Steve ROZEN

Full CV and publication list.

Ioana CUTCUTACHE, Research Associate

I am from Bucharest, Romania, where I grew up and spent most of my life. I did my university studies at the Politehnica University of Bucharest where I obtained an engineering degree from the Faculty of Automatic Control and Computer Science, specializing in Computer Science. It was during these studies that I first came to Singapore for a 6 month internship in School of Computing, NUS. After my undergraduate studies finished I decided to return to Singapore for a M.Sc. in Computer Science that I also did in NUS. During my graduate studies I worked as a Research Assistant in the Embedded Systems Lab and my research focused on compiler optimizations, profiling and body-sensor networks simulators. I also had the chance of spending 4 months in Silicon Valley as an intern at Intel Corporation.

In 2009 I started working in Duke-NUS as part of Steve Rozen’s lab. Here, I have been working on several projects, such as updating and optimizing the primer design software Primer3, and setting up the analysis pipeline for high-throughput DNA sequencing. Currently I am still involved in maintaining and updating our pipeline and applying it to several cancer-related projects. My own project focuses on finding novel somatic mutations in germ-cell tumors.

Outside work, I love traveling, discovering and photographing the amazing places around South-East Asia.

Thomas KLEMM, Software Engineer

I am from Munich in Germany which is the capitol of Bavaria and the host of the world famous beer-fest in October. Here I was born, raised and attended the German ‘Gymnasium’ which is the equivalent to a high-school with an extension to 13 years of basic education. I speak German (mother tongue), English (fluently) and French(a bit rusty due to lack of practice in years). I then studied at the University of Tuebingen (Germany) and finished with a Diploma in Bioinformatics (equivalent to a Master’s Degree). My final thesis was about computational molecular modelling in drug target research for cancer and protein structure analysis in-silico.

Since arriving at Singapore I am working on the next-gen sequencing pipeline of the Rozen lab by maintaining and upgrading certain features. I also use the same pipeline for the analysis of sequenced samples of Mendelian eye diseases for my PI Terry L. Young, M.D. We are looking for interesting novel mutations in genes that might be causal to certain diseases or at least causal in certain families.

In my spare time I like to be active and do a lot of sports like basketball, tennis or diving. Preferable anything that has to do with basketball is interesting to me since it is has always been my passion as a former professional athlete in this field. Hence, I follow the NCAA, NBA and German leagues online or on TV wherever possible. Another interest is travelling to new places which is highly supported in Singapore since it is a hub from which one can easily reach most places in Asia. I’ve been around quite a bit but the list is endless and there will always be a next trip to take without being bored.

LEI Zheng Deng, Research Fellow

I am from a small town in Fujian Province, south China. I obtained my BS and MS in analytical chemistry from Peking University and Chinese Academy of Sciences in China, respectively. After receiving the masters degree, I took a job as a programmer in a software company, where I was involved in developing commercial software for Japanese companies using C, VC++, Java, and VB, as well as the databases Oracle and SQL server. Later I went to Chicago for PhD study in Bioinformatics at University of Illinois at Chicago and then worked as a high throughput computational analyst in Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York city.

In 2009, I joined Steve Rozen’s group as a research fellow. My current research interests include but are not limited to analysis of genomic/epigenomic profilings of gastric cancer and search for personalized chemotherapy for patients. In my spare time, I enjoy programming, surfing online, swimming, movies, music etc…

LIU Yu Jing, Ph.D Candidate

I came from Hubei, China and graduated from Huazhong University of Science & Technology with a bachelor’s degree in Life Science. In the fourth year of my undergraduate study, I studied microRNA at the CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology (PICB) for one semester. Now I’m doing my PhD study in the Singapore-MIT Alliance Computation & Systems Biology program.

Currently, I am focusing on my thesis project “Alternative Splicing in gastric cancer”. This is aimed at finding alternatively spliced genes that may contribute to gastric cancer progression or development.

Outside work, I enjoy sports and food.

John McPHERSON, Associate in Research

I grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand and eventually graduated from the University of Canterbury with a B.Sc.(Hons) in Computer Science. After graduating, I moved to Hamilton in the North Island where I completed a doctorate in Computer Science, as part of the Digital Libraries research group.

I’ve been in the Rozen lab since July 2010, working predominantly on analysis of high throughput sequencing of cancer samples in collaboration with other research labs. Mostly this has involved identifying novel variants or chromosomal re-arrangements specific to the tumour tissue.

Other than work, I enjoy almost all forms of music, trying lots of different foods (easy in Singapore), and skiing (not so easy in Singapore).

Subhashini RAMGOPAL, Research Assistant

Born in Chennai, I grew up in Delhi, India doing all my schooling there. I graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of Technology degree in Biotechnology. During the course of my engineering, I had interned at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS). The work at JNU involved some basic molecular biology techniques for characterization of DNA helicases in H.pylori and at INMAS my project work was on imaging and analysis of Human brain for mapping Emotions using fMRI.

After my Bachelors I briefly worked at Florence Polytechnic, Delhi. I moved to Singapore in January 2010 and joined the Rozen lab in June 2010. I am currently working on Autism Spectrum Disorders.

My hobbies include singing, painting, travelling to exotic locations and I enjoy adventure sports and activities. I have formal training in Hindustani Classical music (Indian) and am an accomplished singer.

TANG Yew Chung, Research Fellow

I got my first taste of genome-scale biological research while working with DNA microarrays as a chemical engineering undergraduate specializing in biopharmaceutical engineering at NUS and have been hooked since. I went on to complete my PhD under the Singapore-MIT Alliance graduate programme, working in both the H.P. Too Lab in the NUS and the Greg Stephanopoulos Lab in MIT, where my work focused on applying engineering principles and quantitative analysis to the study of biological systems.

I joined the Rozen Lab after completing my PhD in 2009 and my research is currently focused on the use of a high-throughput synthetic lethal siRNA screening approach to identify potential drug targets in the subset of cancers that are deficient in the function of the PTEN tumor suppressor gene.

Outside the lab, I’m an amateur photographer, violinist, and chorister. I also write about science and technology research in Asia as an editor of AsianScientist.com.

Thomas THURNHERR, Visiting Ph.D Candidate

Originally, I’m from Switzerland where I received a M.Sc. in Communication Systems from EPFL in 2007. I am currently doing a PhD in computational biology under scholarship at NUS Graduate School of Integrative Sciences and Engineering.

My research interests are in microRNA and their correlation with gene expression. I’m currently working on microarray data from hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

I like to do sports, particularly playing Badminton and hiking in the mountains. Furthermore, I enjoy traveling, playing board games and going out with friends.

Alice WU Ying Ting, Ph.D Candidate

I am from Shanghai, China. I graduated from Shanghai Jiaotong University with a bachelor’s degree in Biological Technology & Engineering and a minor degree in Computer Science. I spent one year working in CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology (PICB) on high throughput data analysis. Now I’m pursuing my PhD degree in Computational & System Biology.

Now I’m focusing on my thesis project regarding genome-wide Loss of Heterozygosity (LOH) profile in gastric cancer. I’m looking for novel TSGs leading to tumorigenesis by analyzing Affymetrix SNP 6.0 Array.

Outside the lab, I enjoy travelling and cooking. Music, movie and sports such as badminton are also my favourite. And I’m also a crazy soccer fan.