Duke-NUS Integrated Biology and Medicine PhD Thesis Mentors

The IBM degree is a research-intensive programme which culminates with the defense of a dissertation and the publication of the student’s findings. Research is done under the direction of an approved faculty mentor, who serves as chair of the student’s dissertation committee and provides financial support for research activities.

Students will undergo the mentor selection process toward the end of their first semester of the programme.

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Cancer & Stem Cell Biology

Name	Research Topic	Lab	Email	Contact
Virshup, David M Professor	Cancer Biology, Signal Transduction, protein phosphorylation, Wnt signaling	Duke-NUS	david.virshup@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 5224
Casey, Patrick J Professor	G protein signal transduction impacting cancer cell proliferation and metastasis	Duke-NUS	patrick.casey@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 7251
Lee, Caroline Associate Professor	Functional Genomics of Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Pharmaco‐genetics/genomics, Population Genetics, Polymorphisms	NCC	caroline.lee@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 3251
Itahana, Koji Associate Professor	ARF‐Mdm2‐p53 tumor suppressor pathway, apoptosis, cancer metabolism, targeting mitochondria for cancer therapy	Duke-NUS	koji.itahana@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 2554
Tan, Patrick Professor	Stomach cancer, cancer genomics, translational medicine	Duke-NUS/GIS/NCC	gmstanp@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 1783
Ong, Sin Tiong Associate Professor	Therapeutic targeting of cancer stem cells, mechanisms of drug resistance, haematologic malignancies	Duke-NUS	sintiong.ong@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 7763
Teh, Bin Tean Professor	Chromatin enzymes, cancer genomics and epigenomics, cancer therapeutics	Duke-NUS	teh.bin.tean@singhealth.com.sg	+65 6601 1324
Wang-Casey, Mei Associate Professor	Cancer Biology, experimental cancer therapeutics, protein prenylation and its impact on signaling, autophagy and cell death pathways	Duke-NUS	mei.wang@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 8608
Chacko, Ann-Marie Assistant Professor	In vivo molecular imaging, radiopharmaceuticals, image-guided cancer immunotherapy, diagnostic probe development, targeted cancer radiotherapy, brain drug delivery	Duke-NUS	ann-marie.chacko@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 1671
Fu, Nai Yang Assistant Professor	Epithelial stem cells,molecular pathways,cancer genetics, liver cancer and mouse models of cancer.	Duke-NUS	naiyang.fu@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 2503
Hu, Jiancheng Assistant Professor	Ras/RAF/MEK/ERK signaling, Oncogenic Protein kinases, Targeted Cancer Therapy, Drug resistance	The laboratory of Cancer Signaling, Division of Cellular and Molecular Research, National Cancer Centre Singapore; Cancer and Stem Cell Program, Duke-NUS Medical School	hu.jiancheng@nccs.com.sg; jiancheng.hu@duke-nus.edu.sg	+ 65 6223 7241
Iyer, N Gopalakrishna Professor	Building ex-vivo immune models to target cancer cells	NCCS Lab 502	gopaliyer@singhealth.com.sg	+65 6436 8000
Tang, Hong-Wen Assistant Professor	Regulation of RNA metabolism by oncogenic pathways; autophagy; the age- and cancer cachexia-induced muscle degeneration	Duke-NUS	hongwen.tang@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 6482

Cardiovascular & Metabolic Disorders

Name	Research Topic	Lab	Email	Contact
Silver, David L Professor	Diabetes, lipid metabolism, regulation of energy homeostasis, membrane proteins	Duke-NUS	david.silver@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 2172
Sun, Lei Assistant Professor	Noncoding RNA's in Brown Fat	Duke-NUS	sun.lei@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 3021
Singh, Manvendra Assistant Professor	Cardiovascular Development, Congenital Cardiac Diseases, Ischemic Heart Disease, Cardiac Metabolism in Heart Failure.	Duke-NUS	manvendra.singh@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 3098
Petretto, Enrico Associate Professor	Systems-genetics and network biology, genetical genomics and bioinformatics, identification of functional gene targets in cardio-metabolic, fibrotic, inflammatory and neuropsychiatric diseases.	Duke-NUS	enrico.petretto@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 5114
Hausenloy, Derek Professor	Acute myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury, Cardioprotection (basic science and clinical), Cardiac imaging, Heart failure, Intracellular signalling, Mitochondrial function.	Duke-NUS	derek.hausenloy@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 5121
Ho, Lena Assistant Professor	Small ORF-derived peptides, angiocrines, myokines, proteogenomics, vascular biology.	Duke-NUS	lenaho@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 6236
Wang, Yibin Professor	Genetic and Molecular Basis of Cardiovascular Metabolic Diseases	8^th Floor, Duke-NUS	yibinwang@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 1353
Wang, Xiaomeng Associate Professor	Understanding the molecular mechanisms of fibrovascular diseases and translate such knowledge to clinical practice.	Laboratory of translational research in fibrovascular diseases	xiaomeng.wang@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6576 7248
Wang, Zhenxun Assistant Professor	Functional genomics approaches to understand glaucoma pathogenesis	Duke-NUS and Singapore Eye Research Institute	zhenxun.wang@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6576 7273
Titze, Jens Marc Associate Professor	Physiologic link between body fluids, energy homeostasis, and immune cell function in hypertension and in diabetes mellitus (cardiovascular and renal disease)	Duke NUS and NLARF	jens.titze@duke-nus.edu.sg	-
Behmoaras, Jacques Associate Professor	Systems genetics, immunogenetics, translational immuno-metabolism, metabolic syndrome, chronic kidney disease	Duke-NUS	jacquesb@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 1137

Emerging Infectious Diseases

Name	Research Topic	Lab	Email	Contact
Lok, Shee Mei Professor	Structural changes of dengue virus during infection.	Duke-NUS	sheemei.lok@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 5840
Ooi, Eng Eong Professor	Pathogenesis of dengue; the interactions of dengue immune complexes with monocytes	Duke-NUS	engeong.ooi@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 8594
Smith, Gavin JD Professor	Ecology, evolution, population dynamics, molecular epidemiology, interspecies transmission of emerging infectious diseases	Duke-NUS	gavin.smith@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 1109
Vasudevan, Subhash Professor	Viral therapeutics, drug discovery, pathogenesis mechanism studies for dengue and other vector-borne viruses.	Duke-NUS	subhash.vasudevan@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 6718
Wang, Linfa Professor	Emerging zoonoti viruses and development of novel platforms forinvestigation of infectious diseases of unknown aetiology	Duke-NUS	linfa.wang@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 7256
St. John, Ashley L. Assistant Professor	host-pathogen interactions; cellular trafficking and communication within lymph nodes; mast cells; viral immunology; vaccination	Duke-NUS	Ashley.st.john@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 8874
Bertoletti, Antonio Professor	Immune pathogenesis of HBV infection,antiviral immune therapy, Virus-specific T cells	Duke-NUS	antonio@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 3574
Ooi, Yaw Shin Assistant Professor	Functional genomic study of clinically important RNA viruses	Laboratory of Molecular & Cellular Virology	yawshin.ooi@duke-nus.ed.sg
Lamers, Mart Assistant Professor	Coronavirus biology and pandemic preparedness	Duke-NUS, Coronavirus lab (coronaviruslab.com)	mart@duke-nus.edu.sg
Jessica SY Ho, Assistant Professor	Splicing, epigenetics and chromatin in viral infection	Duke-NUS	Jessica.ho@duke-nus.edu.sg

Health Services and Systems Research

Name	Research Topic	Lab	Email	Contact
Marco Aurelio de Anselmo Peres Professor	Health services research, data linkage, oral health surveillance, the assessment of the effectiveness of programes, and polices to reduce oral diseases, use of fluorides, inequalities in oral health, life course epidemiology and the relationship between oral health and general health.	NDCS	marco.peres@duke-nus.edu.sg
Chakraborty, Bibhas Associate Professor	Adaptive clinical trial designs Statistical methods for dynamic treatment regimes	Duke-NUS	bibhas.chakraborty@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6576 7377
Chan, Angelique W M Associate Professor	Social demography, aging, disability, family support, psychological well-being of older adults.	Duke-NUS	angelique.chan@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 5685
Cheung, Yin Bun Professor	Design and analysis of individual and cluster randomized trials Infectious disease, growth stunting, and global child health Quality of life of patients and family caregivers in palliative care	Duke-NUS	yinbun.cheung@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6576 7379
Finkelstein, Eric A Associate Professor	Economic Incentives, Behavioral Economics, Obesity, Discrete Choice Analysis, Economic Evaluation, Burden of Illness analysis, Cost Effectiveness Analysis	Duke-NUS	eric.finkelstein@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 2338
Sanjeewa Kularatna, Associate Professor	Health economics, health services research, Discrete Choice Experiments, Patient-reported outcomes, cost-effectiveness analysis, costing, Economic evaluations	Duke-NUS	sanjeewa.kularatna@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 2822
Graves, Nicholas Professor	Nick’s areas of knowledge include health economics, health services research, decision making and cost-effectiveness. He is interested in projects that show high and low-value care and in the processes around implementing new policies. Other research interests include healthcare associated infection, chronic wounds, non-beneficial treatments at the end of life, health behavior change interventions, screening for infectious and chronic disease, and how research funding is allocated. Nick’s major focus is on showing how health services can be improved at low cost, or even improved with cost savings. He enjoys collaborating with clinicians who wish to improve the performance of health services.	Duke-NUS / HSSR	n.graves@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 2462
Donny HOANG Quan V. Associate Professor	Our research focuses on two blinding diseases that stem from extreme short-sightedness (high myopia): Pathologic Myopia and myopic glaucoma. We focus on discovering novel treatments to stunt short-sightedness and avoid vision-threatening changes (e.g. role of scleral fibroblasts, ion channels in retinal Muller cells and scleral collagen crosslinking). We plan to translate our findings by combining with the engineering and clinical studies arms of our lab.	Academia	donny.hoang@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6576 7230
Jafar, Tazeen H Professor	Policy-relevant implementation research on chronic non-communicable disease, and epidemiological studies likely to influence clinical practice.	Duke-NUS	tazeen.jafar@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 2582
Lamoureux, Ecosse Professor	Epidemiology; Prevention; Intervention; and Outcomes Research Associated with Age-Related Eye Diseases; Aging; and Diabetes Microvascular Complications	Duke-NUS / HSSR	ecosse.lamoureux@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6576 7382
Malhotra, Chetna Assistant Professor	Palliative care for cancer and advanced chronic non-malignant illnesses, end of life decision making, patient-physician communication of prognosis and goals of care, and caregiving for seriously ill.	Duke-NUS	gmschetn@nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 5692
Malhotra, Rahul Assistant Professor	Please visit his profile.	Duke-NUS	rahul.malhotra@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 6721
Matchar, David Bruce Professor	Please visit his profile.	Duke-NUS	david.matchar@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 2584
Ong, Marcus Professor	Health Services Research in Emergency Care	Duke-NUS / HSSR	marcus.ong@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 1683
Ostbye, Truls Professor	Please visit his profile.	Duke-NUS	truls.ostbye@duke.edu	+1 919 660 0331

Neuroscience and Behavioural Disorders

Name	Research Topic	Lab	Email	Contact
Cao, Mian Assistant Professor	Investigates the molecular and cellular mechanisms of dysfunctional synaptic membrane trafficking in neurodegenerative disorders, particularly Parkinson’s disease, and reveals the potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of these diseases.	Duke-NUS	mian.cao@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 1096
Claridge-Chang, Adam Associate Professor	Models of cognitive and emotional dysfunction in Drosophila melanogaster.	Duke-NUS	claridge-chang.adam@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 6963
De Paola, Vincenzo Professor	We study human neural circuit wiring and dysfunction in neuropsychiatric conditions. We focus on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of the synaptic life cycle (i.e. synapse formation and elimination) and axon degeneration/regeneration. Our ultimate goal is to find new ways to harness brain plasticity for neurological repair.	Duke-NUS	vincenzo.depaola@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 6382
Gooley, Joshua J Associate Professor	Chronobiology, human circadian rhythms, sleep deprivation.	Duke-NUS	joshua.gooley@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 7430
Je, H Shawn Associate Professor	Developing circuit-based mouse models of neuropsychiatric diseases, including schizophrenia, autism, and depression. Understanding cell and molecular mechanisms underlying synaptic plasticity.	Duke-NUS	shawn.je@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 1260
Lee, Tih-Shih Associate Professor	Brain-computer interface, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder.	DUKE-NUS	tihshih.lee@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 7461
Nishiyama, Jun Assistant Professor	Synaptic Function and Dysfunction in Neuropsychiatric Disorders.	Duke-NUS	jun.nishiyama@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 1906
Tan, Eng King Professor	Genetic epidemiology, pathophysiologic studies of diseased genes and experimental therapeutics in neurodegenerative diseases.	Duke-NUS	gnrtek@sgh.com.sg	+65 6326 5003
Sun, Alfred Assistant Professor	1) Developing and utilizing novel human neural cells based models as better proxy for disease phenotypes ex vivo. Current focuses: neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders 2) Design-based making of synthetic neural cells.	Duke-NUS	alfred.sun@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6601 6841
Wang, Hongyan Professor	Neural stem cell self-renewal, asymmetric cell division, neuronal degeneration.	Duke-NUS	hongyan.wang@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 7740
Zhang, Su-Chun Professor	Neural degeneration and regeneration.	Duke-NUS	su-chun.zhang@duke-nus.edu.sg	+65 6516 4386

Academic Clinical Programmes (ACP)

Name	Research Topic	Lab	Email	Contact
Albani, Salvatore Professor	Dissection and manipulation of the human immunome in health and disease	STIIC/TII	salvatore.albani@singhealth.com.sg	+65 6576 7179
Mehta, Jodhbir Professor	Our research focuses on two blinding corneal diseases. Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy (FECD) and TGFBI related corneal opacification. Weuseour developed in vitro and in vivo models to developed new strategies to treat these disease from a molecular approach.	Academia	jodhbir.s.mehta@singhealth.com.sg	+65 6227 7266

Duke-NUS PhD in Integrated Biology and Medicine (IBM) thesis mentors