Investigators


Judy SNG

 
judy_sng@sics.a-star.edu.sg

Growth, Development and Metabolism Programme
Principal Investigator
http://www.neuroepigenetics.com/

The overall goal of work in our laboratory is to understand how sensitive periods or "critical periods" in the brain are modulated by external sensory cues and the dynamic interplay between external environment and epigenetics that drives experience dependent plasticity.

Our lab focuses on 1) characterizing the epigenetic balance in brain structures that display critical period, such as mouse visual and somatosensory cortex; 2) deciphering the histone code hypothesis for critical period window formation; 3) identifying sensory processing genes and their epigenetic control using an environmental enrichment model. These studies will provide a better understanding of epigenetics in rekindling brain plasticity, leading to new therapies for recovery of function from developmental learning disorders and brain injury and also enhancing lifelong learning.
  1. Role of protein arginine methylation transferases (PRMTs) in visual cortical plasticity
    Patrick Lee, Tendy Ching
    Collaborators: Marco Bezzi (PhD student), Ernesto Guccione (PI, IMCB, A*STAR); Tan Hwee Tong (Postdoc), Maxey Chung (A/Prof., Biochemistry, NUS)
  2. Epigenetic regulation of somatosensory cortical plasticity
    Siti Norfiza
    Collaborators: Lo sQ (PhD student), George Augustine (Prof., Duke-NUS, NRP)
  3. Epigenetic regulation of dendritic morphology in enriched environmental cues
    Fadlina Musa, Tendy Ching
  4. Dissecting excitatory and inhibitory circuitry in experience-dependent plasticity
    Vania Lim
  5. Necdin in cortical plasticity
    Navin Brian, Siti Norfiza, Fadlina Musa
    Collaborators: Hideo Taniura and Kazuaki Yoshikawa

Judy Sng and Michael J. Meaney. Environmental regulation of the neural epigenome. Epigenomics, 1: 131-151.

Hideo Taniura, Judy C. G. Sng, Yukio Yoneda (2007) Histone Modifications in the brain. Neurochem Int, 51:85-91.

Judy C. G. Sng, Hideo Taniura, Yukio Yoneda (2006) Histone Modifications in Kainate-induced Status Epilepticus. Eur. J. Neurosci. 23, 1269-1282.

Takao Hirai, Hideo Taniura, Yasuaki Goto, Masato Ogura, Judy C.G. Sng and Yukio Yoneda (2006) Stimulation of ubiquitin-proteasome pathway through the expression of amidohydrolase for N-terminal asparagine (Ntan1) in cultured rat hippocampal neurons exposed to static magnetism. J. Neurochem. 96, 1519-1530.

Hideo Taniura, Judy C. G. Sng, Yukio Yoneda (2006) Histone Modifications in status epilepticus induced by kainate. Histol Histopathol. 21, 785-795.

Judy C. G. Sng, Hideo Taniura, Yukio Yoneda (2005) Inhibition of histone deacetylation by trichostatin A intensifies the transcriptions of neuronal c-fos and c-jun genes after kainate stimulation. Neuroscience Letters 386(3):150-155.

Shirhan M, Moochhala SM, Siew Yang KL, Sng J, Ng KC, Mok P, Lu J. (2004) Preservation of neurological functions by nitric oxide synthase inhibitors in conscious rats following delayed hemorrhagic shock. Life Sci. 76(6):661-70.

Judy C. G. Sng, Hideo Taniura, Yukio Yoneda (2004) A tale of early response genes. Biol. Pharm. Bull. 27, 606-612.

Lab Members

Judy Sng Ph.D.
Principal Investigator and NUS Physiology Adj. Professor
E-mail: judy_sng@sics.a-star.edu.sg
Judy received her Ph.D. degree from Kanazawa University, mentored by Prof. Yukio Yoneda. She conducted postdoctoral research with Prof. Takao K. Hensch and Dr. Michela Fagiolini at RIKEN Brain Science Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School. She established the Neuroepigenetics Laboratory in 2009. She was a Japanese Government Scholar (Monbusho) and is a recipient of the Young Investigator Award from Society of Neurochemistry (2006).

Hirotaka Oikawa Ph.D.
Research Fellow
E-mail: hirotaka_oikawa@sics.a-star.edu.sg
Hiro received his Ph.D. degree from Kanazawa University and conducted his postdoctoral research with Prof. Shunji Tomatsu at St. Louis University. He joined our lab in Nov’ 10.

Patrick Lee BSc (Hons)
Research Officer
E-mail: patrick_lee@sics.a-star.edu.sg
Patrick graduated with first class honors in Biochemistry from University of Queensland. He has previously interned at Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory and worked in Ng Huck Hui's lab at Genome Institute of Singapore, A*STAR before joining us in April '09 as our first technician.

Vania Lim BSc (Hons)
Research Officer
E-mail: vania_lim@sics.a-star.edu.sg
Vania graduated with first class honors in Biochemistry from University of Melbourne. She has previously interned at Genome Institute of Singapore and worked in Deng Lih Wen's lab at Biochemistry NUS, A*STAR before joining us in January '10.

Bavani Elanggovan
Research Officer
E-mail: Bavani_Elanggovan@sics.a-star.edu.sg

Tendy Ching
Veterinary Technician
E-mail: tendy_ching@sics.a-star.edu.sg

Alumni

Navin Brian
Attachment student
Navin is an A*STAR scholar and was with us from May '10 till August '10 for his pre-departure attachment. He is off to University of Oxford for his undergraduate studies.

Fadlina Musa BSc (Hons)
Research Officer
Lin graduated with second upper class honors in Life Sciences from National University of Singapore. She joined us in June '10. She is now at Qiagen Singapore.

Siti Norfiza BSc
Research Officer
Fiza graduated from National University of Singapore in Life Sciences. She has previously worked in ES Cell and Robert Zweigerdt's lab at Institute of Medical Biology, A*STAR. Fiza joined our lab in May '09.