National Research Foundation (NRF) Fellowship and Investigatorship 2015
Published: 12 Dec 2014
The National Research Foundation Fellowship supports outstanding, early-stage career researchers to carry out independent research in all areas of science and technology in Singapore. Each Fellow is provided with a research grant over five years to support projects that exhibit high likelihood of a research breakthrough.
Dr Yvonne Tay, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine was selected for the 7th class of NRF Fellows (Class of 2015) for her proposed research project titled, “MicroRNA and competing endogenous RNA crosstalk: Post-transcriptional regulatory networks in cancer pathogenesis and therapeutics”.
Dr Tay has been very productive with publications in top tier journals such as Cell, Nature, and Nature Genetics and was awarded the 2009 Philip Yeo Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Research by A*STAR in recognition of her breakthrough discoveries. Her expertise in the rapidly growing field of non-coding RNA will open a new avenue of research in the Department of Biochemistry to effectively leverage on the clinical and translational strengths of clinicians and scientists focusing on metabolic disorders at the National University Health System.
The National Research Foundation Investigatorship provides opportunities for established, innovative and active scientists and researchers who have a track record of research achievements to pursue ground-breaking, high-risk research.
Associate Professor Paul MacAry, researcher in the Department of Microbiology, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Associate Professor Markus Wenk, Department of Biochemistry and member of the Executive Committee of the NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, were two of the seven established researchers who have been awarded the NRF Investigatorship (Class of 2015).
Associate Professor Paul MacAry is actively engaged in interdisciplinary research that spans the entire spectrum of scientific endeavours. He has made important headway in the research of tuberculosis and dengue, evident from the development of two antibodies (anti-HBV and anti-Dengue) which are currently being tested for clinical applications by pharmaceutical companies. He has discovered a new cellular receptor for M.Tuberculosis and defined the structural basis for natural human immunity to the dengue virus, and will continue to research on molecular engineering of fully human monoclonal antibodies.
Associate Professor Paul MacAry has been awarded the NRF Investigatorship to further his work on ground-breaking, innovative research. Associate Professor Markus Wenk’s works on membrane lipids, their structure, function and metabolism have resulted in scientific publications which have major impact on conceptual advancements in the field of neurobiology and lipid metabolism. He has also introduced and established novel techniques for analysing phospholipid metabolism at the neurological nerve terminal. He is now spearheading novel approaches in global analysis of lipids (lipidomics) for applications in drug and biomarker development with relevance to various disease areas. The NRF Investigatorship will allow Associate Professor Markus Wenk to further research on defining the natural boundaries of lipidomic variations.
