Stephen Jun Fei Chong

Stephen Jun Fei Chong

PhD

Lee Kuan Yew Fellow

sjfchong@nus.edu.sg

 Haematological Malignancy Genomics Laboratory

Affiliations

  • Lee Kuan Yew Fellow, Department of Physiology, NUS
  • NUS Centre for Cancer Research, Translational Research Programme

Research Areas of Interest

Drug resistance mechanisms
Identifying actionable targets using functional precision medicine techniques
Hematologic Malignancies
Kinase and Phosphatase regulation in cancer
Bcl-2 family proteins and cell death regulations in cancer
Redox and mitochondrial metabolism in cancer

Dr Stephen Chong received his PhD in redox and cancer biology at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He subsequently did his postdoctoral training at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, under the Charles A. King Trust Post-doctoral research fellowship award. In 2024, he returned to NUS after being awarded the prestigious Lee Kuan Yew research fellowship to start his independent research in the Department of Physiology. His principal effort is in basic and translational research, with the aim of incorporating complementary functional precision medicine techniques to unravel the molecular mechanisms of drug resistance and identify therapeutic actionable nodes in solid and hematologic malignancies.

Selected Publications

  1. 1. Chong SJF, Zhu F, Dashevsky O, Mizuno R, Lai JX, Hackett L, Ryan CE, Collins MC, Iorgulescu JB, Guièze R, Penailillo J, Carrasco R, Hwang YC, Muñoz DP, Bouhaddou M, Lim YC, Wu CJ, Allan JN, Furman RR, Goh BC, Pervaiz S, Coppé JP, Mitsiades CS, Davids MS. Hyperphosphorylation of BCL-2 family proteins underlies functional resistance to venetoclax in lymphoid malignancies. J Clin Invest. 2023 Sep 26. PMID: 37751299.
  2. 2. Zhu F, Crombie JL, Ni W, Hoang NM, Garg S, Hackett L, Chong SJF, Collins MC, Rui L, Griffin J, Davids MS. Hypomethylating agent decitabine sensitizes diffuse large B-cell lymphoma to venetoclax. Haematologica. 2023 Aug 03. PMID: 37534528.
  3. 3. Herbaux C, Kornauth C, Poulain S, Chong SJF, Collins MC, Valentin R, Hackett L, Tournilhac O, Lemonnier F, Dupuis J, Daniel A, Tomowiak C, Laribi K, Renaud L, Roos-Weil D, Rossi C, Van Den Neste EW, Leyronnas C, Merabet F, Malfuson JV, Tiab M, Ysebaert L, Ng SY, Morschhauser F, Staber PB, Davids MS. BH3 profiling identifies ruxolitinib as a promising partner for venetoclax to treat T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia. Blood. 2021 Feb 17. PMID: 33598678.
  4. 4. Chong SJF, Iskandar K, Lai JXH, Qu J, Raman D, Valentin R, Herbaux C, Collins M, Low ICC, Loh T, Davids M, Pervaiz S. Serine-70 phosphorylated Bcl-2 prevents oxidative stress-induced DNA damage by modulating the mitochondrial redox metabolism. Nucleic Acids Res. 2020 12 16; 48(22):12727-12745. PMID: 33245769.
  5. 5. Chong SJF, Marchi S, Petroni G, Kroemer G, Galluzzi L, Pervaiz S. Noncanonical Cell Fate Regulation by Bcl-2 Proteins. Trends Cell Biol. 2020 07; 30(7):537-555. PMID: 32307222.
  6. 6. Chong SJF, Davids MS. Breaking through BCL-2 inhibition in CLL. Blood. 2020 03 05; 135(10):709-711. PMID: 32135019.
  7. 7. Chong SJF, Lai JXH, Qu J, Hirpara J, Kang J, Swaminathan K, Loh T, Kumar A, Vali S, Abbasi T, Pervaiz S. A feedforward relationship between active Rac1 and phosphorylated Bcl-2 is critical for sustaining Bcl-2 phosphorylation and promoting cancer progression. Cancer Lett. 2019 08 10; 457:151-167. PMID: 31103719.
  8. 8. Chong SJF, Lai JXH, Eu JQ, Bellot GL, Pervaiz S. Reactive Oxygen Species and Oncoprotein Signaling-A Dangerous Liaison. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2018 12 01; 29(16):1553-1588. PMID: 29186971.
  9. 9. Yee YH*, Chong SJ*, Pervaiz S. The anti-oxidant and pro-oxidant dichotomy of Bcl-2. Biol Chem. 2016 07 01; 397(7):585-93. PMID: 27060742. (*Co-first authors).
  10. 10. Chong SJ, Low IC, Pervaiz S. Mitochondrial ROS and involvement of Bcl-2 as a mitochondrial ROS regulator. Mitochondrion. 2014 Nov; 19 Pt A:39-48. PMID: 24954615.

  • 2012 National University of Singapore (NUS) PhD Research Scholarship
  • 2015 Society for Redox Biology and Medicine (SfRBM) Conference Travel Award
  • 2017 European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Conference Travel Award
  • 2017 SfRBM Young Investigator Award
  • 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Abstract Achievement Award
  • 2021 Swee Liew-Wadsworth Research Publication Gold Award
  • 2022 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Scholar-In-Training Award
  • 2022 Simeon J. Fortin Charitable Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award
  • 2024 Lee Kuan Yew Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award
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