Yee Joo TAN / Seng Gee LIM infectious diseases

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	Yee Joo TAN
	Lab Location: #6-04 email: mcbtanyj@imcb.a-star.edu.sg tel:65869625
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	Seng Gee LIM
	Lab Location: #6-04 email: mdclimsg@nus.a-star.edu.sg
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	Key Publications
	Keng, C.-T., Zhang, A., Shen S., Lip, K.M., Fielding, B.C., Tan, T.H.P., Chou, C.-F., Loh, C.B., Wang, S., Fu, J., Yang, X., Lim, S.G., Hong, W. and Tan, Y.-J. Amino acids 1055 to 1192 in the S2 region of SARS coronavirus S protein induces neutralizing antibodies: implications for the development of vaccine and anti-viral agent. *J. Virol.* 79(6): 3289-96, 2005. Lip, K.-M., Shen, S., Yang, X., Keng, C.-T., Zhang, A., Oh, H.-L.J., Li, Z.-H., Hwang, L.A., Chou, C.-F., Fielding, B.C., Tan, T.H.P., Mayrhofer, J., Falkner, F.G., Fu, J., Lim, S.G., Hong, W. and Tan, Y.-J. Monoclonal antibodies targeting the HR2 domain and the region immediately upstream of the HR2 of the S protein neutralize in vitro infection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus. *J. Virol.* 80(2): 941-50, 2006. Åkerström, S., Mirazimi, A., Tan, Y.-J. Inhibition of SARS-CoV replication cycle by small interference RNAs silencing specific SARS proteins, 7a/7b, 3a/3b and S. *Antiviral Res.* 73(3):219-27, 2007. Tan, Y.-J, Lim, S.G., and Hong, W. Regulation of cell-death during infection by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus and other coronaviruses. *Cellular Microbiology,* 9(11): 2552–61, 2007. Tan, Y.X., Tan, T.H., Lee, M.J., Tham, P.Y., Gunalan, V., Druce, J., Birch, C., Catton, M., Fu, N.Y., Yu, V.C., Tan, Y.-J. Induction of apoptosis by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 7a protein Is dependent on its interaction with the Bcl-XL protein. J Virol. 81(12): 6346-55, 2007 . .
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		Yee Joo TAN
		Yee Joo Tan (left) obtained her PhD from University of Cambridge in 1997. She joined IMCB thereafter as a postdoctoral research fellow and now is an Assistant Professor. She is co-leading the CAVR team with Seng Gee Lim. Her research focuses on understanding how RNA viruses make use of the host cell machineries for their own benefits. The viruses that are currently being studied in CAVR include viruses that usually cause acute infections like the SARS coronavirus and avian influenza virus, as well as those that can cause chronic infection like the hepatitis C virus.

		Seng Gee LIM
		Seng Gee Lim (right) is the head of Gastroenterology in the Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore. His background is in infectious diseases and host immunology having completed his MD on the impact of HIV in the gut. Currently, he is leading a team of clinicians and researchers in gastroenterology and hepatology research in addition to his role as co-investigator of CAVR. He is particularly interested in the interphase between virus and the host immune system.

		Collaborative Anti-Viral Research
		The formation of the Collaborative Anti-Viral Research (CAVR) lab initiated a new concept at IMCB - integration of scientific and clinical interests between the IMCB, the National University Hospital and the Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore, with the aim of tackling infectious disease. CAVR is led by a research scientist and a clinician working together in a complementary manner that aims towards a more complete understanding of viral infection and eventually leading to translation of research from the bench to the clinic. The focus of the laboratory is RNA viruses that infect humans and cause severe diseases. One major area of research is the Hepatitis C virus, in particular the discovery of viral-to-viral and viral-to-host interactions that impact on viral replication. They characterized several novel interactions and revealed the interplay between virus and host during HCV infection. In addition, considerable effort has been put into sequencing the full length viruses from clinical samples and constructing infectious cDNA clones. Such studies will contribute to a better understanding of HCV replication in cell culture systems as well as small animal models. A novel coronavirus (termed as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, SARS-CoV) was responsible for a viral outbreak which caused profound disturbances worldwide in the year 2003. Together with collaborators, they started to work on the SARS-CoV and quickly identified viral proteins suitable for development of diagnostic assays. Moving forward, they are studying the roles of various SARS-CoV proteins and characterizing viral-to-viral and viral-to-host interactions that are important for viral replication, viral assembly and/or pathogenesis. In addition, they have recently begun work on the H5N1 avian influenza virus, another emerging respiratory virus that may cause future flu pandemic. Figure legend: Colocalization of two interacting viral proteins (nsp8 and ORF6) in SARS-CoV infected Vero E6 cells.