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Congratulations to Dr Le Thi Nguyet Minh on receiving the Pharmacological Society (Singapore) (PSS) Inaugural Promising Researcher Award 2025.

Dr. Le received the award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the advancement of red blood cell extracellular vesicle (RBCEV)-based drug delivery research.

 

The Department of Pharmacology congratulates the winning presenters at the Graduate’s Academic Progress in Pharmacology (GAPP) Annual Meeting 2025. The meeting was hosted by the Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS (NUS Medicine), in collaboration with the Pharmacological Society of Singapore (PSS) on 21 February 2025.

The meeting featured outstanding talks by highly talented undergraduate and postgraduate students and postdoctoral research fellows. Although all the speakers shared excellent presentations on exciting advances in their research, the judges could only select two exceptionally outstanding winners in each category.

 

Congratulations to Prof. GOH Boon Cher (joint professor at Department of Pharmacology) on receiving the Distinguished Senior Clinician Award 2023 at the NUHS Tribute Awards Ceremony 2025!

Distinguished Senior Clinicians are recognised as leading experts and key opinion leaders in their professional fields. They have made distinguished contributions to the medical or dental professions, the Singapore public healthcare sector, and the international community across clinical service, education and research domains.

 

Congratulations to Dr. Le and Dr. Truong, who are recognized among the Top 100 Innovators at Vietnam Global Innovation Connect 2025 (VGIC 2025).

The Vietnam Global Innovation Connect aims to foster collaboration among Vietnamese-origin professionals worldwide, bridging expertise from different industries and disciplines. The platform acknowledges those who have made exceptional contributions to technology, research, entrepreneurship, and innovation, both in Vietnam and on the global stage.

Dr. Le’s and Dr. Truong’s outstanding contributions to technology and innovation have earned well-deserved recognition, reinforcing the significant impact of Vietnamese-origin experts on the global stage.

Fore more information, please visit https://www.vgic.net/speakers-guests/

At SP Biomedical Science (DBS), students are empowered to transform themselves and unlock a world of opportunities. Through a holistic education that equips them with the skills and knowledge to excel, we inspire students to pursue fulfilling careers and realise their dreams.

Donavan Tan Jia Jie, a Year 3 DBS student and an aspiring clinician-scientist, shares: “As an aspiring clinician-scientist, I am committed to delivering compassionate patient care while advancing medical knowledge through innovative research to improve patient outcomes. This motivated me to pursue research supervised by Dr Alan Prem Kumar at the Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS), for my final year project and internship. Over the past 14 months, I have immersed myself in research—from conducting laboratory experiments to collaborating with world-renowned clinicians and researchers on bench-to-bedside research projects and scientific articles. This enriching journey has profoundly shaped my understanding of how research drives innovations that transform patients’ lives and strengthened my resolve to contribute to this field.”

Quote from Donavan’s supervisor, Dr Alan Prem Kumar who is the Assistant Dean, Division of Graduate Studies, Dean’s Office and the Assistant Professor (Research), Department of Pharmacology at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS: “Donavan is an exemplary student who did his 8-month FYP and thereafter a 6-month internship in my research laboratory on the development of our in-house drug enhancing tumor immunogenicity in aggressive breast cancer patients. During his tenure in my research laboratory, he has actively been involved in several high impact reviews. He has also been very instrumental in putting together and editing a few research articles from my team. Donavan is a well driven person and excellent team player.”

 

Congratulations to our student WONG Ting Hong on receiving the Best Oral Presenter Yong Scholar (Merit Award) at the Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference 2025 (APMEC 2025)!

Presentation title: Attitudes towards Artificial Intelligence Among Masters of Nursing Students: a Mixed-Methods Study

Supervisor: A/P Judy SNG

Congratulations to Dr Eugene HO on receiving the Asia 40 IP Inhouse Award!

《Asia 40 IP In-House Award》, recently held in Shenzhen, China by IPR Daily, is one of the highest honors in the intellectual property (IP) industry in Asia.

This prestigious award celebrates the Top 40 in-house IP leaders who have played a pivotal role in shaping the IP ecosystem across the region. Dr. Eugene HO was acknowledged alongside distinguished leaders such as Ran Xu of Xiaomi Technology and Sean Ke of Alibaba Group, making this achievement a testament to their exceptional contributions to the field of intellectual property.

Congratulations to Department of Pharmacology on winning the Website Challenge ‘Most-Improved Website’ (second prize)!

From left, front row: Brendon Yeo, Asst Prof Minh Le, Trinh Tran. Back row: Gao Chang, Yock Sin Lay, Dr Migara Jayasinghe, Rebecca Prajogo (Credit: NUS Medicine)

Lung cancer, specifically Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)-the most common subtype of cancer contracted by patients who do not smoke, is a leading cause of cancer mortality and the second most diagnosed cancer globally. The rapid and inevitable emergence of drug resistance mechanisms caused by mutations in cancer severely outpaces the development of small molecule drugs. This phenomenon adds urgency for a new, customisable, safe, and effective anti-cancer therapeutic that could be designed, screened, and validated in a short amount of time.

A team of researchers, led by Assistant Professor Minh Le from the Institute for Digital Medicine (WisDM) and Department of Pharmacology at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), has successfully demonstrated that nano-sized particles released by cells, such as red blood cells, could be repurposed to function as drug delivery platforms to carry antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) molecules targeting cancer cells in the lungs, thereby suppressing cancer progression. This study was conducted in collaboration with the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI Singapore) at NUS, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), and Duke-NUS Medical School.

Asst Prof Minh Le said, “Mutant Epidermal Growth Factor Receptors (EGFRs) are the most common driver of lung cancer among the Asian population. Therefore, we focused on targeting lung cancer caused by the mutant EGFR. Currently, drugs known as tyrosine kinase inhibitors are the standard of treatment, and they work by inhibiting the mutant EGFR protein to stop cancer progression. As the cancer cells may further mutate and resist these drugs, we sought to find a more effective way to target the cancer.”

In the study published in eBioMedicine, the authors looked toward ASOs to not only overcome the issue of drug resistance but also contribute to the development of precision medicine. Precision medicine tailors the treatment to individual patients and their disease, as compared to a “one-size fits all” broad spectrum therapy. ASOs are molecules that can stick to a specific part of a ribonucleic acid (RNA) and inhibit irregular activity. ASOs are a flexible tool that can be easily redesigned to target and fix problems in different genes. This advantage is critical in the context of NSCLC which is known to develop resistance against tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Furthermore, the ASOs can be customised to target unique mutations based on the cancer profiles of each individual patient. However, some disadvantages of ASOs are that they are easily degraded in the bloodstream, which results in diluted treatment at the tumour sites. This can be remedied with a method to hold the ASOs and deliver them directly to the tumour site.

To achieve that, the researchers utilised extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from human red blood cells as a natural carrier to deliver the anti-cancer ASOs to the tumour site. To direct the ASO-loaded EV towards the tumour site, EGFR-targeting moieties were engineered onto the surface of the EVs. This primed the EV to home in on the cancerous cells. Furthermore, the ASO-loaded EVs were shown to exhibit a potent anti-cancer effect in various models of lung cancer, including patient-derived cells. The specific design of the ASOs allows them to suppress mutant EGFR, while leaving the normal EGFR unaffected. They also demonstrated that the ASO-loaded RBCEVs possessed potent anti-cancer effects against TKI-resistant cancer cells.

Associate Professor Tam Wai Leong, Deputy Executive Director of A*STAR Genome Institute of Singapore (A*STAR GIS), and co-corresponding author of the study, said, “The innovative use of extracellular vesicles as a delivery vehicle for nucleic acid therapeutics added a potentially powerful treatment modality for treating malignancies. The ability to precisely eliminate mutant EGFR cancer cells while sparing normal tissues will enable customised treatment for individual patients. This is a significant step towards addressing cancer drug resistance and advancing the application of personalised cancer medicine.”

Professor Goh Boon Cher, Deputy Director of CSI Singapore, Professor of Medicine at NUS Medicine and one of the authors of the study added, “This work is instrumental in breaking new ground for precise delivery of therapeutic RNA to tumour cells to destroy them by targeting their vulnerabilities. It is a proof of concept that can be broadly applied in other areas of cancer treatment.”

Read more in the press release here.

(source from https://medicine.nus.edu.sg/news/scientists-use-microcellular-drones-to-deliver-lung-cancer-killing-drugs/)