A*STAR’s Patrick Tan Wins Chen New Investigator Award

Dr. Patrick Tan from A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore has received the 2013 Chen New Investigator Award from the international Human Genome Organization.

AsianScientist (Apr. 19, 2013) – Dr. Patrick Tan from A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) has received the 2013 Chen New Investigator Award from the international Human Genome Organization (HUGO).

The Chen New Investigator Award, set up by Professor Yuan-Tsong (Y-T) Chen and Mrs. Alice Der-Shan Chen, recognizes scientists who have made significant contributions to their respective fields of human genetic and genomic research during their early career years.

The award was presented at the annual meeting of HUGO, which took place from April 13-18 at the Marina Bay Sands Singapore.

A graduate of Harvard University and Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr Tan’s research laboratory focuses on developing methods to differentiate and group gastric cancer patients based on their molecular profiles, and identifying the genes required for cancer to develop in each of these groups so that therapeutic treatments can be tailor-made for each specific group.

Dr Tan is also currently leading POLARIS (Personalized OMIC Lattice for Advanced Research and Improving Stratification), a consortium of A*STAR Research Institutes and public healthcare centers that is driving Singapore’s concerted effort to venture into stratified medicine.

In addition to his appointment in GIS, Dr Tan is also a Professor in the Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, and a Senior Principal Investigator at the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

“I am deeply humbled and grateful to receive the Chen Award. This honor would not have been possible without the tireless support of my research team and our many collaborators throughout Singapore. We will redouble our efforts to translate our discoveries into applications that significantly improve health outcomes for patients in Singapore and the region,” said Dr. Tan.

The 2013 Chen Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in Human Genetic and Genomic Research was awarded to Dr. Yoshihide Hayashizaki of the RIKEN Omics Science Center in Japan, for his contributions to transcriptome analysis by developing new full-length cDNA technologies.

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Source: A*STAR; Photo: Duke Institute for Genome Science & Policy.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

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