Research Highlights

Sat, 20 Oct 2012

News : Accolades: Prof Meaney’s appointment to the Order of Canada


Prof Michael Meaney has been recently appointed a member of the Order of Canada. He was recognised earlier this month for his outstanding contributions in the field of neuroscience – particularly on his work that demonstrates the effects of early environmental influences on neural development.

Prof Meaney is the Associate Director for the Growth, Metabolism Program and Adjunct Senior Investigator at the Neurocognitive Development Centre at SICS.

For more information on his research at SICS, please click here

Thu, 20 Sep 2012

News : SICS Scientist recognised for his contributions to food science and nutrition research


Professor Jeyakumar Henry has been announced as one of the 22 scientists from around the world to have made outstanding contributions to food science and nutrition research on a global scale.

Professor Henry was elected to the International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST) in recognition of his efforts, at the World Congress of Food Science and Technology in Brazil, in August.  

We offer our congratulations to Professor Henry for his exemplary achievement.

 

Prof Henry was appointed as Director of Clinical Nutritional Sciences at the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences in 2011.

Click here to read more on the Clinical Nutritional Research Centre Singapore.

Thu, 06 Sep 2012

News : A*STAR Scientists: Earlier Treatment for Young Patients With Chronic Hepatitis B May Be More Effective in Clearing Virus


1.         Scientists from A*STAR’s Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS), together with clinical collaborators from London[1], discovered for the first time that children and young patients with chronic Hepatitis B Virus infection (HBV carriers) do have a protective immune response, contrary to current belief, and hence can be more suitable treatment candidates than previously considered. 

2.         This discovery by the team of scientists led by Professor Antonio Bertoletti, programme director and research director of the infection and immunity programme at SICS, could lead to a paradigm shift in the current treatment of patients with chronic HBV. The findings were published in Gastroenterology on 1st September. 

3.         Current guidelines from international liver associations recommend delaying therapy until HBV carriers show clear signs of active liver disease, which generally appear after the age of 30[2]. This is based on two assumptions. One, young patients are unable to react to treatment because they are immune-tolerant to the virus. This means that there is no protective immune response[3] in their body to help them get rid of the virus, and therefore, they will not run the risk of liver damage or inflammation. Two, HBV infection is largely harmless in HBV carriers until active liver disease is apparent.

4.         However, Professor Bertoletti and his team showed that young patients are not immune tolerant as they posses HBV-specific T cells with the ability to produce distinct antiviral cytokines[4] that help the body fight against HBV. They also showed that the longer a patient is left untreated, the less effective their immune system becomes against HBV and the less able the patient will be able to clear the virus from their body even when they receive treatment. 

5.         The scientists demonstrated that the presence of HBV in the body over a long period of time is harmful to the patient due to repeated activation of T-cells which induces a progressive state of T-cell exhaustion, a state of immune system dysfunction that prevents optimal control of the infection and clearance of the virus from the body. Thus, young patients produce an immune response against HBV which is less compromised than that in older patients.

6.         Professor Bertoletti said, “Young patients infected with HBV are most at risk of developing chronic HBV[5] but current guidelines mean that they are also the least likely to be treated. However, our findings suggest that it might be better to start treatment early as young people with their stronger immune system, respond better to treatment and are more able to clear the virus.”

7.         Prof Judith Swain, Executive Director of SICS, said, “These findings may change the way treatment is applied to patients with HBV in hospitals in Singapore and throughout the world. This is a fine example of how clinicians, physician scientists, and scientists work together to improve healthcare for the public.”

Background on HBV

8.         HBV infection affects 400 million people worldwide, 75% of whom reside in Asia. In Singapore, one in every 35 adult is a Hepatitis B carrier.[6] Hepatitis B is the most common infection of the liver that is spread by direct contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected person. Not all HBV carriers display symptoms but lifelong infection carries the risk of serious health complications including cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver failure.

Notes for Editor:

The research findings described in this news release can be found in the volume 143 N 3 issue of Gastroenterology under the title “Preserved T-Cell Function in Children and Young Adults With Immune-Tolerant Chronic Hepatitis B”, by Patrick Kennedy, Elena Sandalova, Juandy Jo, Upkar Gill, Ines Ushiro-Lumb, Anthony Tan, Sandhia Naik, Graham Foster, and Antonoio Bertoletti.

The paper can be accessed at Gastroenterology Journal

More information can be obtained at Biospectrum Asia News

 
Thu, 16 Aug 2012

News : SICS scientist awarded prestigious 2012 La Fondation IPSEN prize for Neuronal Plasticity


Congratulations to Professor Michael Meaney on being awarded the prestigious 2012 La Fondation IPSEN prize for Neuronal Plasticity. The 2012 prize, co-awarded to Dr David Sweatt (USA) and Dr Catherine Dulac (UK), honors outstanding contributions to neuroscience that reflect new knowledge paradigms, and is in its 23rd year. 

Prof Meaney is the Associate Director of Growth, Development and Metabolism Programme and Adjunct Senior Investigator, Neurocognitive Development Centre, an extension of SICS located at the St. Andrew’s Community Hospital. 

Fri, 08 Jun 2012

News : A Better Diagnostic Tool for Brain Cancer


A joint study by researchers at the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI), National University of Singapore (NUS), and Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS), A*STAR, has uncovered the role of a new tumour suppressor – known as parkin – in brain cancer that promises to shed insights into why certain brain tumours are more aggressive than others.

This multi-institutional collaborative work, led by Associate Professor Lim Kah Leong at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine’s Department of Physiology, and Dr Carol Tang, Research Scientist at NNI together with Associate Professor Ang Beng Ti, Consultant at the Department of Neurosurgery at NNI and Senior Principal Investigator at SICS, was published recently in the May 15 issue of Cancer Research, a leading international cancer journal.

Forming the majority of adult malignant brain tumours, gliomas affect a significant number of individuals globally, including here in Singapore. The NNI sees about 50 new cases of malignant glioma each year and continues to manage its existing glioma caseload by means of a  multi-disciplinary neuro-oncology clinic. The prognosis for the majority of these tumours remains grim, particularly for patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most aggressive form of brain tumour. The late Senator Edward Kennedy was reportedly afflicted with this malignant form of glioma. Senator Kennedy died 15 months after his diagnosis. For reasons yet unclear, others readily succumbed to the disease within a much shorter time. Interestingly, the study showed that the level of parkin expression in glioma cells can determine the survival outcome and disease progression of patients, i.e. those who have high parkin expression in their cancer cells tend to survive longer with lower tumor grades than their parkin-deficient counterparts.

“With this understanding, instead of generalising malignant brain cancer patients, we can now differentiate their tumours based on their molecular characteristics” commented A/Prof Lim and Dr Tang. Agreeing, A/Prof Ang added, “This is significant as the stratification would allow us to formulate the most appropriate treatment for each patient.” 

Importantly, the investigators also found that the restoration of parkin expression in   parkin-deficient cells can slow down their proliferation rate and decrease their tumour size significantly. They are currently testing drugs that can mimic parkin’s protective function against the aggression of brain tumours.

The study is funded by research grants from the Khoo Teck Puat Foundation and Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, A*STAR.

Other key authors of the study are Mr Yeo Wee Sing, a graduate student at NUS Department of Physiology and Ms Felicia Ng, a bioinformatician previously at the Singapore Institute for Clinical Studies, A*STAR.