STaR Awards winners: Prof Goh Boon Cher & Prof Dario Campana
Singapore Translational Research Investigator Award (STaR) is a prestigious award offered by the Singapore Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council (NMRC) to support internationally renowned and outstanding investigators in Translational and Clinical Research (TCR). The award winners have made outstanding contributions to the medical profession and public healthcare in the areas of clinical practice, education, and research.
The Clinician Scientist Senior Investigator Award (CSA-SI) winner: Prof Lee Soo Chin
CSA-SI is for a senior clinician scientist who has demonstrated sustained, high levels of productivity and leadership in research and are expected to mentor junior clinician scientists.
Project Awarded: Development of novel therapeutics and predictive biomarkers in breast cancer
Devising better treatments represents one important broad strategy to reduce morbidity and mortality of breast cancer. This breast cancer research program centres around clinical trials on novel therapeutics along with systematic collection of patient samples to develop predictive biomarkers towards the quest of precision medicine using the following 3 strategies: (1) Testing novel therapeutic strategies in clinical trials with focus on bench-to-bedside translation of preclinical work done locally, including novel drug combinations, a first-in-man T-cell therapy trial, and a novel immunotherapeutic agent in combination with chemotherapy; (2) develop a drug sensitivity testing platform using patient tissues to select personalized drug combinations for the patient, aiming for short turnaround time of 4-6 weeks to facilitate real-time guidance of treatment in the clinic; (3) explore the use of a novel blood-based biomarker (exosomes) that can be sampled non-invasively and repeatedly to predict outcome and track treatment progress in breast cancer patients.
The Clinician Scientist Investigator Award (CSA-INV) winner: Dr Anand D. Jeyasekharan
CSA-INV award is for a clinician scientist to bring bench discoveries to bedside applications. with demonstrated potential to become leaders in research.
Project Awarded: Mechanisms and therapeutic relevance of the interaction between genotoxic chemotherapy and complement regulators in lymphoma
Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common form of blood cancer worldwide highlighting the need for more effective treatment options. In addition to improving on existing combinations of the antibody rituximab with chemotherapy, which are partly effective a new area of research is understanding how to improve immune clearance of cancer cells after chemotherapy.
In this project, focus was on the complement system that regulates immune cell infiltration in tumours and also direct lysis of cancer cells. We recently identified that chemotherapy increases levels of complement regulatory proteins (CRPs), which we hypothesise could affect both rituximab and chemotherapy efficacy. In this proposal using a range of in-vitro experiments, genetic screens, animal models and state-of-the-art imaging techniques on lymphoma samples we aim to study the exact mechanism by which chemotherapy increases these mCRPs, in order to identify therapeutic drugs to block the phenomenon and thereby shift the balance towards increased cell death following combinations of rituximab and chemotherapy.
Transition Award winners: Associate Prof Glenn Bonney & Dr Raghav Sundar
The Transition Award (TA) aims to provide support for budding clinician scientists to help them to transit to a stable independent research position or other independent research funding
Associate Prof Glenn Bonney
Project Awarded: Interrogating the proteogenomic landscape of pancreatic cancer for therapeutic biomarker discovery
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinma (PDAC), is an aggressive cancer associated with a poor prognosis and most patients harbour aggressive and metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis. In addition, there is a lack of predictive biomarkers for precision treatments using existing therapies. In order to identify more robust biomarkers for clinical practise, characterisation of PDAC at both genomic and proteomic level is of paramount importance. For proteogenomic characterization of PDAC we propose to employ patient-derived tumour organoids (PDOs). In a parallel study, these PDOs will be used for phenotypic screen of current therapies for precision treatment. By combining results from therapeutic response and proteogenomic study, we hope to identify candidate biomarkers to inform treatment response. Information from our current study can also be expanded for diagnostic biomarker identification. Our study not only has the potential of improving patient outcome but will provide key insights into the complex biology of cancer development and progression in PDAC.
Dr Raghav Sundar
Project Awarded: Study of epigenetic regulators of the tumour immune microenvironment of gastric cancer peritoneal metastases
Gastric (stomach) cancer is one of the top causes of death. Gastric cancer tends to spread to the lining of the abdomen (peritoneum). Outcomes for patients with gastric cancer peritoneal metastases are generally very poor. Controlling genetic features of the tumor that regulate the ability to avoid detection by the immune system may allow immunotherapy to work better. We propose to study gastric cancer peritoneal metastases by analyzing the genomic landscape of the tumors and the immediate environment surrounding the cancer cells. Using technology that preserves the spatial organization of the tumor, we aim to understand the composition of the various immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. From the data generated through the first two analyses, we aim to identify and validate a therapeutic target in a novel animal model. This model involves mice with a functional human immune system. Findings from this study may lead to the discovery of novel treatment strategies for gastric cancer peritoneal metastases.
