Introduction
Autophagy is an evolutionarily well conserved process in which intracellular proteins and organelles are engulfed into autophagosome, which eventually fuse with lysosomes for degradation. At present, it has been well established that the autophagic process is controlled by a group of proteins encoded by autophagy-related genes (ATGs) and autophagy plays critical roles in many cellular processes including cell stress response, cell survival, cell death, metabolism, and immunity, etc. More importantly, autophagy is closely implicated in many important human diseases such as cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, metabolic diseases, infectious diseases and ageing. In 2016 Dr Yoshinori Ohsumi was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his ground-breaking work in identifying the ATGs in yeast. Currently, autophagy remains an important research topic in biomedical research, with the aim to develop novel therapeutic approaches by targeting or manipulating autophagy for important human diseases.
Our Mission
The MSC Autophagy Programme will provide a platform to bring together the researchers with a common interest in autophagy across the 5 basic medical science departments, but also facilitate collaboration and partnership with other researchers, including clinicians from Singapore and overseas in this exciting research field. Our ultimate aim is to build and develop a world-class research programme to perform cutting edge research in autophagy, from basic mechanisms to translational/clinical applications.
Who We Are
We are faculty members and researchers in the basic science departments within the NUS Medicine with a shared interest in study of autophagy, from basic mechanisms to translational/clinical application.
What We Do
At present, we already have a strong team working on the following topics related to autophagy:
- Autophagy in cancer cell biology, including cell death, cell cycle and cell survival
- Autophagy in neurodegenerative diseases including PD and AD
- Autophagy in ageing
- Autophagy in muscle biology
- Autophagy in immunity and infection
- Autophagy in nanobiology
- Selective autophagy, including mitophagy
- Lysosomal biology in neuroscience
- Development of novel techniques in study of autophagy
The Way Forward
The MSC Autophagy Programme provides an excellent platform to bring together all researchers in the cluster to work to achieve something pivotal and more significant on autophagy. Looking forward, we anticipate to establish closer collaborations between basic scientists and clinicians, researchers within and outside the cluster, and local and overseas autophagy researchers. We will establish a network to share knowledge/reagents, to build up state-of-art techniques/resources and to nurture young scientists, to be supported by program grants.
Faculty Involved in the MSC Autophagy Programme
| Researcher | Department | Description of Research |
|---|---|---|
| Shen Han-Ming (Facilitator) | Physiology | Autophagy in cancer cell biology,Lysosome
mitophagy |
| Bay Boon Huat | Anatomy | Autophagy in cancer biology,Autophagy in nanobiology |
| Hu Qidong | Anatomy | Autophagy in neurodifferentiation |
| S Thameem Dheen | Anatomy | Autophagy in neurodegenerative diseases |
| Baeg Gyeong Hun | Anatomy | Autophagy in redox signaling and stem cell biology |
| Markus Wenk | Biochemistry | Autophagy in lipid metabolism |
| Marie-Veronique Clement | Biochemistry | Redox biology and lysosome biogenesis |
| Long Yun Chau | Biochemistry | mTOR signalling and autophagy |
| Brian Kennedy | Biochemistry/Centre for Healthy Ageing | Autophagy and ageing |
| Alan Prem Kumar | Pharmacology | RNA helicases as drivers of autophagy in cancer |
| Fred Wong | Pharmacology | Autophagy in immunity and infection |
| Gautam Sethi | Pharmacology | Autophagy in Cancer Biology |
| Wang Jigang | Pharmacology/Centre for Healthy Ageing | Autophagy in Chemical Biology |
| Pervaiz Shazib | Physiology | Cancer cell signalling, apoptosis,reactive oxygen species |
| Celestial T Yap Suen Mei | Physiology | Cytoskeletal proteins and autophagy in cancer |
| Reshma Taneja | Physiology | Autophagy in muscle biology |
| Lim Kah Leong | Physiology | Autophagy in neurodegenerative disease |
| Soong Tuck Wah | Physiology | Autophagy in neurodegenerative disease |
| Lim Hsiu Kim, Lina | Physiology | Autophagy and viral infection |
| John Chua Jia En | Physiology | Autophagy in neurodegenerative disease |
| Mallilankaraman Karthik Babu | Physiology | Autophagy in mitochondrial biology |
| Tsai Shih-Yin | Physiology | Autophagy in ageing/muscle biology |
| Ling Shuo-Chien | Physiology | Autophagy in neurons and glia, neurodegeneration and ageing |
| Saji Kumar Sreedharan | Physiology | Regulation and roles of autophagy in synapses |
| Thiruma Valavan Arumugam | Physiology | Autophagy and stroke/ageing |
| Esther Wong | Physiology/Centre for Healthy Ageing | Autophagy/CMA and ageing |