Clinical Data Engagement


Research

Our team specializes in utilizing cutting-edge technology to study human variation, with a focus on developing molecular insights into disease risk prediction, surveillance, and intervention. By combining integrated omics and clinical data science, we are able to target complex diseases like obesity and mental illness that affect millions globally. Our research covers chronic diseases across the entire lifespan - from pediatric to elderly populations - with a special emphasis on the underrepresented Asian population. Our collaborations with renowned Singaporean cohorts, health clusters, and public sector entities like MOH and HPB, as well as national platforms such as the National Precision Medicine SG10K-Health study and PREPARE, enhance the translational potential of our findings. Additionally, we have formed strategic partnerships with top nutrition and probiotics companies to advance the development of innovative solutions for disease prevention and intervention.

We also leverage our expertise in omics and clinical data science to develop mobile applications that provide a comprehensive and personalized healthcare experience. Our approach integrates next-generation diagnostic tests from precision medicine research and electronic health records to provide up-to-date and actionable insights into an individual’s health journey. By empowering clinicians and increasing scientific literacy, our apps facilitate informed decision-making for better health outcomes. In addition to developing health apps, our expertise in multi-omics data analytics has led us to create open-source analytics tools such as GEM, cell type reference panels for infant epigenetic studies, and omics databases such as iMOM-db and iDAD-db. These resources cover molecular phenotypes of ethnic variation and diet-exposure, including complex molecular traits (eg. eQTLs and meQTLs) and contribute to advancing our understanding of personalized medicine.  Link to Karnani lab tools, databases and resources -  https://karnanilab.com 

BII_Research-BDHD-CDE_figure-1

Members

 Deputy Director (Clinical) / Senior Principal Scientist KARNANI Neerja   |    [View Bio]  
 Senior Scientist LIM Yubin Ives 
 Senior Scientist HU Xiaoming
 Lead Research Officer HUAN Jason
 Research Officer CHAN Mei Yeen Penny
 Principal Scientist  GROZA Tudor

Selected Publications

  1. Trigonelline is an NAD+ precursor that improves muscle function during ageing and is reduced in human sarcopenia.Membrez M, Migliavacca E, Christen S, Yaku K, Trieu J, Lee AK, .. …, Heshmat R, Razi F, Karnani N, … Sorrentino V, Feige JN.Nat Metab. 2024

  2. Delayed colonization of Bifidobacterium spp. and low prevalence of B. infantis among infants of Asian ancestry born in Singapore: insights from the GUSTO cohort study. Xu J, Duar RM, Quah B, Gong M, Tin F, Chan P, Sim CK, Tan KH, Chong YS, Gluckman PD, Frese SA, Kyle D, Karnani N.Front Pediatr. 2024 Jun 10;12:1421051

  3. Wong E, Bertin N, …. .. Davila S, Karnani N, Leong KP, Liu JJ, Prabhakar S, Maurer-Stroh S, Verma CS, .., Koh M, Chambers JC, Tai ES, Tan P. Decoding Asian Genomic Diversity - Singapore’s National Precision Medicine Strategy. Nat Genet 2023 Feb;55(2):178-186.

  4. Chan SH, Bylstra Y, .. SG10K_Health Consortium, Prabhakar S, Liu JJ, Cheng CY, Eisenhaber B, Karnani N, Leong KP, Sim X, Yeo KK, Chambers JC, Tai ES, Tan P, Jamuar SS, Ngeow J, Lim WK. Analysis of human disease variants from ancestrally diverse Asian genomes. Nat Commun. 2022 Nov 5;13(1):6694.

  5. Michael N, Gupta V, ..Lee YS, Eriksson JG, Karnani N. Longitudinal characterization of etiological factors associated with obesogenic growth patterns in early childhood. Int J. Epidemiol. (Ahead of print) 2022.

  6. Mir SA, Chen L, .., Wenk MR and Karnani N. Developmental and intergenerational landscape of human circulatory lipidome. BMC Medicine. 2022. 2022 Jul 25;20(1):242.

  7. Hong P, Tan PF, Lim IY, Huan J, …Gluckman PD and Karnani N. Integrative Multi-Omics database (iMOMdb) of Asian Pregnant Women. Hum Mol Genet. 2022. Sep 10;31(18):3051-3067. Journal cover highlight.

  8. Kumar M, Ang LT, .. Eriksson JG, Feng M, Karnani N. Machine Learning-Derived Prenatal Predictive Risk Model to Guide Intervention and Prevent the Progression of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus to Type 2 Diabetes: Prediction Model Development Study. JMIR Diabetes. 2022 Jul 5;7(3): e32366.

  9. Chen L, Ling KTM, … Gluckman PD, Eriksson JG, Karnani N. Variability in newborn telomere length is explained by inheritance and intrauterine environment. BMC Med. 2022 Jan 25;20(1):20.

  10. Tobi EW, Juvinao-Quintero DL, Ronkainen J, Ott R, ‚Ķ, Karnani N,Ķ, Jarvelin MR, Steegers-Theunissen RPM, Howe CG, Hivert MF, Sebert S Maternal Glycemic Dysregulation During Pregnancy and Neonatal Blood DNA Methylation: Meta-analyses of Epigenome-Wide Association Studies. Diabetes Care. 2022 Feb 1: dc211701.

  11. McGill MG, Pokhvisneva I, …. Karnani N, Silveira PP, Kobor MS, de Weerth C, Meaney MJ, O’Donnell KJ. Maternal Prenatal Anxiety and the Fetal Origins of Epigenetic Aging. Biol Psychiatry. 2022 Feb 1;91(3):303-312.

  12. Lim IY, Lin X, …Gluckman PD, Chong YS, Karnani N. Dichotomy in the Impact of Elevated Maternal Glucose Levels on Neonatal Epigenome. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2021 Oct 11: dgab710. Chen L, Ling KTM, …, Gluckman PD, Eriksson JG, Karnani N. Variability in newborn telomere length is explained by inheritance and intrauterine environment. BMC Med. 2022 Jan 25;20(1):20.

  13. Lim IY, Lin X, …, Gluckman PD, Chong YS, Karnani N. Dichotomy in the Impact of Elevated Maternal Glucose Levels on Neonatal Epigenome. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2021 Oct 11.Online ahead of print.

  14. Sampathkumar A, Tan KM, … Gluckman PD, Ramasamy A, Karnani N. Genetic Link Determining the Maternal-Fetal Circulation of Vitamin D. Front Genet. 2021 Sep 21;12:721488.

  15. Vaz C, Kermack AJ, … Godfrey KM, Kumar P, Lillycrop KA, Karnani N. Short-term diet intervention alters the small non-coding RNA (sncRNA) landscape of human sperm. BioRxiv July 9, 2021

  16. Wong G, Weir JM, … Gluckman PD, Meaney MJ, Meikle PJ, Karnani N. The placental lipidome of maternal antenatal depression predicts socio-emotional problems in the offspring. Transl Psychiatry. 2021 Feb 4;11(1):1072020.

  17. Xu J, Lawley B, …, Tannock GW, Karnani N.  Ethnic diversity in infant gut microbiota is apparent before the introduction of complimentary diets. Gut Microbes. 2020 Sep 2;11(5):1362-137. Journal cover page

  18. Chen LW, Xu J, … Gilbert JA, Karnani N*, Lee YS*. Implication of gut microbiota in the association between infant antibiotic exposure and childhood obesity and adiposity accumulation. Int J Obesity. 2020. Jul;44(7):1508-1520. [*Co-Corresponding authors]

  19. Migliavacca E, Tay SKH, … Godfrey KM *, Lillycrop KA*, Karnani N*,Feige JN*. Mitochondrial dysfunction is the major molecular signature of human sarcopenia across ethnicities. [*Co-Corresponding authors]. Nat Commun. 2019, Dec 20;10(1):5808.

  20. Wu D, Dou J, …, Karnani N, … Liu J, and Wang C on behalf of the SG10KConsortium Large-scale whole-genome sequencing of three diverse Asian populations in Singapore.  Cell. 2019 Oct 17;179(3):736-749.

  21. Michael N, Gupta V,…, Gluckman PD, Karnani N*, Velan SS*. Determinants of intramyocellular lipid accumulation in early childhood. [*Co-Corresponding Authors]. Int J Obes.2019 May;44(5):1141-1151.

  22. Wu Y, Lin X, … Chong YS, Gluckman PD, Karnani N. Analysis of two birth tissues provides new insights into the epigenetic landscape of neonates born preterm. Clin Epigenetics. 2019 Feb 11(1):26.

  23. Lin X, … Cheong CL, Karnani N. Cell-type specific DNA methylation in neonatal cord tissue and cord blood: a 850K-reference panel and comparison of cell-types. Epigenetics. 2018 13(9):941-958.

  24. Lin X, Lim YI, …, Lee YS, Gluckman PD, Karnani N. Developmental pathways to adiposity begin before birth and are influenced by genotype, prenatal environment and epigenome. BMC Medicine. 2017 Mar7,15(1):50. Editorial highlight.

  25. Lim YI, Lin X, Karnani N. Implications of genotype and environment on variation in DNA methylation. Handbook of Nutrition, Diet, and Epigenetics. 20 June 2017 (invited book chapter, Springer Nature).

  26. Karnani, N., Taylor, C., Malhotra, A. and Dutta, A. Pan-S replication patterns and chromosomal domains defined by genome-tiling arrays of ENCODE genomic areas. Genome Res. 2007 Jun, 17(6):865-76.

  27. ENCODE Project Consortium, Birney E, Stamatoyannopoulos …, Karnani N, …, Luna R, et al. Identification and analysis of functional elements in 1% of the human genome by the ENCODE pilot project. Nature 2007 Jun 14,447(7146):799-816 (contributed the DNA replication timing data).

Kanani Neerja

close
 bii-neerja karnaniKARNANI  Neerja 
Deputy Director (Clinical) / Senior Principal Scientist
Email: neerja_karnani@bii.a-star.edu.sg
Research Group: Clinical Data Engagement

Dr. Neerja Karnani is a molecular epidemiologist and clinical data scientist with 20 years of experience working with academia, industry, and national platforms. Dr. Karnani is a molecular epidemiologist and clinical data scientist with 20 years of experience working with academia, industry, and national platforms. She started her research career at the University of Virginia, USA, where she contributed to the first functional annotation draft of the human genome (ENCODE consortium). She moved to Singapore in 2013 to join Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS), A*STAR. As the Systems Biology lead at SICS, she developed the multi-omics roadmap for Singapore’s National Birth (GUSTO) and Pre-conception (S-PRESTO) cohorts and identified biomarkers of metabolic and mental health adversities in expecting mothers and their offspring. These findings have been patented and licensed by eminent nutrition industries (Eg. Nestle and DSM) and are being translated into future interventions. She has also contributed to the research landscape and scientific vision of these cohorts by serving on their executive committees. Beyond the developmental and pregnancy cohorts, she is involved in Singapore National Precision Medicine (NPM) program’s SG10K-Health study and serves on its science and data access committees. She is also Co-chairing the ‘Aging in Asians’ study under the SG10K-Health initiative. To advance her interest in population health studies and to connect it with real-world data, she joined A*STAR’s Bioinformatics Institute (BII) in April 2021 as the Head of Clinical Data Engagement, and subsequently as the Deputy Director (clinical) and Biomedical Datahub Division Head. Under this new initiative, she is working closely with the Ministry of Health and public hospitals in Singapore to develop federated biodata hubs for chronic disease surveillance and epidemic preparedness. Her team is also developing nextgen mobile applications that can provide patient health journey and actionable intervention roadmaps for clinicians. She has authored over 100 publications covering various health domains of global concern and across life-course. Her contributions to the biomedical field and itsimpact on the public sector were highlighted in the GovInsider’s special international report on ‘Women in GovTech 2021’.)

Group Members

 Senior Scientist LIM Yubin Ives 
 Senior Scientist HU Xiaoming
 Lead Research Officer HUAN Jason
 Research Officer CHAN Mei Yeen Penny
 Principal Scientist  GROZA Tudor

A*STAR celebrates International Women's Day

A*STAR Women In Science

From groundbreaking discoveries to cutting-edge research, our researchers are empowering the next generation of female science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) leaders.

Get inspired by our #WomeninSTEM