Singapore
Currently a Project Manager at A*STAR Infectious Diseases Labs (A*STAR IDL). Prior to my current role, I was an academic research scientist, leading multiple projects on preclinical drug discovery for mycobacterial pulmonary diseases and managing clinical studies on respiratory viral infections.
-Programme Manager for a multi-institutional programme aimed at developing a compact, plug-and-play flow cytometry-based diagnostic platform
-Manage two observational clinical studies [NOFA (Novel assays for detection of Influenza A infections) and RESPIRO (Respiratory Infections Research and Outcome Study)]. This involves the following tasks: >Screen patients, using site-specific patient database on EPIC (electronic medical record system) and strict inclusion/exclusion criteria, to facilitate subject recruitment >Collect and maintain key data (i.e. disease diagnosis, medical history and test results) of all enrolled subjects using the REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) platform >Regularly maintain the investigator site file (ISF) to demonstrate compliance to up-to-date study protocols and Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines >Ensure updated study documents are approved by National Healthcare Group Domain Specific Review Board (NHG DSRB), via Ethics and Compliance Online System (ECOS) >Collaborate with cross-functional teams, consisting of researchers (NUS), clinicians (NUH & NCID) and biotech engineers (Cellbae Pte. Ltd.), to ensure that progress of the studies are on track and consequently, produce findings that provide actionable insights -Developed grant proposals to secure funding from National Medical Research Council (Singapore) and Gates Foundation (USA) to facilitate new clinical studies -Lead a collaborative project, involving the local biotech company Cellbae Pte. Ltd., aimed at developing a novel lateral flow, ART-like, test kit for Tuberculosis (TB). The goal of the project is to eliminate non-specificity and increase sensitivity compared to the current commercially-available lateral flow TB test kit.
-Investigation of novel multi-drug regimens for treatment of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infections via assessment of combination activity of current and repurposed drugs, as part of Professor Thomas Dick's research group. -Drive drug discovery projects to uncover potential drug candidates for antibiotic treatment of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infections. This involves in vitro compound/drug screening and profiling, mechanism of action studies and in vivo efficacy determination. -Establish a platform for identifying compounds which induce targeted protein degradation in mycobacteria, a potentially novel approach for the development of next generation anti-tuberculosis drugs. -Assist with the overall running of the laboratory by managing the purchasing and keeping stock of the laboratory’s consumables
1) Gordon Research Conference (March 2024) -Gave a talk on my work on the development of a framework to rationally combine drugs to treat Mycobacterium abscessus lung disease at the Gordon Research Conference (New Antibacterial Discovery and Development - Innovative Approaches in Antibacterial Research and Development to Fight the Antibiotic Resistance Crisis) Link: https://www.grc.org/new-antibacterial-discovery-and-development-conference/2024/ 2) Colorado Mycobacteria Conference 2022: Focus on nontuberculous mycobacteria (June 2022) -Gave a talk at the “Colorado Mycobacteria Conference 2022: Focus on nontuberculous mycobacteria” (hosted by Colorado State University, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, & Pathology) on my project on OPC-167832, an anti-tuberculosis clinical drug candidate, as a potential repurposing candidate for Mycobacterium abscessus pulmonary disease treatment. 3) "The Advances in Antibacterial Discovery" virtual symposium (December 2021) -Gave a talk on my work on developing targeted protein degradation as a novel approach for uncovering new anti-tuberculosis drugs at "The Advances in Antibacterial Discovery" virtual symposium (hosted by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics) Link: https://www.stjude.org/education-training/advanced-training/seminars-symposia/advances-in-antibacterial-discovery.html 4) Gordon Research Seminar (July 2019) -Gave a talk on my work on TBAJ-876 (Sorfequiline), the promising new anti-tuberculosis clinical drug candidate, at the Gordon Research Seminar (Molecular and Cellular Insights in Tuberculosis: Identifying Novel Drugs and Therapeutic Targets) Link: https://www.grc.org/tuberculosis-drug-discovery-and-development-grs-conference/2019/
Part of a team of scientists that studied the mechanism of action of pyrazinamide, a standard-of-care drug used in the treatment of tuberculosis. My role in the project involved engineering an array of novel genetic constructs that were crucial in studying the drug's activity.