Latest Happenings

November 30, 2021

Congratulations to Dr. Nurulhuda Binte Mustafa, a CSI Senior Research Fellow and Ms. Sinan Xiong, a CSI PhD student on receiving the ASH Abstract Achievement Award!

November 18, 2021

The 13th Frontiers in Cancer Science (FCS) conference, held over 3 days from 1 – 3 November 2021, concluded successfully with over 1,270 registrants from around the world. The nation’s largest annual conference was held virtually for the second year in a row, this time reaching out to a wider range of participants hailing from over 40 countries, including India, the United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom and more.

November 3, 2021

Pseudogenes, noncoding homologs of protein-coding genes, once considered nonfunctional evolutionary relics, have recently been linked to patient prognoses and cancer subtypes. Despite this potential clinical importance, only a handful of >12,000 pseudogenes in humans have been characterized in cancers to date.

November 3, 2021

Small interfering RNA (siRNA) can cause specific gene silencing and is considered promising for treating a variety of cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, siRNA has many undesirable physicochemical properties that limit its application. Additionally, conventional methods for delivering siRNA are limited in their ability to penetrate solid tumors.

November 3, 2021

Our results indicate that combining histone modification and functional assay data may provide a more accurate metric to assess enhancer activity than either platform individually, providing insights into the relative contribution of genetic (cis) and regulatory (trans) mechanisms to GC enhancer functional heterogeneity.

October 28, 2021

Within the stomach corpus (main body), tubular invaginations are divided into regions known as the pit, isthmus, neck and base. In particular, the isthmus comprises rapidly proliferating cells, known as isthmus stem cells. Since the inner lining of the stomach is constantly damaged by food, pathogens and foreign substances, the isthmus plays an important role in replacing damaged tissue with new cells quickly apart from generating various mature cells in the corpus, such as acid-producing parietal cells, chief cells and mucin-producing mucous cells.

October 12, 2021

In the monthly series by the Asian Scientist Magazine, CSI Singapore Director, Professor Ashok Venkitaraman has been featured as one of ‘Asia’s Scientific Trailblazers’. Being one of the first to discover BRCA2’s role in genome stability, this interview discusses his main research area of interest, involvement in research projects and how his lab has progressed to discover new insights that will pave the way to fulfil CSI Singapore’s mission statement -  to improve the detection, treatment and prevention of cancer.

September 28, 2021

Chromatin interactions play significant roles in regulating gene expression. To date, the understanding of the determinants of chromatin interactions remains elusive. Identification of chromatin interaction biomarkers in normal and cancer samples is often a laborious and expensive process, as large amounts of chromatin interaction samples are required. Here, research team led by Dr. Melissa Fullwood, Principal Investigator at the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI Singapore) and Nanyang Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University, has found a method to bridge the research gaps.

September 9, 2021

Natural Killer T cell lymphoma (NKTL) is a highly aggressive form of cancer more frequently occurring in Asia than other parts of the world with very poor treatment outcomes in the advanced stages. Currently, there is still no clear consensus on primary therapy, and chemoradiation or L-Asparaginase therapy remain mainstay treatments. Hence, novel and effective treatment strategies are needed. Daratumumab is a monoclonal antibody that is utilised in cancer treatment to specifically target the CD38 protein on malignant cells.

September 8, 2021

Congratulations to Ms Sinan Xiong for receiving the IMS Young Investigator Award at the 18th International Myeloma Workshop (IMW 2021). The workshop is conducted by the International Myeloma Society (IMS), which aims to promote research and education to improve prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment surrounding multiple myeloma and related disorders.

September 3, 2021

Congratulations to the graduates of the PhD Graduate Program in Cancer Biology! On 27th August 2021, CSI Singapore organized a virtual Graduation Celebration to honour the Classes of 2020 and 2021. While COVID-19 has certainly been disruptive, our graduates have demonstrated adaptability and resilience amid the uncertainties of the pandemic. The virtual celebration was also attended by supervisors of the graduating batches, where they paid tribute to the amazing achievements of our graduates after years of hard work and commitment.

August 31, 2021

This study characterizes CD38 as an effective target for a subset of NKTL patients and the utilization of the CD38:CIP ratio as a more robust identifier for patient stratification and personalisation of treatment. Furthermore, elucidation of factors which sensitize the complement-mediated response provides an alternative approach toward optimizing therapeutic efficacy of daratumumab where CDC remains a known limiting factor.

August 31, 2021

Chromatin interactions play important roles in regulating gene expression. However, the availability of genome-wide chromatin interaction data is limited. We develop a computational method, chromatin interaction neural network (ChINN), to predict chromatin interactions between open chromatin regions using only DNA sequences.

August 31, 2021

The study of RNA modifications in large clinical cohorts can reveal relationships between the epitranscriptome and human diseases, although this is especially challenging. We developed ModTect (https://github.com/ktan8/ModTect), a statistical framework to identify RNA modifications de novo by standard RNA-sequencing with deletion and mis-incorporation signals.

August 23, 2021

CSI Singapore Director, Prof. Ashok Venkitaraman, recently shared his experiences and aspirations for inclusive and equitable policies and practices in the workplace during the NUHS Women in Science and Healthcare (WISH) Lunch & Learn series which was held on 30th June 2021.

August 6, 2021

We are pleased to announce that CSI Singapore has been conferred the Commendation Award for the NUS Safety & Health Awards (NUSSHA) 2020! Presented by the Office of Safety, Health & Environment (OSHE), the NUSSHA programme recognizes NUS Faculties, Departments, and Research Centres / Research Institutes which have implemented effective department safety and health management system (DSHMS) that would help reduce accidents and incidents in workplaces.

August 4, 2021

Hosted by the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS) and co-organized by the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI), the 8th NCIS Annual Research Meeting (NCAM) concluded its hybrid meeting last Saturday. Held from 30 - 31 July, this year's meeting served as an excellent platform for cancer physicians and researchers in Singapore to interact and forge future collaborations.

August 4, 2021

Our bodies constantly encounter oxidants from our diet and metabolism. Oxidative stress is thought to speed up ageing, and increase the risk of diseases like cancer or dementia. However, there have been few clues to how oxidative stress can cause these problems, or how anti-oxidants may work to combat them. Now, Professor Ashok Venkitaraman’s laboratory has discovered a way in which oxidative stress damages mitochondria – the powerhouses that supply energy to our cells.

July 6, 2021

CIMP (CpG island methylator phenotype) is an epigenetic molecular subtype, observed in multiple malignancies and associated with the epigenetic silencing of tumor suppressors. Currently, for most cancers including gastric cancer (GC), mechanisms underlying CIMP remain poorly understood. In this study, we sought to discover molecular contributors to CIMP in GC.

July 6, 2021

Adult erythropoiesis entails a series of well-coordinated events that produce mature red blood cells. One of such events is the mitochondria clearance that occurs cell-autonomously via autophagy-dependent mechanisms. Interestingly, recent studies have shown mitochondria transfer activities between various cell types. In the context of erythropoiesis, macrophages are known to interact closely with the early stages of erythroblasts to provide a specialized niche, termed erythroblastic islands (EBI).