Kuan Rong Chan is a Principal Research Scientist in the Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases at Duke-NUS Medical School. He received his undergraduate from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and obtained his PhD from the NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering. He then did his postdoctoral training in Duke-NUS Medical School and is a Principal Research Scientist since 2018.
He specializes in the study of host immune responses to flaviviral infections and vaccines, and aims to understand the molecular mechanisms of how flaviviruses exploit host factors and the host microenvironment to facilitate infection. His research is funded by the Khoo Postdoctoral Fellowship Award and the Young Individual Research Grant from the National Medical Research Council to investigate how pre-existing antibodies can augment dengue virus infection in human monocytes.
His lab is focused on using a systems biology approach to interrogate host responses to viruses and vaccines. We will employ human clinical trials with high-throughput multi-omics platforms to understand the virus-host interactions involved in severe disease outcome and vaccine protection. Collectively, these efforts aim to facilitate drug and vaccine development.
Research projects
1. Dissect the role of host metabolism on flavivirus infection outcome.
Flaviviruses depend on the host cells to replicate. However, it remains unknown how flaviviruses, which is only 11kb in size, can manipulate the host metabolism to support viral replication. The virus-host interactions involved in metabolism and disease pathogenesis will be evaluated at the molecular level.
Collaborators: Dr Yie Hou Lee (SMART-MIT), Dr Cui Liang (SMART-MIT), Assoc Prof Yaw Shin Ooi (Duke-NUS) and Prof Eng Eong Ooi (Duke-NUS)
2. Characterise host transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics responses to viruses and vaccines.
Without a good animal model for most viral diseases, the understanding of how humans respond to viruses and vaccines remains pertinent for the development of drugs and vaccines. In collaboration with clinicians from SGH, using well-designed clinical trials, this project aims to understand how baseline characteristics and the consequent host responses influence outcome of vaccination.
Collaborators: Prof Eng Eong Ooi (Duke-NUS), Assoc Prof Jenny Low (Duke-NUS, SGH), Candice Chan (SGH), Shirin Kalimuddin (Duke-NUS, SGH)
3. Integrate and analyse various multiomics datasets to facilitate vaccines and drugs development.
By integrating datasets from multiple sources, we strive to understand the virus-host interactions that drive viral diseases and immunity to viruses in humans. Updates on the methodology and the relevant research articles can be detailed at: www.omicsdiary.com
Webpage: https://kuanrongchan.com/