Samuel Gan

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Samuel Ken-En Gan (born 1981) is an ethnic Chinese Singaporean multi-disciplinary biomedical scientist, psychologist, writer, Christian apologist, and educator. He is currently a professor at Wenzhou-Kean University and an adjunct associate professor & Advisor Mentor [1] for James Cook University, Singapore, as well as associate senior lecturer in a few teaching institutions [2] [3] in Singapore. During his time as Senior Principal Investigator of the Antibody and Product Development (APD [4] ) Lab within the Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) between September 2011 to April 2022, he founded a startup for scientific phone apps, consultancy, research and educational kits in 2017, [5] which also housed the first and only specialized journal “Scientific Phone Apps and Mobile Devices” on mobile apps and IoT devices transferred from SpringerNature. [6] Gan also set up a new open-access student journal “APD Trove” [7] in 2017 and serves as founding Editor-in-Chief for both journals. Apart from the two journals he founded, he also served as associate editor for Frontiers in Immunology, Frontiers in Virology, [8] and guest editor for the 'Methods and protocols' journal by MDPI [9] and Frontiers in Psychology. [10]

Contents

Education

Samuel Ken-En Gan graduated from Temasek Polytechnic [11] with a Diploma in Biotechnology. He attained his BSc (Hons) in Molecular Cell Biology from University College London [12] before embarking on his Masters in Structural Biology from Birkbeck College [13] and Ph.D. in Allergy from King's College London [14] simultaneously with his BSc (Hons) in Psychology from Open University, [15] Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice and the Associate of King’s College, both from King’s College London. Gan is also trained in translation & interpretation, theology, business admin, and commercial law & tech transfer. He is a member of the Higher Education Academy UK, the British Psychological Society, Biochemical Society UK, Allergy & Clinical Immunology Society Singapore, and the New York Academy of Sciences.

Research

Samuel Ken-En Gan performs and publishes research articles in many disciplines. He currently has over 90 publications [16] that includes scientific research articles and books spanning over antibody engineering, viral mutations, psychology (including music psychology), theology, apologetics, scientific phone apps, and science-fiction. He is most well-known publicly for being one of the pioneers of scientific phone apps, [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] in particularly, DNAApp, [24] which received significant worldwide coverage [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] and started the work of scientific phone apps, including founding the journal with SpringerNature. Gan also has research in psychology, particularly in the context of Singapore. His most noted work in this discipline is the ‘P2P’ theory on how music can moderate anxiety and affect learning. [30] Combining psychology and apps, his lab now has research in psychological game apps to validate and study psychological parameters via smartphone game apps. [31] In biomedical sciences, Gan’s research publications are focused on holistic protein engineering, [32] particularly in the rational drug design of antibody therapeutics. [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] In the area of viruses, his work focusses on understanding protein-protein interactions in HIV drug targets, and how new interventions can be designed. [39] [40] [41] [42] [43]

Contributions

Gan plays a significant role in mentoring and coaching polytechnic students across multiple disciplines in Singapore to publish in international journals and develop products. For his effort, he was featured on a report by Temasek Polytechnic to the Parliament of Singapore [44] and on a number of news articles. [45] [46] [47] According to his lab social media page, more than 170 interns and tertiary students have been trained since 2013, along with the development of courses with institutions of learning in Singapore. [48] [49]

Awards and recognition

In 2006, Gan was featured as one of the 100 most talented Singaporeans below the age of 25 [50] and one of 200 selected international students globally for the 7th China Synergy Programme for Outstanding Youths 第七届海外杰青会. [51] Gan was listed as one of fifty skilled talented alumni from polytechnic/ITE in Singapore in the SG50 Book “A Nation of Skilled Talents”, [52] selected as one of the “world’s most promising researchers” in the Interstellar Initiative by the New York Academy of Sciences and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, as well as one of the 30 world class innovators [53] [54] in the book “Innovation Through Fusion” by Dr CJ Meadows. [55] In late 2020, Gan's team won Bronze in the inaugural Merck Lab Connectivity Challenge internationally [56] for their work on scientific phone apps and prototype devices. In Feb 2022, Gan was named winner of the "Science and Sustainability" category in the UK Alumni Awards 2021-22 in Singapore. [57]

Related Research Articles

An abzyme, also called catmab, and most often called catalytic antibody or sometimes catab, is a monoclonal antibody with catalytic activity. Abzymes are usually raised in lab animals immunized against synthetic haptens, but some natural abzymes can be found in normal humans and in patients with autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, where they can bind to and hydrolyze DNA. To date abzymes display only weak, modest catalytic activity and have not proved to be of any practical use. They are, however, subjects of considerable academic interest. Studying them has yielded important insights into reaction mechanisms, enzyme structure and function, catalysis, and the immune system itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV</span> Human retrovirus, cause of AIDS

The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of Lentivirus that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive. Without treatment, the average survival time after infection with HIV is estimated to be 9 to 11 years, depending on the HIV subtype.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS denialism</span> False belief that HIV does not cause AIDS

HIV/AIDS denialism is the belief, despite conclusive evidence to the contrary, that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Some of its proponents reject the existence of HIV, while others accept that HIV exists but argue that it is a harmless passenger virus and not the cause of AIDS. Insofar as they acknowledge AIDS as a real disease, they attribute it to some combination of sexual behavior, recreational drugs, malnutrition, poor sanitation, haemophilia, or the effects of the medications used to treat HIV infection (antiretrovirals).

Following infection with HIV-1, the rate of clinical disease progression varies between individuals. Factors such as host susceptibility, genetics and immune function, health care and co-infections as well as viral genetic variability may affect the rate of progression to the point of needing to take medication in order not to develop AIDS.

The genome and proteins of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) have been the subject of extensive research since the discovery of the virus in 1983. "In the search for the causative agent, it was initially believed that the virus was a form of the Human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV), which was known at the time to affect the human immune system and cause certain leukemias. However, researchers at the Pasteur Institute in Paris isolated a previously unknown and genetically distinct retrovirus in patients with AIDS which was later named HIV." Each virion comprises a viral envelope and associated matrix enclosing a capsid, which itself encloses two copies of the single-stranded RNA genome and several enzymes. The discovery of the virus itself occurred two years following the report of the first major cases of AIDS-associated illnesses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Envelope glycoprotein GP120</span> Glycoprotein exposed on the surface of the HIV virus

Envelope glycoprotein GP120 is a glycoprotein exposed on the surface of the HIV envelope. It was discovered by Professors Tun-Hou Lee and Myron "Max" Essex of the Harvard School of Public Health in 1984. The 120 in its name comes from its molecular weight of 120 kDa. Gp120 is essential for virus entry into cells as it plays a vital role in attachment to specific cell surface receptors. These receptors are DC-SIGN, Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycan and a specific interaction with the CD4 receptor, particularly on helper T-cells. Binding to CD4 induces the start of a cascade of conformational changes in gp120 and gp41 that lead to the fusion of the viral membrane with the host cell membrane. Binding to CD4 is mainly electrostatic although there are van der Waals interactions and hydrogen bonds.

Correlates of immunity or correlates of protection to a virus or other infectious pathogen are measurable signs that a person is immune, in the sense of being protected against becoming infected and/or developing disease.

Env is a viral gene that encodes the protein forming the viral envelope. The expression of the env gene enables retroviruses to target and attach to specific cell types, and to infiltrate the target cell membrane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antibody-dependent enhancement</span> Antibodies rarely making an infection worse instead of better

Antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), sometimes less precisely called immune enhancement or disease enhancement, is a phenomenon in which binding of a virus to suboptimal antibodies enhances its entry into host cells, followed by its replication. The suboptimal antibodies can result from natural infection or from vaccination. ADE may cause enhanced respiratory disease, but is not limited to respiratory disease. It has been observed in HIV, RSV, and Dengue virus and is monitored for in vaccine development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nomophobia</span> Fear or dislike of not having mobile phone

Nomophobia is a word for the fear of, or anxiety caused by, not having a working mobile phone. It has been considered a symptom or syndrome of problematic digital media use in mental health, the definitions of which are not standardized for technical and genetical reasons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xiaoliang Sunney Xie</span> Chinese-American biochemist

Xiaoliang Sunney Xie is a Chinese biophysicist well known for his contributions to the fields of single-molecule biophysical chemistry, coherent Raman Imaging and single-molecule genomics. In 2023, Xie renounced his U.S. citizenship in order to reclaim his Chinese citizenship.

mHealth Medicine and public health supported by mobile devices

mHealth is an abbreviation for mobile health, a term used for the practice of medicine and public health supported by mobile devices. The term is most commonly used in reference to using mobile communication devices, such as mobile phones, tablet computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs), and wearable devices such as smart watches, for health services, information, and data collection. The mHealth field has emerged as a sub-segment of eHealth, the use of information and communication technology (ICT), such as computers, mobile phones, communications satellite, patient monitors, etc., for health services and information. mHealth applications include the use of mobile devices in collecting community and clinical health data, delivery/sharing of healthcare information for practitioners, researchers and patients, real-time monitoring of patient vital signs, the direct provision of care as well as training and collaboration of health workers.

The ChemDB HIV, Opportunistic Infection and Tuberculosis Therapeutics Database is a publicly available tool developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to compile preclinical data on small molecules with potential therapeutic action against HIV/AIDS and related opportunistic infections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William A. Haseltine</span> American biologist (born 1944)

William A. Haseltine is an American scientist, businessman, author, and philanthropist. He is known for his groundbreaking work on HIV/AIDS and the human genome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Problematic smartphone use</span> Psychological dependence on smartphones

Problematic smartphone use is psychological or behavioral dependence on cell phones. It is closely related to other forms of digital media overuse such as social media addiction or internet addiction disorder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Farrar</span> British medical researcher

Sir Jeremy James Farrar is a British medical researcher who has served as Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization since 2023. He was previously the director of The Wellcome Trust from 2013 to 2023 and a professor of tropical medicine at the University of Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Zolla-Pazner</span> American research scientist

Susan Zolla-Pazner is an American research scientist who is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Department of Microbiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and a guest investigator in the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology at The Rockefeller University, both in New York City. Zolla-Pazner's work has focused on how the immune system responds to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and, in particular, how antibodies against the viral envelope develop in the course of infection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracy Dennis-Tiwary</span> American Female Clinical Psychologist

Tracy Dennis-Tiwary is an American clinical psychologist, author, health technology entrepreneur, and professor of psychology and neuroscience at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of The City University of New York. Her research explores emotion regulation and its role in mental health and illness, with a particular focus on anxiety and anxiety-related attention biases, as well as child emotional development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John R. Mascola</span> American Physician-Scientist

John R. Mascola is an American physician-scientist, immunologist and infectious disease specialist. He was the director of the Vaccine Research Center (VRC), part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH). He also served as a principal advisor to Anthony Fauci, director of NIAID, on vaccines and biomedical research affairs. Mascola is the current Chief Scientific Officer for ModeX Therapeutics.

James Allen Wells is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Cellular & Molecular Pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He received his B.A. degrees in biochemistry and psychology from University of California, Berkeley in 1973 and a PhD in biochemistry from Washington State University with Ralph Yount, PhD in 1979. He completed his postdoctoral studies at Stanford University School of Medicine with George Stark in 1982. He is a pioneer in protein engineering, phage display, fragment-based lead discovery, cellular apoptosis, and the cell surface proteome.

References

  1. ↑ "Register of Advisors". secure.jcu.edu.au. 2020-05-29. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
  2. ↑ "Psychology - JCU Singapore".
  3. ↑ "BME - View Supervisor Research Area".
  4. ↑ "APD SKEG Pte Ltd". Facebook .
  5. ↑ "APD SKEG PTE. LTD".
  6. ↑ Gan, Samuel Ken-En (2018). "The history and future of scientific phone apps and mobile devices". Scientific Phone Apps and Mobile Devices. 4 (2). doi: 10.1186/s41070-018-0022-8 .
  7. ↑ Gan, Samuel Ken-En (2018). "Editorial: APD Trove Journal – scope, aims, and purpose". APD Trove. 1 (1). doi:10.30943/2018/312018.
  8. ↑ "Loop | Samuel Ken-En Gan". loop.frontiersin.org. Archived from the original on 2021-11-18.
  9. ↑ "MPs | Special Issue : Smartphone Apps, Micro-Controller Kits, and Webservers for Scientific Research". Archived from the original on 2021-08-30.
  10. ↑ Carfora, Valentina; Cicia, Gianni; Conner, Mark (2021). "Editorial: Mind the Sustainable Food: New Insights in Food Psychology". Frontiers in Psychology. 12: 725579. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.725579 . PMC   8488082 . PMID   34616341.
  11. ↑ "Temasek Polytechnic: Bringing Education to Life and Life to Education".
  12. ↑ "UCL - London's Global University".
  13. ↑ "Home — Birkbeck, University of London".
  14. ↑ "King's College London".
  15. ↑ "The Open University: Distance Learning Courses and Adult ..."
  16. ↑ "About - APD SKEG Pte Ltd". Facebook .
  17. ↑ "Scientific recognition for mobile app developers - A*STAR Research".
  18. ↑ "Counting microbes on a smartphone".
  19. ↑ Sim, Jia-Zhi; Nguyen, Phi-Vu; Su, Chinh Tran-To; Gan, Samuel Ken-En (2015). "The Rise of the Mobile Lab the Use of Smartphone Apps for Biomedical Research". Asia Pacific Biotech News. 19 (3). doi:10.1142/S021903031500021X.
  20. ↑ Nguyen, Phi-Vu; Ghezal, Ali; Hsueh, Ya-Chih; Thomas, Boudier; Gan, Samuel Ken-En; Lim, Hwee Kuan (2016). "Optimal processing for gel electrophoresis images: Applying Monte Carlo Tree Search in GelApp". Electrophoresis. 37 (15–16): 2208–2216. doi:10.1002/elps.201600197. PMID   27251892. S2CID   6446229.
  21. ↑ "Android app to enhance a DNA sequencing through image processsing algorithm". Archived from the original on 2017-07-28. Retrieved 2017-07-28.
  22. ↑ "Scientists use a gaming algorithm to enhance a DNA sequencing Android app".
  23. ↑ "Exploring open access publishing in Asia with Samuel Gan from Scientific Phone Apps and Mobile Devices". 13 December 2016.
  24. ↑ Nguyen, Phi-Vu; Verma, Chandra Shekhar; Gan, Samuel Ken-En (2015). "DNAApp: a mobile application for sequencing data analysis". Bioinformatics. 30 (22): 3270–3271. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btu525 . PMC   4221124 . PMID   25095882.
  25. ↑ "Pocket Science: New Mobile Application Enables DNA Analysis On The Go".
  26. ↑ "Setting sequencing free - A*STAR Research".
  27. ↑ "DNAApp - Best Science Apps". 28 April 2017.
  28. ↑ "New mobile application enables DNA analysis on the go".
  29. ↑ "DNA analysis in the pocket!".
  30. ↑ Gan, Samuel Ken-En; Lim, Keane Ming-Jie; Haw, Yu-Xuan (2015). "The relaxation effects of stimulative and sedative music on mathematics anxiety: A perception to physiology model". Psychology of Music. 44 (4): 730–741. doi:10.1177/0305735615590430. S2CID   147562408.
  31. ↑ Gan, Samuel Ken-En; Yeo, Joshua Yi (2020). "Editorial: The promises of Microcontroller kits and Smartphone apps for Psychological research". Scientific Phone Apps and Mobile Devices. 6 (2): https://scientificarticles.apdskeg.com/Articles2020/promisesOfMicrocontrollerKitsAndSmartphoneAppsForPsychologicalResearch.html. doi: 10.30943/2020/06022020 .
  32. ↑ Phua, Ser-Xian; Chan, Kwok-Fong; Su, Chinh Tran-To; Poh, Jun-Jie; Gan, Samuel Ken-En (2019). "Perspective: The promises of a holistic view of proteins—impact on antibody engineering and drug discovery". Bioscience Reports. 39 (1). doi:10.1042/BSR20181958. PMC   6398899 . PMID   30630879.
  33. ↑ Ling, Wei-Li; Lua, Wai-Heng; Poh, Jun-Jie; Yeo, Joshua Yi; Lane, David Philip; Gan, Samuel Ken-En (2018). "Effect of VH–VL Families in Pertuzumab and Trastuzumab Recombinant Production, Her2 and FcγIIA Binding". Frontiers in Immunology. 9: 469. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.00469 . PMC   5857972 . PMID   29593727.
  34. ↑ Lua, Wai-Heng; Ling, Wei-Li; Yeo, Joshua Yi; Poh, Jun-Jie; Lane, David Philip; Gan, Samuel Ken-En (2018). "The effects of Antibody Engineering CH and CL in Trastuzumab and Pertuzumab recombinant models: Impact on antibody production and antigen-binding". Scientific. 8 (1): 718. Bibcode:2018NatSR...8..718L. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-18892-9. PMC   5768722 . PMID   29335579.
  35. ↑ Su, Chinh Tran-To; Ling, Wei-Li; Lua, Wai-Heng; Poh, Jun-Jie; Gan, Samuel Ken-En (2017). "The role of Antibody Vκ Framework 3 region towards Antigen binding: Effects on recombinant production and Protein L binding". Scientific Reports. 7 (1): 3766. Bibcode:2017NatSR...7.3766S. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-02756-3 . PMC   5476676 . PMID   28630463.
  36. ↑ Lua, Wai-Heng; Su, Chinh Tran-To; Yeo, Joshua Yi; Poh, Jun-Jie; Ling, Wei-Li; Gan, Samuel Ken-En (2019). "Role of the IgE variable heavy chain in FcεRIα and superantigen binding in allergy and immunotherapy". Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 144 (2): 514–523.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2019.03.028 . PMID   30995457.
  37. ↑ Su, Chinh Tran-To; Lua, Wai-Heng; Ling, Wei-Li; Gan, Samuel Ken-En (2018). "Allosteric Effects between the Antibody Constant and Variable Regions: A Study of IgA Fc Mutations on Antigen Binding". Antibodies. 7 (20): 20. doi: 10.3390/antib7020020 . PMC   6698812 . PMID   31544872.
  38. ↑ Samsudin, Firdaus; Yeo, Joshua Yi; Gan, Samuel Ken-En; Bond, Peter J (2020). "Not all therapeutic antibody isotypes are equal: the case of IgM versus IgG in Pertuzumab and Trastuzumab". Chemical Science. 11 (10): 2843–2854. doi: 10.1039/C9SC04722K . PMC   7069520 . PMID   32206268.
  39. ↑ Su, Chinh Tran-To; Kwoh, Chee-Keong; Verma, Chandra Shekhar; Gan, Samuel Ken-En (2017). "Modeling the full length HIV-1 Gag polyprotein reveals the role of its p6 subunit in viral maturation and the effect of non-cleavage site mutations in protease drug resistance". Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics. 36 (16): 4366–4377. doi:10.1080/07391102.2017.1417160. PMID   29237328. S2CID   45224066.
  40. ↑ Chiang, Ron Zhi-Hui; Su, Chinh Tran-To; Gan, Samuel Ken-En (2018). "A computational study for rational HIV-1 non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor selection and the discovery of novel allosteric pockets for inhibitor design". Bioscience Reports. 38 (2). doi:10.1042/BSR20171113. PMC   5835713 . PMID   29437904.
  41. ↑ Su, Chinh Tran-To; Ling, Wei-Li; Lua, Wai-Heng; Haw, Yu-Xuan; Gan, Samuel Ken-En (2016). "Structural analyses of 2015-updated drug-resistant mutations in HIV-1 protease: an implication of protease inhibitor cross-resistance". BMC Bioinformatics. 17 (Suppl 19): 500. doi: 10.1186/s12859-016-1372-3 . PMC   5259968 . PMID   28155724.
  42. ↑ Su, Chinh Tran-To; Koh, Darius Wen-Shuo; Gan, Samuel Ken-En (2019). "Reviewing HIV-1 Gag Mutations in Protease Inhibitors Resistance: Insights for Possible Novel Gag Inhibitor Designs". Molecules. 24 (18): 3243. doi: 10.3390/molecules24183243 . PMC   6767625 . PMID   31489889.
  43. ↑ Chan, Kwok-Fong; Phua, Ser-Xian; Su, Chinh Tran-To; Gan, Samuel Ken-En (2019). "Inhibiting HIV-1 and MMLV Reverse Transcriptase: The potential of an Allosteric Broad-Spectrum Inhibitor". bioRxiv: 699470. doi: 10.1101/699470 .
  44. ↑ "Rediscovering Classrooms - Annual Report 2014/15 - Temasek Polytechnic".
  45. ↑ "TP student helps advance HIV research during internship". 11 June 2018.
  46. ↑ "Temasek Polytechnic final-year students showcase innovative apps". 25 March 2019.
  47. ↑ "It's kind of fun to do the impossible. - Temasek Polytechnic".
  48. ↑ "Specialist Diploma in Biomedical Informatics and Analytics - Republic Polytechnic".
  49. ↑ "Registration for the "Introductory Bioinformatics Workshop" Commencement in July 2018 is now ready!". Facebook .
  50. ↑ "2006, Straits Times Newspaper, Dr Gan was featured as the top 100 Singaporeans under the age of 25". Facebook .
  51. ↑ "China Synergy Programme for Our Outstanding Youth (CSP)".
  52. ↑ "A Nation of Skilled Talents - SG50". Facebook .
  53. ↑ "Innovator-Entrepreneurs: The Passionate, Compassionate, and Grumpy". 6 September 2017.
  54. ↑ "Fusion 20 - Set My Scientists Free". YouTube . 24 May 2018.
  55. ↑ CJ, Meadows (2020). Innovation through Fusion: Combining Innovative Ideas to Create High Impact Solutions. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN   9781547401543.
  56. ↑ "Connectivity Challenge - Research | Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany | Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany".
  57. ↑ British Council (23 Feb 2022). "British Council announces winners of inaugural Study UK Alumni Awards". British Council.
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