee*, "ABC drug transporters and their impact on drug disposition/drug sensitivity and resistance". In Encyclopedia of

Drug Metabolism and Interactions, ed. Alexander Lyubimov. Part III: General principals of ADME. Drug transporters and other mechanisms of

transport. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2012. 39 pp.

B F A Assiddiq, K Y Tan, W Toy, P K Chong and Y P Lim*, "EGFR S1166 phosphorylation induced by a combination of EGF and gefitinib has a

potentially negative impact on lung cancer cell growth.". Journal of Proteome Research, (2012). (United States).

Y Yang, W Toy, L Y Choong, P Hou, H Ashktorab, D Smoot, K G Yeoh and Y P Lim*, "Discovery of SLC3A2 cell membrane protein as a poten-

tial gastric cancer biomarker – implications in molecular imaging". Journal of Proteome Research, (2012). (United States).

X Man, and Y P Lim*, "Cep68 centrosomal protein, a novel substrate of Nek2, regulates entry into mitosis". International Journal of Biochem-

istry and Cell Biology, (2012). (United States).

S H Tan, G H Shui, J Zhou, J J E Li, B H Bay*, M R Wenk and H M Shen, "Induction of autophagy by palmitic acid via protein kinase C-

mediated signaling pathway independent of mTOR (Mammalian Target of Rapamycin)". Journal of Biological Chemistry, 287, no. 18 (2012):

14364-14376. (United States).

Ge, X, A Vajjala, C McFarlane, W Wahli, Sharma M* and R Kambadur, "Lack of Smad3 signaling leads to impaired skeletal muscle regenera-

tion". American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism, 303, no. 1 (2012): E90-E102. (United States). (collaborative publica-

tion).

Kambadur, R, C Zhang, CK Tan, C McFarlane, Sharma M* and NS Tan, "Myostatin-null mice exhibit delayed skin wound healing through the

blockade of transforming growth factor–β signaling by decorin.". American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology, 302, no. 8 (2012): C1213-

25. (United States). (collaborative publication).

Y Y Choo* and T Hagen*, "Mechanism of Cullin3 E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Dimerization". PLoS ONE, (2012). (United States).

Volume 15 2012

9 November

S Bonala, S Lokireddy, H Arigela, S Teng, W Wahli, Sharma M*, C McFarlane and R Kambadur, "Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor β/

δ Induces Myogenesis by Modulating Myostatin Activity". Journal of Biological Chemistry, 287, no. 16 (2012): 12935-51. (United States).

(Paper from collaborative research).

S Jha, "Tip60 degradation by Adenovirus relieves transcriptional repression of viral transcriptional activator EIA". Oncogene (2012). (United

Kingdom).

Y Chen, HH Hor and B L Tang*, "AMIGO is expressed in multiple brain cell types and may regulate dendritic growth and neuronal survival".

Journal of Cellular Physiology 227, no. 5 (2012): 2217-2229. (United States). (PMID: 21938721, [Epub ahead of print], updated as at

6.10.2011).

B L Tang, "The cell biology of Chikungunya virus infection.". Cellular Microbiology, (2012). (United Kingdom).

E L Ng, B Q Gan, N Fanny and B L Tang*, "Rab GTPases regulating receptor trafficking at the late endosome-lysosome membranes". Cell Bio-

chemistry and Function, (2012). (United Kingdom).

E L C Chua and B L Tang*, "Rab22B separately influence EGFR and M6PR trafficking events via specific guanine nucleotide exchange factors ".

A Biochemical Society Focused Meeting: Rab GTPases and their interacting proteins in health and disease (2012): 13. UK: Biochemical Socie-

ty. (Rab GTPases and their interacting proteins in health and disease, 11 - 13 Jun 2012, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland)

J A Malek, A M E Martinez, G Ferron, R Huang, C Raynaud, E Jouve, J P Thiery, D Querleu and A Rafii, "Gene expression analysis of matched

ovarian primary tumors and peritoneal metastasis". Journal of Translational Medicine, 10, no. 1 (2012): 121. (United Kingdom).

M K Dawood, L Zhou, H Zheng, H Cheng, G Wan, R Rajagopalan, H P Too and W K Choi, "Nanostructured Si-nanowire microarrays for en-

hanced-performance bio-analytics". Lab on a Chip, (2012). (United Kingdom).

H Y Kua, H Liu, W F Leong, L Li, D Jia, G Ma, Y Hu, X Wang, J F Chau, Y G Chen, Y Mishina, S Boast, J Yeh, L Xia, G Q Chen, L He, S P Goff and B

Li, "c-Abl promotes osteoblast expansion by differentially regulating canonical and non-canonical BMP pathways and p16(INK4a) expres-

sion". Nature Cell Biology, 14, no. 7 (2012): 727-37. (United Kingdom).

J F Chau, D Jia, Z Wang, Z Liu, Y Hu, X Zhang, H Jia, K P Lai, W F Leong, B J Au, Y Mishina, Y G Chen, C Biondi, E Robertson, D Xie, H Liu, L He ,

X Wang, Q Yu and B Li, "A crucial role for bone morphogenetic protein-Smad1 signalling in the DNA damage response.". Nature Communi-

cations, 3 (2012): 836. (United Kingdom).

Y Y Hou, M T Toh and X Wang, "NBS1 deficiency promotes genome instability by affecting DNA damage signaling pathway and impairing

telomere integrity". Cell Biochemistry and Function, 30, no. 3 (2012): 233-42. (United Kingdom).

M Zhang, L Li, Z Wang, H Liu, J Hou, M Zhang, A Hao, Y Liu, G He, Y Shi, L He, X Wang, Y Wan and B Li, "A role for c-Abl in cell senescence

and spontaneous immortalization". Age, (2012). (United States).

L B Gregory and X Wang, "Extra-telomeric effects of telomerase (hTERT) in cell death". In Apoptosis. Intech, 2012.

X Wang, "Extra-telomeric effects of telomerase (hTERT) in cell death". In Apoptosis. Intech, 2012.

D Mahalingam, CM Kong, J Lai, L L Tay and H Yang and X Wang, Reversal of Aberrant Cancer Methylome and Transcriptome upon Direct

Reprogramming of Lung Cancer Cells. Research article. Scientific reports (Nature Publisher), 2012.

Y H Lee*, H Ma, T Z Tan, S S Ng, R Soong, S Mori, X-Y Fu, M Zernicka-Goetz and Q Wu, "Protein arginine

methyltransferase 6 regulates Embryonic Stem cell identity.". Stem Cells and Development, (2012). (United

States). (Epub; PMID: 22455726, I.F(5) 4.382).

M K Go*, J Y Chow, V W Cheung, Y P Lim and W S Yew*, "Establishing a Toolkit for Precursor-directed

Polyketide Biosynthesis: Exploring Substrate Promiscuities of Acid-CoA Ligases.". Biochemistry, 51, no. 22

(2012): 4568-4579. (United States).

Volume 15 2012

10 November

EVENTS 2nd Biochemistry Safety Tea

The safety tea was well-attended by our staff and students. A/P Caroline Lee reminded all staff and students of the importance of

practicing good safety habits in the Department and reiterated that a minor mistake or lapse of judgment may result in severe

injuries to oneself or others. The event ended with a tea reception outside LT 29.

http://www.med.nus.edu.sg/bch/events.htm

Volume 15 2012

11 November

EVENTS Prawning & BBQ @

Punggol Marina Country Club

This is the first event in FY2012 organised by the Staff Welfare Committee (Dr Lim YP, Ms Qian Feng, Ms Aniza & Mr. Mohd Irwan)

and about 50 staff participated in this activity. It was surely a test of patience and skills for all, especially for the ―first-timers‖, and it

was fun and hilarious seeing the reactions of those who managed to catch the prawns. A big congratulations to A/P Chang Chan

Fong for winning the ―Best Prawn Catcher‖ award!

http://www.med.nus.edu.sg/bch/events.htm

Volume 15 2012

12 November

EVENTS 5th Biochemistry Student Symposium

The student symposium was a success and was well-received by both the guests and participants. Students were given the opportunity to

present their posters and speak to the professors who attended the event.

Here are some thoughts from the Organising Team member, Lee Zheng Wei, on the success of the event:-

―Organising the Pg Student Symposium was an extraordinary experience for me. I had

never thought of organizing an event at a Departmental level in my post-grad life.

Honestly, everything started with an invitation email from Dr Thilo. Initially I thought,

―that it should be an easy task‖ (as what he told us). After meeting for the first time, I

think none of us really knew what to do and what to expect. One of the difficult

challenges that we faced was to gather enough presenters and sponsorship. Students

had the tendency to submit their applications or abstracts near/after the due date.

Companies also did not reply punctually regarding their willingness to monetary

sponsorship or provide us with any items. This actually led us to realize that proper plan-

ning was the most important task of all. We established a timeline with every single task

that we needed to complete. With that as our guide, we were able to progress quite

smoothly and managed to get most of the things done on time. During our preparation,

we realized that, for an event to be successful, we must always take into consideration

the perspectives of the participants. Hence, we tried our best to incorporate fun and

interesting elements into a scientific research symposium. We truly thought that this

would be a great event for all who attended. Serving in the PgSC is not that difficult or a

burden. The main reason that I agreed to serve in the PgSC was that it gave me a chance

to contribute something to the Department. As a committee member in PgSC, I can help

to express our ideas for shaping and making our Department a better working place for

all. In order to improve camaraderie among the Pg students, I would suggest holding

some scientific-social events, with sponsored food, that will

attract more students to participate. For a Pg student, research

is the biggest part of our study. Hence, a consistent scientific

and academic exchange of information is important. However, if

an event were to be held specifically for an academic purpose,

most students would not attend. So, in my personal opinion, a

balance between study and personal life is crucial.‖

- Lee Zheng Wei, Member of PgSC

http://www.med.nus.edu.sg/bch/5pgscs.htm

Volume 15 2012

13 November

EVENTS

The HOD was the chairperson for the organising committee for this 4th annual

conference. The conference included an impressive list of renowned distinguished

scientists, including 3 Nobel Laureates, Prof Elizabeth Blackburn, Prof Jules Hoffman

and Prof Roger Y. Tsien.

The conference was opened by Prof Tan Chorh Chuan, the President of NUS, with the

welcome address given by Prof Daniel Tenen, the director of the Cancer Science

Institute of Singapore at NUS.

This event was incredibly well-received, with online registration sold out early, and

people queuing for on-site registration. This turnout is a testament to the excellent

programme instigated by Prof Jean Paul Thiery and the organising committee and, as

mentioned by Prof Tenen, the turnout means that the conference will need a bigger

venue next year and in the years to come.

Congratulations to our HOD on this successful conference.

Women in science and medicine are becoming increasingly concerned with how

to strike a balance between work and family life. More and more clinicians and

scientists are pondering whether medicine/science is too time-consuming, with

both men and women feeling the pressure as they struggle to start their

families while fulfilling their career ambitions. As a consequence, a career in this

field is becoming less attractive for many.

This dialogue session, conceived by Dr Wang Xueying, featured inspiring

women in science and medicine, including Nobel Laureate Prof Elizabeth

Blackburn and the guest of honour, Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister of State (Ministry of Finance and Transport). These successful women

shared their success stories of success and how they faced and overcome the challenges of balancing their career with their life’s pursuits.

The event was well-received, with even a few men in the audience. The overall advice from the speakers at this meeting was that, yes,

women can have it all, but that it was also important to define what ―all‖ means to each woman.

Congratulations to Dr Wang Xueying and her co-organiser, Dr Ruby Huang from CSI, on this successful event.

http://www.csi.nus.edu.sg/conference2012/fcs_2012.html

Volume 15 2012

14 November

SHARING OF EXPERIENCES

Dr Wang Xueying, Organising Committee for Women in Science & Medicine Symposium

What motivated you to organise this symposium especially to focus on achievements by women?

I know from my own experience, and that of many of my female friends, that many of us are struggling. We are not working less hard, even

when we had our kids; in fact, we worked like crazy, albeit flexibly, after we had children. But the cruel competition in this society makes us

uncertain of our future, uncertain of how we can survive, uncertain of our worth, and uncertain of where we can get satisfaction from our work

to sustain our passion. As time passes, society may eventually lose us as we retreat home to find our only worth and satisfaction. However, I feel

that this is sad, as we, women, offer a great contribution toward the economy and we are talented in many ways. Hence, I want to start this

symposium to let others know that there is hope and there is support. But the concept would not have been realised without the support of my

colleague (Yunn Hwen) who believed in me, and later others who agreed to help (Ruby Huang) and support (HOD, Aniza and Joanna Han).

What has been the most challenging task in the organisation of this symposium?

Time constraints. We had about 2 weeks before the event announcement tentative due date, so it was lots of work within 2 weeks from

confirming speakers, to venues, to details, such as gifts, websites, panel discussion sofas, etc. For example, we went to Arab Street to look for

gifts ourselves and O&G Department tried various ways to embroider a nice logo onto the gifts were purchased within the short dateline.

Fortunately, all speakers were very helpful in providing a prompt response, and we have had great professional help from Joanna, Theodora,

Rebecca, Irwan and some of my students. We initially hoped to provide door gifts, but because of the time constraints, we did not manage to do

so, which is a pity for such an event. I, myself, have also been challenged with the disappointment of not been able to find any sponsors, but

very grateful that the Department was financially able to support this event.

How will you know that the symposium was a success?

We initially were thinking that, due to the time constraints and the lack of door gifts, maybe we would only have about 50 people register. But

we had over 200 participants, including the media. Moreover, from the online registration form, we saw that the registrants were very active in

writing down long questions that they hoped would generate some answers from this symposium. From here, we already know it will be a

success, because people see hope and they know they have support and rapport.

Do you plan to organize any more symposiums?

Yes, some of the speakers suggested that since we had such a large critical mass, that we have enough to form a NUS Women support club. But

I will have to ensure there are potential sponsors for any symposiums in the future so that the Department can save its limited resources. As

long as any symposium can offer hope and support to a certain audience group with potential problems or obstacles, or can bring people

together, I believe it is worthwhile to organize.

Besides science, what are your other passions in life?

I love teaching, especially Chinese history and life values using historical stories to "guinea pig students-my children and neighbours". Maybe

someday I'll start a school teaching Chinese history and Chinese proverbs and idioms!

―...some speakers suggested

since we have such a large

critical mass that we have

enough to form a NUS Women

support club.‖

Volume 15 2012

15 November

Mdm Fatihah Ithnin, Management Assistant Officer

How do you feel the Department has changed over your 20 years of service in NUS?

Over the past 20 years, the Department has flourished drastically in terms of staff strength, research funding/activities and, of course,

individual work load has increased as well. The Department has also accomplished significantly during the years. In today’s context, a simple

task is not as simple as it seemed to be back then. The ever-changing procedures and upcoming new challenges are some factors that I have

learnt to incorporate into my daily work. Through my experiences here, I get to meet different types of customers (from students, staff and

even vendors) all the time and I enjoy providing my sincere services to them. The diversity of the work scope and support from the

Department are two of the main reasons that I am still working here in Biochemistry today.

How do you cope being a working mum of 6 kids?

I am grateful to my mother-in-law for helping out at home while my husband and I are out at work. She

looks after my children, attends to their daily needs and cooks for us so that I need not rush home to cook

dinner. This helps me to stay focused and give my all while at work. I make it a point that when I return home

in the evenings and on weekends to give my undivided attention to all my children. It is a simple give-and-

take between my mother-in-law and me. My youngest child is 5 years and my eldest son is now 21 years old.

So, the household chores are well distributed amongst them, except for my two little ones.

What are your secrets to always being so cheerful and efficient at work?

I have taken it upon myself to always look at the bright side when things are not going well – modify my thoughts to positive thinking. If

processes are within my control, I will find ways to make them more efficient and effective. I would like to take this opportunity to thank NUS

for conducting training for staff and the UHC Wellness team for the regular lunch exercise programmes for staff. This helps both my mind and

body to remain active and healthy and able to keep up with the demands of my work. Apart from a healthy mind and body, these trainings

and exercise programmes have helped me tremendously in my personal effectiveness and overall well-being.

Dr Justin Choo Kar Heng, PhD Bioinformatics (2002—2006)

Department of Biochemistry PhD Alumnus

CEO and CoFounder of Knorex Pte Ltd

National InfoComm Awards 2012, Winner for Knorex ARise

What are some secrets to your success?

Being adaptable and flexible, but at the same time knowing when we need to stand firm or be persistent in our pursuit. Be resourceful and

automatic.

Who are/were previous mentors who played a key role in grooming you to be a leader?

Many people around me have influenced me in different ways. My PhD thesis advisors, Prof Shoba Ranganathan and Prof Tan Tin Wee and

subsequently my research department head, Dr. Ng See Kiong, were a tremendous influence during my formative years. Their patience,

confidence and trust to let me freely explore and develop at my own pace have helped greatly in shaping the way I think about leadership and

the development of a person.

Any memorable moments from your candidature/work in the Biochemistry Department?

My years of working and studying at the Biochemistry Department has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life so far. I had a

great time! The level of energy and enthusiasm, and the drive to excel are simply electrifying and it's really infectious. It was also at this time

that I befriended many kindred spirits, and forged a close bond that I know will last for a long, long time.

Words of advice to younger generation?

Work hard and don't take too many shortcuts. There are only that many shortcuts that we can take before we run into trouble. Immerse

yourself in what you do and push yourself to learn and understand as much as you can. It's the only way to ensure that you are building up a

strong foundation.

SHARING OF EXPERIENCES

Volume 15 2012

16 November

WE BID GOODBYE TO...

Chen Yanan Lee Pei Sha Lanjie

Hou Peiling Liu Jie Soh Yan Ling, Melissa

Ismawati Binte Mohamad Amin Liu Lizhen Suresh Kumar Poovathingal

Karthikeyan Chandrasekaran Liu Xin Tay Ling Lee

Khanh Phuong Dang Luo Le Wilson Tee

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Documents

L E A D I N G T H E WAY I N B I O M E D I C A L S C I E N C E Sbch.nus.edu.sg/buzz/november12/november12.pdf · · 2018-02-15Assistant Professor Lim Yoon Pin ... Dr Wang Xueying