Non-Cytotoxic and Photostable Quantum Dots for Bio-Imaging Applications - IBN

S. Tamil SELVAN and Jackie Y. YING

Currently, the major disadvantages involving the use of quantum dots, particularly in biological applications, are their toxicity and insolubility. Their surfaces would also need to be modified to enable the linking of bio-molecules. Previous efforts to tackle these problems involve synthetic methods that were too complicated or ineffective in maintaining the quantum dots’ stability or photoluminescent properties.

NFkB Signaling in human ailments - IMCB

Dr Vinay TERGAONKAR

Deregulated activity of the transcription factor NFkB is causally linked to the development of several human ailments including cancers. Deciphering the regulation of NFkB function is crucial to understanding the mechanism and role of constitutive NFkB activity seen in human malignancies.

Novel Drug-Loaded Contact Lenses For Ophthalmic Drug Delivery - IBN

P. Y. Chow and Y. Y. Yang

Sufferers of eye diseases such as glaucoma are usually prescribed medicated eye drops. These drops, however, will usually mix with tear fluid and drain into the nasal cavity, leading to drug wastage. Some medication will also enter the bloodstream causing potential side effects. These problems can be averted with the use of drug-eluting contact lenses developed by the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN).

A Fluorocarbon Surfactant-mediated Method for Synthesizing Nanoparticles with Various Mesoporous Structures - IBN

Y. Han and J. Y. Ying

For the first time, the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology has invented a novel synthetic route that offers simultaneous control of the properties of nanometer-sized particles such as their pore size, pore structure, particle size and particle morphology. These materials have enormous surface area, and very well-defined pore size and pore structure.

Bioprocess Considerations in Stem Cell Therapy - BTI

Dr Steve OH and Dr Andre CHOO

Human embryonic stem cells (hESC) have been at the forefront of scientific and public news because they can potentially be harnessed to differentiate into all the cell types in the human body. Contributing to this long term endeavour, the Stem Cell Group at the Bioprocessing Technology Institute is addressing several fundamental issues which include characterizing and scaling up the production of therapeutic quantities of hESC.

Injectable Biodegradable Hydrogels for Drug Delivery and Tissue Engineering - IBN

Motoichi KURISAWA, Joo Eun CHUNG, Fan LEE and Runsheng RUAN

Hydrogels have been used extensively for the controlled release of bioactive molecules and the encapsulation of cells. In particular, the use of hydrogels as scaffolds for tissue engineering shows promise for achieving tissue repair or tissue regeneration in the body. However, most hydrogels to date require surgical implantation, which often results in tissue irritation and damage. Ideally, the injectable system should form a hydrogel within a narrow range of physiologically acceptable temperatures and at a sufficiently rapid rate. In addition, the reagents must be non-toxic, and the hydrogels formed should be degraded after the disease has been cured and/or tissue regeneration has been completed.

Ultrasensitive Biosensors and Medical Devices - IBN

GAO Zhiqiang, XIE Hong, LIU Zhihong, JING Fujun

Biosensors have been widely deployed in disease detection as well as healthcare management systems. The constant challenge is in producing cost-effective biosensors that show increasing levels of sensitivity and stability. IBN has produced ultrasensitive biosensor systems offering significant improvements over current technology, that can be used to detect diseases and biological agents, as well as monitor glucose levels in the blood.

Stem Cells and Tissue Repair - IMCB

A/Prof Victor Nurcombe and Dr Simon Cool

The focus of this laboratory is on how growth factors and tissue-specific matrix molecules interact with stem cell surfaces to trigger the cell-fate decisions of migration, tissue interaction, condensation, proliferation and differentiation.

Method of Using Baculovirus Vectors for Gene Delivery to Neurons - IBN

S. Wang, C. Y. Wang and Y. Yang

Viral vectors are the most common type of gene carriers. The body's natural process of axonal transport allows virus vectors to migrate from a remote point of entry to target cells that are located deep within the nervous system.

Diversification of Muscles and Neurons in Animal Development - IMCB

Dr Sudipto Roy

Dr. Roy is interested in the developmental mechanisms that mediate the specification of distinct muscle and neuronal cell-types. He uses the fruit fly Drosophila and the zebrafish embryo and a combination of cell biological, genetic and molecular methods to investigate these issues.

Microfluidic BioMEMS devices for Cell Migration and Deformation Studies - IBN

M. M. Maran, F. Tay, P. L. Mao, K. C. Chaw and L. Chu

Cancer cells invade healthy tissues by traveling through a patient’s bloodstream. Qualitative descriptions of tumor invasion are readily available, but quantitative information about cancer cell has been almost impossible to obtain – until now.

Mini lab-on-a-chip revolutionizes disease detection - IBN

Mr Xu Guolin and Dr Mao Peilin

In keeping with the global trend towards increased automation and miniaturization, IBN scientists have developed a miniature lab-on-a-chip biosample preparation system that is set to transform the way we diagnose diseases such as cancer.

Actin Structure and Cell Movement - IMCB

Dr Robert C Robinson

How do cells move? A macrophage moving towards a site of infection or a developing (or regenerating) neuron extending towards its target tissue are just two examples where an enhanced knowledge of the molecules involved in cellular locomotion will contribute towards the greater understanding of cell behaviour.

Cancer Genomics at GIS - GIS

Lance D. Miller, Ph.D., SGL, Microarray and Expression Genomics Laboratory

Cancer is a disease of the genome initiated by genetic mutations that alter the functions of certain genes and their products, and advanced by accumulating mutations that eventually transform a normal cell into a tumor cell. Using genomics technologies such as DNA microarrays, which allow us to quantitate the expression levels of thousands of genes simultaneously, we can comprehensively profile gene expression patterns in human tumors and experimental models of cancer to gain insight into the hierarchy of genes and biochemical pathways that contribute to oncogenesis and disease progression.

Caspases and Cell Death - IMCB

Dr. Alan G. PORTER

How is mammalian apoptosis (a form of cell death) regulated, and what are the mechanisms that suppress apoptosis in cancer, but promote cell death in neurodegeneration? How do different caspases activate apoptosis and inflammation? Answers to these questions will have profound implications for cancer biology, neurobiology and immunology.

Enhancing biopharmaceutical production through media design - BTI

Dr. Kathy Wong and Dr. Victor Wong

There is a strong push towards the use of serum-free, chemically defined media for industrial cultivation of mammalian cells to meet regulatory requirements. Use of defined components will also aid studies in cell metabolism offering insights to further improvements.

Expression Genomics of Asian Prevalent Cancers: Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Gastric Cancers - GIS

Dr. Neo Soek Ying

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly malignant tumor of the liver that accounts for more than 70% of liver cancers worldwide, and is especially prevalent in Southeast Asia, China and sub-Saharan Africa.

Finding Novel Regulatory Controls Of The Yeast And Mammalian Cell Cycle Through In-Silico Modeling - BII

Pawan Dhar

A very close connection exists between abnormal cell cycle and the onset of cancer. Though enormous efforts have been undertaken to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanism of how a cell divides but the story is still incomplete in presence of newer findings that make the picture much more complex than previously imagined. Experimentally it is very challenging (maybe impossible) to simultaneously analyze the effect of all the controls and the role of cross talking pathways like DNA transcription, replication and repair on the cell cycle. Therefore it is important to create an in-silico model that incorporates all the regulatory complexities and also allows investigation of phenomena beyond what we can achieve experimentally.

Mechanism of Apoptosis in Mammalian Cells - IMCB

Dr. Victor C.K. Yu

When a cell in our body becomes severely damaged to the point that it could be harmful to the neighboring cells, the cell commits suicide. Recent evidence suggests that improper functioning of the cell suicide program is a major contributing factor to many human diseases.

Polymer/DNA Nanoparticles for Gene Delivery to the Nervous System - IBN

Wang Shu, Tang Guping, Wang Xu, Ma Yuexia, Yang Rui

Gene therapy is emerging as a modern medical intervention for the treatment of a variety of disorders. Polymeric biomaterials have been extensively studied as an alternative to viral gene vectors, because of their advantages in inducing relatively low toxicity and nearly no immune responses.

Stimuli-sensitive core-shell nanoparticles for cancer therapy - IBN

Soppimath K, Chaw CS, Chooi KW, Wang LS, Tan CW, Wu N, Yang YY

Conventional chemotherapies for cancer treatment have significant toxic side-effects attributed to the non-specific absorption of anticancer drugs by tumor cells and non-tumor cells alike, as well as to the toxic adjuvants employed. The aim of our project is to develop a smart and safe delivery system to target drugs specifically to tumor cells, thereby alleviating or eliminating the side-effects associated with the use of conventional anticancer drug delivery systems and improving the efficacy of cancer treatment.

Zebrafish Genome-Wide Full-Length cDNA Cloning and Sequencing - GIS

Dr. Sinnakarupan Mathavan, Dr. Yijun Ruan, Dr. Pierre Le Ber, Dr. Prasanna Kolatkar, Heidi Dowst, Herve Thoreau

The Genome Institute of Singapore chose to work on the zebrafish Danio rerio, because it provides an ideal model system and is likely to share the same set of genes as that of human beings. In recent years, published data has shown that the use of zebrafish as the model to investigate human diseases indicates that this system is not only a valuable model for developmental biology but biomedical research as well.