Assoc Prof Gavin Stewart Dawe

Appointment(s)

Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore

Head of Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore

Director, Phase II Undergraduate Medical Curriculum, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore

Director, Neuroscience and Metabolic Phenotyping Core, National University of Singapore

Degree(s)

BSc (Hons), PhD, MMHPE

Biography

Associate Professor Gavin Dawe earned his PhD in Pharmacology from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, part of the University of London, UK. Following postdoctoral research at the same institute, he ventured into the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, holding positions at ReNeuron Limited and Eli Lilly and Company. He later joined the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he currently serves as an Associate Professor and Head of Department in the Department of Pharmacology at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine). Additionally, he is a principal investigator with affiliations to the Neurobiology Programme at the Life Sciences Institute and the Healthy Longevity and Precision Medicine Translational Research Programmes at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. Dawe’s laboratory focuses on peptide neuropharmacology in the context of ageing, neuroscience, and mental health disorders, employing a range of methods, including systems neurobiology, behavioural neuroscience, electrophysiology, and optogenetics. His contributions to the field have been recognized with several awards, such as the Asian College of Neuropsychopharmacology (AsCNP) Basic Scientist Award in 2023, the Singapore Neuroscience Association Distinguished Neuroscientist Award in 2017, and the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Academic Centre of Excellence Research Award in 2010. A/Prof Dawe also directs the NUS Neuroscience and Metabolic Phenotyping Core, offering behavioural and metabolic phenotyping facilities and services to the wider NUS and Singapore research community. Committed to advancing medical and health professions education, he obtained a Master’s degree in Medical and Health Professions Education (MMHPE) from Eastern Virginia Medical School in 2019. He oversees the Phase II Undergraduate Medical Curriculum at NUS Medicine and is keen on integrating digitalization and artificial intelligence into medical education.

Research Areas/Research Interest

Academic Year 2015/2016
Description of research programmes: Research into the pharmacology of neuroplasticity – stem cells and cognitive function, including stress-mediated modulation via the nucleus incertus and relaxin-3, amyloid precursor protein signalling and electroceuticals.
Description of accomplishments: 9 articles in journals published/accepted and epublished ahead of print (1 NUHS Tier1; 8 NUHS Tier 2), including 1 as corresponding author in Pharmacological Reviews [IF5year=22.347], 1 as corresponding author in Pharmacology Research [IF5year=4.409] and 1 as corresponding author in Journal of Biological Chemistry [IF5year=4.693]
Academic Year 2014/2015
Description of research programmes: Research into the pharmacology of neuroplasticity – stem cells and cognitive function, including stress-mediated modulation via the nucleus incertus and relaxin-3, amyloid precursor protein signalling and electroceuticals.
Description of accomplishments: 9 articles in journals published/accepted and epublished ahead of print (1 NUHS Tier1; 8 NUHS Tier 2), including 1 as corresponding author in Pharmacology Research [IF=4.409], 1 as corresponding author in Journal of Biological Chemistry [IF=4.573], 1 as corresponding author in Cell Death and Disease (IF=5.014) and 1 as corresponding author in Cell Migration and Adhesion (IF=4.505).
Academic Year 2013/2014
Description of research programmes: Research into the pharmacology of neuroplasticity – stem cells and cognitive function, including stress-mediated modulation via the nucleus incertus and relaxin-3 and amyloid precursor protein signalling.
Description of accomplishments: 11 articles in journals published/accepted and epublished ahead of print (3 NUHS Tier1; 8 NUHS Tier 2), including 1 as corresponding author in Hippocampus [IF=5.492], 1 in Nature Communications [IF=10.015] and 1 in Stem Cells (IF=7.701).
Academic Year 2012/2013
Description of research programmes: Research into the pharmacology of neuroplasticity – stem cells and cognitive function, including stress-mediated modulation via the nucleus incertus and relaxin-3 and amyloid precursor protein signalling.
Description of accomplishments: 7 articles in journals published/accepted and epublished ahead of print (2 NUHS Tier1; 5 NUHS Tier 2), including 1 as corresponding author in Hippocampus (IF=5.492) and 1 in Journal of Neurosceince (IF=6.908).
Academic Year 2011/2012
Description of research programmes: Research into the pharmacology of neuroplasticity – stem cells and cognitive function, including stress-mediated modulation via the nucleus incertus and relaxin-3 and amyloid precursor protein signalling.
Description of accomplishments: 6 articles in journals published/accepted and epublished ahead of print (1 NUHS Tier1; 4 NUHS Tier 2), including 1 accepted in Journal of Neurosceince (IF=6.908) and 1 accepted in Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (IF=4.174).
Academic Year 2010/2011
Description of research programmes: Research into the pharmacology of neuroplasticity – stem cells and cognitive function
Description of accomplishments: 6 articles in journals published/accepted and epublished ahead of print (5 NUHS Tier1; 1 NUHS Tier 2), including 1 shorter article as corresponding author in European Neuropsychopharmacology (IF=4.201; NUHS Tier 1) and 1 as first and corresponding author in Neuroscience (IF=3.215; NUHS Tier 1) and others in Journal of Biological Chemistry (IF=5.328; NUHS Tier 1) and Stem Cells and Dev (IF=4.791; NUHS Tier 1).

Academic Year: 2009/2010
Description of research programmes: Research into the pharmacology of neuroplasticity – stem cells and cognitive function
Description of accomplishments: 3 articles in journals published, including 1 as corresponding author in Int J Neuropsychopharm (IF=4.699; NUHS Tier 1) and others in Aging Cell (IF=7.148; NUHS Tier 1) and Stem Cells (IF=7.871; NUHS Tier 1).
Academic Year: 2008/2009
Description of research programmes: Research into the pharmacology of neuroplasticity – stem cells and cognitive function
Description of accomplishments: 6 articles and 1 comment in journals and 1 book chapter published, including 1 as corresponding author in Cell Transplantation (IF=6.204; NUHS Tier 1) and others in Stem Cells (IF=7.871; NUHS Tier 1) and FEBS Letters (IF=3.601; NUHS Tier 1).

Academic Year: 2007/2008
Description of research programmes: Research into the pharmacology of neuroplasticity – stem cells and cognitive function
Description of accomplishments: 7 articles in journals published, including 1 as corresponding author in Stem Cells (IF=7.871; NUHS Tier 1) and 1 as corresponding author in Nature Cell Biology (IF=19.407; NUHS Supertier). Papers feature on cover of international peer-reviewed journals, Nature Cell Biology and Cell Adhesion & Migration.

Selected Publications

Test, rinse, repeat: A review of carryover effects in rodent behavioral assays

Cnops, V., Iyer, V. R., Parathy, N., Wong, P., & Dawe, G. S

Mechanisms of biased agonism by Gα_i/o-biased stapled peptide agonists of the relaxin-3 receptor

Jayakody, T., Inoue, A., Kannan, S., Nakamura, G., Kawakami, K., Mendis, K., Nguyen, T. B., Li, J., Herr, D. R., Verma, C. S., & Dawe, G. S.

Mechanisms of Action and Persistent Neuroplasticity by Drugs of Abuse

Korpi, E. R., den Hollander, B., Farooq, U., Vashchinkina, E., Rajkumar, R., Nutt, D. J., Hyytiä, P., & Dawe, G. S.

Relaxin' the brain: a case for targeting the nucleus incertus network and relaxin-3/RXFP3 system in neuropsychiatric disorders

Kumar, J. R., Rajkumar, R., Jayakody, T., Marwari, S., Hong, J. M., Ma, S., Gundlach, A. L., Lai, M. K. P., & Dawe, G. S.

Nucleus incertus contributes to an anxiogenic effect of buspirone in rats: Involvement of 5-HT_1A receptors

Kumar, J. R., Rajkumar, R., Lee, L. C., & Dawe, G. S.

Hope for vascular cognitive impairment: Ac-YVAD-cmk as a novel treatment against white matter rarefaction

Lim, Y. A., Tan, L. S., Lee, W. T., Sim, W. L., Lv, Y., Takakuni, M., Saito, S., Ihara, M., Arumugam, T. V., Chen, C., Wong, F. W., & Dawe, G. S.

APP upregulation contributes to retinal ganglion cell degeneration via JNK3

Liu, C., Zhang, C. W., Zhou, Y., Wong, W. Q., Lee, L. C., Ong, W. Y., Yoon, S. O., Hong, W., Fu, X. Y., Soong, T. W., Koo, E. H., Stanton, L. W., Lim, K. L., Xiao, Z. C., & Dawe, G. S.

A TAG1-APP signalling pathway through Fe65 negatively modulates neurogenesis

Ma, Q. H., Futagawa, T., Yang, W. L., Jiang, X. D., Zeng, L., Takeda, Y., Xu, R. X., Bagnard, D., Schachner, M., Furley, A. J., Karagogeos, D., Watanabe, K., Dawe, G. S., & Xiao, Z. C.

Intranasal administration of a stapled relaxin-3 mimetic has anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like activity in rats

Marwari, S., Poulsen, A., Shih, N., Lakshminarayanan, R., Kini, R. M., Johannes, C. W., Dymock, B. W., & Dawe, G. S.

The duration of lithium use and biological ageing: telomere length, frailty, metabolomic age and all-cause mortality

Mutz, J., Wong, W. L. E., Powell, T. R., Young, A. H., Dawe, G. S., & Lewis, C. M.

Fetal microchimerism in the maternal mouse brain: A novel population of fetal progenitor or stem cells able to cross the blood-brain barrier?

Tan, X. W., Liao, H., Sun, L., Okabe, M., Xiao, Z. C., & Dawe, G. S.

Investigating the role of the relaxin-3/RXFP3 system in neuropsychiatric disorders and metabolic phenotypes: A candidate gene approach

Wong, W. L. E., Arathimos, R., Lewis, C. M., Young, A. H., & Dawe, G. S.

The Effects of CYP2C19 Genotype on Proxies of SSRI Antidepressant Response in the UK Biobank

Wong, W. L. E., Fabbri, C., Laplace, B., Li, D., van Westrhenen, R., Lewis, C. M., Dawe, G. S., & Young, A. H.