Appointment(s)
Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University Singapore
Assistant Dean, Academic Affairs (Equal Opportunities & Career Development), Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University Singapore
Co-Director, Infectious Diseases Translational Research Program, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University Singapore
Degree(s)
PhD in Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1996)
BSc (Honours) in Molecular Biology, Purdue University
Biography
Associate Professor Gan Yunn Hwen graduated from Purdue University with a BSc (Honours) in Molecular Biology and University of Wisconsin-Madison with a PhD in medical microbiology and immunology. As a world-leading melioidosis researcher, her work focused on this tropical disease.
She established the first mucosal animal model and had helped define the field by examining bacterial pathogen’s virulence as well as the host immune response to the disease. Her lab discovered a regulatory cascade that coordinately controlled two bacterial secretion systems which are critical for bacterial virulence. Other seminal findings include the discovery that glutathione deficiency is the reason for increased disease risk to melioidosis for Type 2 diabetic patients.
Her recent research interest has pivoted to the study of both hypervirulent and multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae. Her laboratory also works on identifying bacterial virulence factors of hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae responsible for causing liver abscess, which is prominent in Asia. The lab develops different animal models to investigate different infection niches, including gut colonisation during carriage, infection and disease.
As an Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Researcher, her recent works have identified the alarming trend of the convergence of multidrug resistance and hypervirulence in Klebsiella pneumoniae in Singapore’s hospital settings. Her ongoing research studies how antibiotic resistance genes on highly evolved and adapted mobile genetic elements are spreading among bacterial populations, and strategies to stop the spread.
Effect of oral N-acetyl cysteine supplementation in type 2 diabetic patients on intracellular glutathione content and innate immune responses to Burkholderia pseudomallei, 2014
Akshamal M Gamage, Kok Onn Lee, Yunn-Hwen Gan
Glutathione deficiency in type 2 diabetes impairs cytokine responses and control of intracellular bacteria, 2012
Kai Soo Tan, Kok Onn Lee, Kee Chung Low, Akshamal Mihiranga Gamage, Yichun Liu, Gek-Yen Gladys Tan, Hui Qi Vanessa Koh, Sylvie Alonso, Yunn-Hwen Gan
The BpsIR quorum-sensing system of Burkholderia pseudomallei, 2005
Y Song, C Xie, YM Ong, YH Gan, KL Chua
Modified virulence of antibiotic-induced Burkholderia pseudomallei filaments, 2005
K Chen, GW Sun, KL Chua, YH Gan
Mycobacterial heat shock protein 65 enhances antigen cross-presentation in dendritic cells independent of Toll-like receptor 4 signaling, 2004
K Chen, JH Lu, L Wang, YH Gan
Flagella are virulence determinants of Burkholderia pseudomallei, 2003
KL Chua, YY Chan, YH Gan
Characterization of Burkholderia pseudomallei infection and identification of novel virulence factors using a Caenorhabditis elegans host system, 2002
YH Gan, KL Chua, HH Chua, B Liu, CS Hii, HL Chong, P Tan
Model of differential susceptibility to mucosal Burkholderia pseudomallei infection, 2002
B Liu, GC Koo, EH Yap, KL Chua, YH Gan
Antitumour immunity of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin and interferon alpha in murine bladder cancer, 1999
YH Gan, Y Zhang, HE Khoo, K Esuvaranathan
Evaluation of lymphocytic responses after treatment with bacillus Calmette-Guerin and interferon-alpha 2b for superficial bladder cancer, 1999
YH Gan, R Mahendran, K James, C Lawrencia, K Esuvaranathan
