Molecular Engineering Lab

Our mission
Welcome to the Molecular Engineering Lab, where cutting-edge research in Molecular Biotechnology, informatics, nucleic acid-based therapeutics, bioengineering come together. Our team is dedicated to exploring the frontiers of Synthetic Biology, Therapeutics and Bioengineering. With a focus on innovation and collaboration, we strive to push the boundaries of what is possible and make a positive impact on society.

Fong Tian WONG
Synthetic Biology

YiQi SEOW
Therapeutics

Cyrus BEH
Bioengineering

MEL Staff

	Shawn HOON Molecular Engineering Lab Tel: 68247108
Shawn Hoon studied electrical and computer engineering at the University of Virginia. After his national service, he was introduced to genomics research when he joined the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology. He was a part of the Fugu Genome Project that was initiated by Dr. Sydney Brenner and led by Dr. Sam Aparicio and Dr. Byrappa Venkatesh. Thereafter, he received an A*STAR scholarship and entered a PhD program in Genetics with Dr. Ronald W. Davis at Stanford University where he developed high throughput techniques for studying chemical genetic interactions and drug mechanism of action using yeast as a model organism. Following his PhD, he returned to Singapore where he reconnected with Sydney and helped establish the Molecular Engineering Laboratory (MEL). He is presently Director of MEL at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and continues to strive to create a conducive environment where young scientists with diverse backgrounds spanning immunology, microbiology, chemistry, computation, molecular biology and engineering come together to work on multi-disciplinary projects. His own research interests include single cell biology, gene editing and genomics. Ph.D. in Genetics, Stanford University, 2008 BSC in Electrical Engineering, University of Virginia, 1999
Research Publications Staff

	Christine CHEUNG Molecular and Vascular Medicine Email: ccheung@imcb.a-star.edu.sg Tel: 65860713
Dr Christine Cheung received a PhD in Cardiovascular and Stem Cell Medicine from the University of Cambridge, and a BEng (First Class) from Imperial College London. She started up a research group at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in 2012 under an Independent Fellowship. For her pioneering approach to create organ-specific blood vessels, she was recognized with the Young Investigator Prize from the British Society for Cardiovascular Research. Notably, she is a World Economic Forum Young Scientist, Honoree of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Singapore by Junior Chamber International, and Life Science Fellow of L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science National Fellowship. To advance her work, she is an awardee of the prestigious Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) research grant. Dr Cheung is also a Nanyang Assistant Professor and Provost’s Chair in Medicine at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University. She currently serves on the executive committee of Stem Cell Society Singapore.
Research Publications

	Adrian Kee Keong TEO Stem Cells and Cell Therapy for Diabetess Lab Location: #6-07 Email: ateo@imcb.a-star.edu.sg Tel: 65869641
Adrian obtained his B.Sc. (1st Class Honours) from the National University of Singapore in February 2007. He then started to work on human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) with Ray Dunn, Ph.D., and Alan Colman, Ph.D., at ES Cell International Pte. Ltd., before joining the Institute of Medical Biology (IMB), ASTAR, Singapore, for an internship as a Research Officer in the laboratory of Ray Dunn, Ph.D.. In April 2008, he joined the laboratory of Ludovic Vallier, Ph.D., at the University of Cambridge to pursue his Ph.D. under the ASTAR Graduate Scholarship (Overseas). Concurrently, he was also an Honorary Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholar. His thesis described how pluripotency factors regulate endoderm specification via key regulator EOMESODERMIN. He completed his Ph.D. in July 2010 and joined the laboratory of Ray Dunn, Ph.D., at IMB as a postdoctoral fellow before heading to the laboratory of Rohit Kulkarni, M.D. Ph.D., at Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School in September 2011. During his fellowship at Joslin, he obtained two Harvard Stem Cell Institute seed grants and a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) fellowship to pursue his research interests in using human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) for in vitro disease modelling of diabetes. Adrian is currently a Principal Investigator at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), A*STAR, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Department of Medicine, NUS Medicine, Singapore and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is a member of the Oxford and Cambridge Society of Singapore, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) and Stem Cell Society Singapore.
Research Publications

	Boon Seng SOH Disease Modeling and Therapeutics for heart diseases Lab Location: #05-07 Email: bssoh@imcb.a-star.edu.sg Tel: 65869530
Boon Seng obtained his B.Sc. (1st Class Honours) from the National University of Singapore. As an A*STAR Graduate Scholarship (Overseas) recipient, he did his Ph.D thesis on the optimization of hES cell culture and differentiation towards pulmonary stem cells under the co-supervision of Prof. Athanasios Mantalaris, Ph.D (Imperial College) and Prof. Bing Lim, MD, Ph.D (Genome Institute of Singapore). In 2011, he joined the laboratory of Prof. Kenneth Chien, MD, Ph.D at Harvard University to work on the biology of multipotent cardiac stem cells, in both murine and human based model systems. His research focus has always been clinically driven with emphasis on understanding the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms in diseases and development of therapies. His current research interests focus on modelling human cardiac diseases using both 2D and 3D culture systems.
Research Publications

Molecular Engineering Lab

Shawn HOON

Christine CHEUNG

Adrian Kee Keong TEO

Boon Seng SOH

A*STAR celebrates International Women's Day