CSI Singapore congratulates Professor Patrick Tan, Professor Teh Bin Tean and Dr Yvonne Tay!
Young Scientist Award Recognition for Pioneering Work on Non-Coding RNAs
CSI Principal Investigator Dr Yvonne Tay has received the 2015 Young Scientist Award for her outstanding work on non-coding RNAs, which has contributed to a better understanding of the roles that RNA:RNA regulatory interactions play in altering the levels of critical oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. Dr Tay’s research work has led to discoveries that dysregulations in non-coding RNA interactions can contribute to irregularities in cellular mechanisms, leading to disease and cancer.
Conventionally, cancer researchers in genetic studies have mainly focused on DNA, the double-stranded relative of RNA which contains the genetic blueprint of cells. RNA, a nucleic acid transcribed from DNA, was mainly thought to be involved with the regulation and expression of genes into proteins. Non-coding RNA molecules, which are not converted to proteins, were long thought to play a smaller role in genetic expression. However, in recent years it has been found that non-coding RNA controls numerous essential biological processes, but how it does so has yet to be well-understood.
Dr Tay has expressed her hope that her research will lead to important insights into the regulation of tumorigenesis and the discovery of novel oncogenes and/or tumor suppressors, in turn allowing non-coding RNA to be a novel potential diagnostic target for anti-cancer therapies.
President’s Science Award for Research on Asian Cancer Genomics
Professors Patrick Tan and Teh Bin Tean, Senior Principal Investigators at CSI Singapore, were recently awarded prestigious President’s Science Award (PSA) by President Mr Tony Tan Keng Yam. At the ceremony held at Resorts World Sentosa on 16 September 2015, both Professors together with Duke-NUS Professor Steven Rozen, were presented the PSA for their outstanding integrative and translational research in Asian cancer genomics.
It is estimated that cancer occurrences in Asia will contribute to a majority of cancer deaths by 2030. Despite this, the molecular basis behind Asian cancers often differs from those found in Western countries, and these differences have yet to be well-understood. Recognizing the urgency of providing a deeper understanding of Asian cancer genetics, Professors Tan, Teh and Rozen’s collaborations over the past eight years have uncovered many new insights into genetic pathways in Asian gastrointestinal, hepatocellular and breast cancer. Results from the integrative basic research, translational research and clinical studies have been published in numerous prestigious scientific journals.
Our investigators’ achievements were also highlighted on NUS News here.