Teck Hui TEO

Biography

Teck-Hui obtained his PhD in 2015 from the National University of Singapore under the tutorage of Prof Lisa Ng and Prof Laurent Renia in Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN). During his PhD, he established the Chikungunya joint-inflammation mouse model that were extensively used for deciphering immune pathogenesis during single and Chikunyuna-Malaria co-infection. Subsequently, he joined SIgN and was part of the ZIKA virus outbreak task force, where he established a mouse embryos infection model to test therapeutics against ZIKA infection. In 2018, Teck-Hui was awarded the A*STAR Graduate Scholarship – Post-Doctorate Fellowship where he spent 3 years under the supervision of Prof Philippe Sansonetti and Dr. Pamela Schnupf in Institute Pasteur, Paris and Institute Necker Enfant Malades. During this oversea fellowship, he gained the expertise to work with gut infection and microbiomes/pathobionts colonization models in germfree and conventional setting for mechanistic study of host-microbiome interaction in the gut. In 2021, he joined Assoc Prof Pablo Bifani’s group in A*STAR ID Labs and established different mucosal infection models of clinical Klebsiella pneumoniae. In late 2022, Teck-Hui was awarded NMRC-Young Investigator Research Grant to study the lung-gut-liver axis during Klebsiella pneumoniae infection and was appointed Investigator in 2023 to lead the Mucosal Infection Lab in A*STAR ID Labs.

Lab Research Focus

The primary focus of the lab is to model mucosal infection of gram-negative bacteria in vivo and in vitro for the purpose of understanding mucosal pathogenesis. The mucosal tissues are selected as a point of focus as they often serve as point of entry and reservoir for replication by the pathogen. An emphasis will be placed on “critical priority” antimicrobial resistance (AMR) Enterobacteriaceae (Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli) as defined by WHO. 

The mucosal pathogenesis of any pathogens are dependent on the interplay between the host-factors, the pathogen and the microbiomes/pathobionts on the mucosal membranes to elicit a disease or colonization. Using mucosal infection models that mimic natural infection in humans, we aim to decipher the different components associated with these 3 factors that will influence the disease outcome (See Schematic). Findings from these mechanistic studies could reveal new therapeutic, vaccine and host-directed therapy targets for better management of AMR Enterobacteriaceae infection.

Another interest of the lab is to define the resistance determinants of Enterobacteriaceae from urinary tract infection (UTI) in the community. We work closely with clinicians in the Polyclinics and GP clinics to access UTI pathogens isolated from the community.

 

Lab Members

Postdocs (PhD)	Research Officers	PhD/Undergraduate Students
Stacey-Ann LEE	TAN Xue Ting	LIM Kai Yi Eldeen
Wilson CHU	Woon Shuan CHONG