个人简介

EducationPhD Department of Genetics, The University of Melbourne, Australia (2003-2008)BSc(1st Class Hons) Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Melbourne, Australia (2002)BSc Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne, Australia.Majors in Genetics, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2001)Diploma Biotechnology, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore (1997-2000)Academic and Professional Experience2013-present Senior Instructor, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau2008-2013 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, USACourse OutlinesHSCI3005 Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics LabHSCI7003 Digital BiomedicineHSCI8004 Methodologies in Biomedical Sciences

研究领域

Many fungi are opportunistic pathogens that infect immune-compromised individuals like patients with immune diseases (e.g. HIV) and patients whose immune system is suppressed by drugs during bone marrow or organ transplant therapies and cancer treatments. As the number of these patients increases, fungal pathogens pose increasing threats to human health.Treatment of fungal diseases has always been a major clinical challenge. Fungi and humans are both eukaryotic organisms and share many conserved molecular mechanisms. As such, drugs that can kill fungi often inevitably also have adverse effect(s) on the human hosts. Furthermore, fungal pathogens may develop resistance to existing anti-fungal drugs. These factors lead to an unacceptably high mortality rate for fungal infections despite the advances of modern medicine. Therefore, there is an urgent need for development of new effective anti-fungal therapeutics.The ability of any pathogen to cause disease relies on its ability to adapt to and grow within the host environment. The proper and timely delivery of organelles and biological molecules to specific destinations within a cell is essential for cell growth and survival, and hence cellular transportation must play an important role during fungal pathogenesis. Cellular transportation has been a subject of intensive research, but many big questions still remain in the field. For example, how the transportation process is regulated and coordinated and how it contributes to fungal pathogenesis are not yet understood.My research uses a multi-disciplinary approach to study how molecules are transported within a cell and study the role of cellular transportation during fungal infection. This will provide important clues in identifying novel anti-fungal targets and development of effective therapies for fungal infections.

近期论文

Representative PublicationsKai, M., Lei, J. H., Valecha, M. V., Zhang, A., Xu, J., Wang, L., Lyu, X., Chen, S., Miao, Z., Zhang, X., Su, S., Shao, F., Rajendran, B. K., Bao, J., Zeng, J., Sun, H., Chen, P., Tan, K., Chen, Q., Wong, K. H., Xu, X., and Deng, C. (2020) NOTCH1 Activation Compensates BRCA1 Deficiency and Promotes Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Formation. Nat Commun (Accepted)Tan, K., and Wong, K. H. (2019) RNA Polymerase II ChIP-Seq-a Powerful and Highly Affordable Method for Studying Fungal Genomics and Physiology. Biophysical Reviews 11, 79-82Qin, L. G., Li, A., Tan, K., Guo, S. h., Chen, Y. Y., Wang, F., and Wong, K. H. (2019) Universal Plasmids to Facilitate Gene Deletion and Gene Tagging in Filamentous Fungi. Fungal Genet Biol 125, 28-35Choi, G. C. G., Zhou, P., Yuen, C. T. L., Chan, B. K. C., Xu, F., Bao, S., Chu, H. Y., Thean, D., Tan, K., Wong, K. H., Zheng, Z. L., and Wong, A. S. L. (2019) Combinatorial Mutagenesis En Masse Optimizes the Genome Editing Activities of SpCas9. Nat Methods 16, 722-730Zhang, B. Y., Lyu, J. F., Liu, Y. F., Wu, C. J., Yang, E. J., Pardeshi, L., Tan, K., Wong, K. H., Chen, Q., Xu, X. l., Deng, C. X., and Shim, J. S. (2018) BRCA1 Deficiency Sensitizes Breast Cancer Cells to Bromodomain and Extra-Terminal Domain (BET) Inhibition. Oncogene 37, 6341-6356Veri, A., Miao, Z. Q., Shapiro, R., Tebbji, F., O’Meara, T., Kim, S. H., Colazo, J., Tan, K., Vyas, V., Whiteway, M., Robbins, N., Wong, K. H., and Cowen, L. (2018) Tuning Hsf1 Levels Drives Distinct Fungal Morphogenetic Programs with Depletion Impairing Hsp90 Function and Overexpression Expanding the Target Space. Plos Genet 14, e1007270Liu, Y., Yang, E. J., Zhang, B. Y., Miao, Z. Q., Wu, C. J., Lyu, J. F., Tan, K., Poon, T. C. W., and Shim, J. S. (2018) PTEN Deficiency Confers Colorectal Cancer Cell Resistance to Dual Inhibitors of FLT3 and Aurora kinase A. Cancer Lett 436, 28-37Xie, J. L., Qin, L. G., Miao, Z. Q., Grys, B., Diaz, J. D. L. C., Ting, K., Krieger, J., Tong, J. F., Tan, K., Leach, M., Ketela, T., Moran, M., Krysan, D., Boone, C., Andrews, B., Selmecki, A., Wong, K. H., Robbins, N., and Cowen, L. (2017) The Candida Albicans Transcription Factor Cas5 Couples Stress Responses, Drug Resistance and Cell Cycle Regulation. Nat Commun 8, 499Leach, M. D., Farrer, R. A., Tan, K., Miao, Z., Walker, L. A., Cuomo, C. A., Wheeler, R. T., Brown, A. J., Wong, K. H., and Cowen, L. E. (2016) Hsf1 and Hsp90 Orchestrate Temperature-Dependent Global Transcriptional Remodelling and Chromatin Architecture in Candida Albicans. Nat Commun 7, 11704Tan, K., Roberts, A. J., Chonofsky, M., Egan, M. J., and Reck-Peterson, S. L. (2014) A Microscopy-Based Screen Employing Multiplex Genome Sequencing Identifies Cargo-Specific Requirements for Dynein Velocity. Mol Biol Cell 25, 669-678Downes, D. J., Chonofsky, M., Tan, K., Pfannenstiel, B. T., Reck-Peterson, S. L., and Todd, R. B. (2014) Characterization of the Mutagenic Spectrum of 4-Nitroquinoline 1-Oxide (4-NQO) in Aspergillus Nidulans by Whole Genome Sequencing. G3 (Bethesda) 4, 2483-2492Egan, M. J., Tan, K., and Reck-Peterson, S. L. (2012) Lis1 Is an Initiation Factor for Dynein-Driven Organelle Transport. J Cell Biol 197, 971-982Zhang, J., Tan, K., Wu, X., Chen, G., Sun, J., Reck-Peterson, S. L., Hammer, J. A., 3rd, and Xiang, X. (2011) Aspergillus myosin-V Supports Polarized Growth in the Absence of Microtubule-Based Transport. PLoS One 6, e28575Pal, B., Chan, N. C., Helfenbaum, L., Tan, K., Tansey, W. P., and Gething, M. J. (2007) SCFCdc4-Mediated Degradation of the Hac1p Transcription Factor Regulates the Unfolded Protein Response in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae. Mol Biol Cell 18, 426-440Oon, C. J., Chen, W. N., Goh, K. T., Mesenas, S., Ng, H. S., Chiang, G., Tan, C., Koh, S., Teng, S. W., Toh, I., Moh, M. C., Goo, K. S., Tan, K., Leong, A. L., and Tan, G. S. (2002) Molecular Characterization of Hepatitis B Virus Surface Antigen Mutants in Singapore Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Hepatitis B Virus Carriers Negative for HBsAg but Positive for anti-HBs and anti-HBc. J Gastroenterol Hepatol 17 Suppl, S491-496