Over the past decades, genetic variations have been pinpointed as an important determinant of cancer susceptibility and treatment response. Thus, identification of genetic variants associated with the above traits has a clear potential for facilitating cancer prevention and treatment optimization. Our group aims to characterize the landscape of genetic variations in a variety of cancer types, including colorectal, cervical, breast and lung cancers, and evaluate whether these genetic variations contribute to cancer susceptibility and treatment response. Numerous methods have been used for achieving this purpose, ranging from low-throughput approaches such as the hypothesis-driven candidate gene studies to high-throughput approaches such as genome wide association studies (GWAS). Further, we attempt to elucidate the mechanisms by which selected genetic variants lead to the said phenotypes by conducting in vitro functional assays. Additionally, our group also actively conducts systematic reviews and meta-analyses to identify potential biomarkers for cancer susceptibility and treatment response, as well as other health aspects.
Research funding:
Elucidating the presence and role of autoantibodies and the corresponding antigens on extracellular vesicles in glioblastoma multiforme (funded by the Higher Institution Centre of Excellence grant of the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, 125,000 MYR, 2021-2024) - Co-researcher
Identification, validation and functional characterization of genetic variants associated with resistance to platinum-based therapy among non-small cell lung cancer patients in Malaysia (funded by the Research University Grant of the National University of Malaysia, 70,000 MYR, 2020-2022) - Principal Investigator
Deciphering genetic make-up of overactive parathyroid glands in accelerated secondary hyperparathyroidism and tertiary hyperparathyroidism in end stage renal failure patients by whole exome sequencing (funded by the Faculty of Medicine Fundamental Grant of the National University of Malaysia, 30,000 MYR, 2020-2022) - Co-researcher
Identification and functional characterization of genetic variants associated with colorectal cancer risk (funded by the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme of the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, 220,111 MYR, 2019-2022) - Principal Investigator
Identification of novel predictive biomarker, NUB1 on the combined FEC-T adjuvant therapy among breast cancer patients (funded by the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme of the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, 201,500 MYR, 2019-2022) - Co-researcher
Identification of tumor-specific binding peptides towards molecular determinants in colorectal cancer cells for metastasis inhibition and elucidation of its inhibiting mechanism (funded by the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme of the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, 179,800 MYR, 2019-2022) - Co-researcher
A phase 3, multi-arm multi-stage covariate-adjusted response-adaptive randomised trial to determine optimal early mobility training after stroke (AVERT DOSE) (funded by The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health Funding, 133,190.70 MYR, 2019-2022) - Co-researcher
Functional polymorphisms in microRNA genes and their influence on breast cancer susceptibility (funded by the Young Researcher Incentive Grant of the National University of Malaysia, 50,000 MYR, 2018-2021) - Principal Investigator