A*STAR Highly Cited Researchers of 2021

“My lab focuses on precision immunology using cutting edge single-cell multi-omics (Method of the Year 2019) and spatial transcriptomics (Method of the Year 2020) in conjunction with novel AI methods. Single-cell multi-omics allows multiple types of measurements to be made simultaneously on single cells. Spatial transcriptomics simultaneously measures gene expression and cell locations, enabling us to dissect tissue heterogeneity and map out inter-cellular communications.

We are developing AI methods to: 1) jointly project multi-omics to one shared latent space, in order to discover new cell types and functions, and uncover relationships across -omics; and 2) to integrate gene expression, cell locations and images of spatial transcriptomics for cell segmentation, cell embedding and inference of cell-cell interactions. We are also constructing human cell atlases by deep integration of publicly available single-cell omics data (DISCO), and are working towards integrating the different -omics data to create a single cell multi-omics reference atlas. Using integrative single-cell analysis, we study crosstalk between tumour, immune cells, and pathogens in human cancers, aiming to improve diagnosis and cancer immunotherapy. Meanwhile, we collaborate closely with biologists and clinicians, who are actively involved in data analysis.”

Dr Chen Jinmiao obtained a PhD in machine learning and artificial intelligence from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2007. In 2009, as a postdoctoral research fellow, she joined the Bioinformatics core of SIgN. She became a Project Leader in 2014 and established her own research lab. She is now a Principal Investigator and her lab focuses on single-cell and AI for precision immunology.

“Dendritic cells (DCs), monocytes and macrophages play crucial and distinct roles in tissue homeostasis and immunity, but also contribute to a broad spectrum of pathologies and are thus attractive therapeutic targets. Potential intervention strategies aiming at manipulation of these cells will require in-depth insights of their origins and the mechanisms that govern their homeostasis.

The focus of our laboratory is to understand the ontogeny of DCs, monocytes and macrophages, their differentiation pathways and how their unique ontogeny dictates their immune functions. Our approach encompasses the integration of high dimensional platforms such as RNAseq, single cell transcriptome analysis using microfluidic RNA sequencing and deep immunophenotypic assessment using state of the art 18 parameters flow cytometry or Cytometry by Time-Of-Flight mass spectrometry (CyTOF) (In collaboration with Dr Evan Newell, SIgN). Such high-density molecular profiling at the single level and at unprecedented dimensionality and complexity will provide new insights in the biology of DC, monocyte and macrophage cell populations.”

Dr Florent Ginhoux joined SIgN in 2009 and is currently a Senior Principal Investigator. He joined the EMBO Young Investigator program in 2013 and has been a Highly Cited Researcher since 2016. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Shanghai Immunology Institute, Jiao Tong University, in Shanghai, China, the Translational Immunology Institute, SingHealth, and Duke NUS, Singapore. His laboratories focus on the ontogeny and differentiation of macrophages and dendritic cells.

“My research focus has always been understanding exosomes secreted by Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSC). What are the underlying mechanisms of MSC exosomes in treating various diseases, and how to transform this scientific discovery to the clinic are the questions that are always on my mind.”

Dr Lai Ruenn Chai did his PhD in Biology with Dr Lim Sai Kiang’s guidance at A*STAR’s Institute of Medical Biology (IMB) under the NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering Scholarship, where he discovered the MSC exosome is the active component in the secretion of MSC that treats myocardial infarction/reperfusion injury. He joined A*STAR in 2011 and is now a research scientist under Dr Lim Sai Kiang’s group. Currently, he is trying to bring the MSC exosome to clinical trial to treat psoriasis.

“Our work at A*STAR combines human neuroscience with novel bioinformatic approaches to examine the genetic and environmental influences that shape individual differences in brain development. Our analyses focus on the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) cohort as well as large, publicly available data sets. A new cohort study, Mapping Antenatal Maternal Stress (MAMS) will focus more intensively on the first 1000 days of neurodevelopment using advanced computational neuroscience.

“By defining the conditions that lead to poor academic achievement and mental health, as well as those that enhance resilience, we aim to identify modifiable targets for intervention in early life to improve brain health across the lifespan.”

Prof Michael Meaney is the Director of the Translational Neuroscience programme at SICS and Co-Director of the new Brain – Body Initiative at A*STAR. He is also Professor of Paediatrics at the National University of Singapore and a James McGill Professor of Medicine at Douglas Mental Health University Institute of McGill University. His awards include the the Klaus Jacobs Research Prize (Switzerland), Distinguished Scientist Award from the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders, The Klerman Award (Cornell University), The Salomon Medal (New York Academy of Medicine), the IPSEN Prize in Synaptic Plasticity, the Jacobs Research Prize, the Wilder Penfield Prize, the Chevalier de l’Order Nationale du Québec and the Order of Canada.

“The availability of robust cell-surface markers for identifying and isolating epithelial stem cells is essential for studying both their normal in-vivo function during tissue renewal and for evaluating their contribution to cancer. Such markers are also invaluable for facilitating purification of these stem cell populations for therapeutic applications.

Our Epithelial Stem Cells group employs genetic mouse models and ex-vivo organoid culture methods to dissect the role of Lgr5-expressing stem cells in epithelial self-renewal and cancer of various organs, including the stomach and ovary. The ultimate goal is to harness the regenerative capacity of these adult stem cells for therapeutic use, as well as developing ways of blocking the cancer-promoting activities of mutated Lgr5-expressing stem cells.”

Prof Nick Barker joined A*STAR’s Institute of Medical Biology (IMB) in 2010 as a Senior Principal Investigator. He now holds the position of Research Director. Prof Barker and his Epithelial Stem Cell Group transferred to IMCB in 2020, where they continue to focus on the role of Lgr5 adult stem cells in epithelial renewal and cancer in various organs. He recently identified Aqp5 as a novel membrane marker of mouse and human and gastric stem cells and established pyloric stem cells as a major source of gastric cancer in the stomach. He also generated the first mouse model of advanced human gastric cancer for use in identifying new biomarkers and drug targets that can potentially be used to improve diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer in the clinic. In 2017, he received the National Research Foundation Investigatorship and is recognised as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher. Prof Barker also holds a visiting Professorship at Kanazawa University, Japan.

“My research focuses on the study of myeloid cell dynamics and their heterogeneity, with a specific focus on neutrophils. In particular, we employ the use of advanced microscopy techniques such as multi-photon microscopy and light-sheet microscopy, to examine the cellular dynamics and spatial behaviour of immune cells.

Our imaging data has provided important clues about the functional heterogeneity of myeloid cells as they were observed to have different cellular behaviour depending on the tissue micro-environment. These findings have since driven my interest towards the study of heterogeneity among myeloid cells by concurrently examining their developmental pathway and tissue origin, as I believe that these two factors confer their heterogeneity.”

Dr Ng Lai Guan is a Principal Investigator at SIgN. Following his postdoctoral training, he joined SIgN in 2009 to establish his own laboratory. He is now Adjunct Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University. Dr Ng has also been appointed as an Adjunct Investigator at the National Cancer Centre Singapore, and more recently he has taken up an Adjunct Investigator position at the Key State Laboratory of Experimental Hematology Tianjin, China.

“My lab was the first to discover MSC exosomes more than 10 years ago. MSC exosomes are small vesicles secreted by Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC) aka adult stem cells. We also showed at that time that these exosomes mediate the therapeutic activity of the stem cells and could be used in place of the cells to treat diseases. Over the last decade, my lab studied and developed a deep understanding of MSC exosome biology, their applications and manufacture to prepare the ground for clinical applications. Although the rest of the scientific world took a while to fully appreciate the therapeutic potential of MSC exosomes, it has made up for lost time and clinical trials to test MSC exosomes have begun.”

Dr Sai-Kiang Lim is a Research Director at A*STAR’s Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology. She has founded two start-ups, Paracrine Therapeutics and Vesiderm, and is also a founding member of the Singapore Society of Stem Cell Research (SSCR), Society for Clinical, Research and Translation of Extracellular Vesicles (SOCRATES) and International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV). She is also co-chair of International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT) Exosome Committee. She is a key opinion leader in therapeutic EVs and has been invited as plenary speaker at major international meetings. As of November 2021, she has a patent portfolio of 12 families with 97 granted patents and 17 pending applications.

“Lithium-ion batteries today are reaching their theoretical energy limits. To overcome these limits, my team works on next-generation sodium- and magnesium-ion batteries, which can offer higher energy density and/or lower cost due to the different material chemistries. Recently, we developed one of the world’s best-performing sodium-sulfur battery operating over 1000 cycles at room temperature.

We are currently developing magnesium-sulfur batteries with even higher energy density and improved safety. These advanced batteries can be used to power both stationary and electromobile applications for a sustainable energy future.”

Dr Seh Zhi Wei is a Senior Scientist at IMRE. Dr Seh’s research interests lie in the design of new materials for energy storage and conversion, and he is widely recognized for designing the first yolk-shell nanostructure in lithium-sulfur batteries. Dr Seh has published in many top journals such as Science, Nature Energy, Nature Materials, Nature Communications, Nature Catalysis, and Nature Machine Intelligence. For his research achievements, he also received numerous awards including Vebleo Fellow Award, Ten Outstanding Young Persons, Emerging Investigators, Singapore NRF Fellowship, Innovators under 35 Asia, MRS Graduate Student Award, and A*STAR National Science Scholarship.

“My research at A*STAR focuses on a class of cells (called Monocytes and Macrophages) that forms the first line of defence of our immune system, helps in wound healing and other key physiological activities. Any defects in these cells can contribute to diseases such as uncontrolled infection, cancer or obesity/diabetes. Through our work, we identify the mechanisms that drive these defects so as to find ways to 're-program’ these cells to check disease progression.

Typically, we use a combination of deep immunoprofiling, mechanistic studies in ex vivo human disease cohorts and in vivo in preclinical mouse models to identify dysregulated immune-signatures related to the disease (biomarkers) and discovery of potential targets thereof to modulate disease progression.”

Dr Subhra K. Biswas first joined A*STAR in 2005 as the Research Scientist (In-Charge) of the Cell Interaction group in the Bioinformatics Institute. In 2007, he moved to the SIgN as a Principal Investigator, where he still heads the Human Innate Immunity Lab. Dr Biswas has held adjunct associate professor positions at the Department of Microbiology, National University of Singapore and LKC School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Visiting Professor at Humanitas University, Milan, Italy. He holds a joint research position at National Cancer Centre Singapore.

“My research interests are in decarbonisation processes, clean fuels (H2) production, energy and materials recovery from waste, particularly in various forms of carbon recovery from the waste stream, such as from end-of-life tires, waste rubbers and plastics.

The cross-field work which I do at A*STAR ranges from energy storage to biomass utilisation and carbon/solid waste upcycling – which plays a part in building a cleaner and healthier planet. I have been working with Singapore SMEs on technologies to turn solid waste to high-value carbons.”

Dr. Zhang Lili joined ICES in 2012 and is currently Senior Scientist I. Dr Zhang’s expertise is in green and sustainable processes, waste upcycling, carbon-based materials and their applications in energy storage and catalysis. She has been listed as a Highly Cited Researcher since 2018, and her research has led to more than 90 publications on high-impact international peer-reviewed journals with more than 18,000 citations (H-index: 47, by Web of Science).

“My work at A*STAR employs and develops theories and modelling and simulation tools to investigate the structural, mechanical, electronic, thermal and chemical properties of materials, with a focus on new material design, additive manufacturing, nanoelectronics, and green energy.

Currently, I lead several research projects, including an NRF CRP Project on 2D materials-based in-memory computing, an AME Programmatic Project on accelerated materials development for high entropy alloys, an A*STAR SERC CRF Award Project on materials for green energy, and the AME IAF PP projects on digital twins for additive manufacturing.”

Prof Zhang Yong-Wei is Principal Scientist II and Deputy Executive Director (Research) at IHPC. He is an Adjunct Professor at the National University of Singapore and Singapore University of Technology and Design. He has published more than 500 peer reviewed international journal papers and was listed as a Highly Cited Researcher in 2018, 2019 and 2020 by Clarivate. He is an Editorial Board Member for Advanced Theory and Simulation (Wiley), Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering (IOP), and International Journal of Applied Mechanics (World Scientific).

“Infectious diseases represent a never-ending threat to Singapore and the rest of the world with the recent epidemics/outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2, vector-borne diseases (Chikungunya, Dengue, Zika, malaria) and the spread of bacteria resistant to all known antibiotics. They have serious consequences on population health and economy, and for most, there are no licensed vaccines for protection, and either no new drugs or a limited number of drugs for treatment. My scientific interests cover the immunology of infectious diseases, in particular mosquito-borne diseases and newly emerging viruses like (SARS-CoV-2). My research focuses on the development of new immunological, assays and concepts, as well as animal models, that can be used to study communicable and non-communicable diseases, such as cancer.”

Prof Laurent Rénia first joined A*STAR as a Senior Principal Investigator at the Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) in 2007. He was its Executive Director from 2013 to 2020. In 2020, he founded the A*STAR Infectious Disease Labs as its Executive Director from 2020 to 2021. In 2021, he is now an A*STAR Senior Fellow and has taken a joint position as Professor of Infectious Diseases and Director of the Respiratory and Infectious Diseases Programme at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, and in the School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University.

“My research interests are in batteries and electrochemical energy storage devices as well as relative materials, electrocatalysis for oxygen reduction and evolution reactions as well as hydrogen evolution and oxidation reactions, as well as fuel cells.

Currently, I co-lead the IAF-ICP Project which develops next generation Li-ion batteries with high energy density, and lead the CRF Project which develops Pt and their alloy nanomaterials for highly efficient electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction and hydrogen evolution reaction.

Dr Liu Zhaolin is Senior Scientist III and Senior Group Leader at IMRE. Dr Liu’s expertise is in electrochemistry, battery materials and their applications in batteries. He is a pioneer of layered structure cathode material in lithium-ion battery. LiNi1-x-yCoxMnyO2 as a new lithium-ion battery cathode material was first reported by Dr Liu in 1999 (J. Power Sources 1999, 81-82, 416). His work on LiNi1-x-yCoxMnyO2 cathode material resulted in the following the discoveries of NCM333, NCM532 and NCM622. Now they have been extensively used in lithium-ion battery field. His research has led to more than 210 publications on high-impact international peer-reviewed journals with more than 19,200 citations (H-index: 77, by Google Scholar).