Winners of the Too Joon Chew PhD Prize 2023
Too Joon Chew PhD Prize
The Too Joon Chew Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Prize was established in 2022 by the Too family in memory of their late father, Mr Too Joon Chew. A cash prize valued at $1000 will be awarded to the top three PhD graduates with the most outstanding work done in their respective field of research.
We are proud to feature the three winners of the 2023 Too Joo Chew PhD Prize here!
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Dr Goh Ya Hwee Jasmine |
Dr Goh Ya Hwee Jasmine graduated with a PhD from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, under the main supervision of A/Prof Edward Chow Kai-Hua (Cancer Science Institute of Singapore and Department of Pharmacology). She has also been awarded the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine Best Graduate Research Publication Award 2023. In addition to these awards, Dr Goh has also clinched the Best Poster Award at the 2022 NCIS Annual Research Meeting (NCAM) and Best Oral Presentation at NCAM 2021. Dr Goh has two first author papers and co-authored a further two papers in reputable journals.
Her PhD thesis title is “Rational Design of Optimised Therapeutics Against Relapsed/Refractory Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma”. Dr Goh showed that resolution for Quadratic Phenotypic Optimisation Platform (QPOP) experimental combination design in cancer cell line models can be reduced without compromising drug combination optimisation. Her research demonstrates the feasibility of optimising drug combinations within a clinically actionable timeframe and forms the foundation for a prospective clinical trial to evaluate Quadratic Phenotypic Optimisation Platform (QPOP)-guided combination therapy in relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (RR-NHL). In addition, Dr Goh identified patients who were more heavily pre-treated as a subgroup who will benefit most from QPOP-guided treatments, providing a basis for patient selection and recruitment for a future clinical trial investigating the clinical benefit of QPOP. Dr Goh is working as a scientist in Cargene Therapeutics, local biotech company, where she is part of a team working on developing oligonucleotide-based therapeutics. She is inspired by the goal of developing a novel therapeutic that can improve patients' lives and draw daily motivation through a scientifically-stimulating environment with shared camaraderie between colleagues. |
Dr Kalpana Ramnarayanan |
Dr Kalpana Ramnarayanan graduated with a PhD from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, under the main supervision of Professor Patrick Tan Boon Ooi (Department of Physiology). Dr Ramnarayanan has a first author publication in the high-impact peer-reviewed medical journal, Cancer Discovery, which covers clinical research pertaining to the field of cancer studies. Her first author publication titled “Single-Cell Atlas of Lineage States, Tumor Microenvironment, and Subtype-Specific Expression Programs in Gastric Cancer” was featured in The Straits Times newspaper for its translational impact to better treatment options in gastric cancer patients.
Dr Ramnarayanan’s PhD thesis title is “Dissecting the Heterogeneity of Gastric Cancer at the Single Cell Level”. Gastric cancer heterogeneity represents a barrier to disease management. Dr Ramnarayanan generated a comprehensive single-cell atlas of gastric cancer (>200,000 cells) comprising 48 samples from 31 patients across clinical stages and histologic subtypes and identified increased plasma cell proportions as a novel feature of diffuse-type tumours. She also uncovered distinct cancer-associated fibroblast subtypes with INHBA–FAP-high cell populations as predictors of poor clinical prognosis. Dr Ramnarayanan’s findings highlight potential origins of deregulated cell states in the gastric tumour ecosystem. Dr Ramnarayanan is currently a Senior Research Scientist at Mirxes, a biotechnology company headquartered in Singapore, specialising in producing diagnostic solutions for the early detection of diseases. |
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Dr Samira Sadeghi |
Dr Samira Sadeghi graduated with a PhD from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, under the main supervision of Assistant Professor Chester Lee Drum (Department of Medicine and Precision Medicine TRP). Dr Sadeghi has five first author papers published in reputable journals.
Dr Sadeghi’s PhD thesis title is “Translational Applications of Thermostable Exoshells: A Detailed Study”. Her PhD thesis also led to the filing of two patents. Through her research, she demonstrated that encapsulated enzymes remain highly stable in vitro such that Thermostable exoshell (tES) could potentially be used as a carrier for its oral delivery. Her discovery is exciting news given challenging nature of delivery and stabilization of active enzymes in the field of nanotechnology. Dr Sadeghi is motivated by the challenges faced in translational and creative projects and loves thinking out of the box to define projects or experiments in order to solve an issue or even start something from scratch. She is now working for Protea, a technical consultancy specialising in the life sciences industry and pharmaceuticals. She strives towards developing translational and practical technologies to fill the gap between basic science and the industry. |
