Wai-Shiu Fred Wong

B.Pharm, PhD

Principal Investigator

Associate Professor, Respiratory Pharmacology Laboratory Department of Pharmacology, NUHS Principal Investigator, Immunology Programme, NUS Principal Investigator, CREATE, NUS

Biography

Dr. Wong received his B.Pharm (cum laude) from the St. Johns’ University in New York and his PhD from the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. He then moved to Lilly Research Laboratories at Indianapolis to be a postdoctoral scientist with research focus on respiratory drug development, and then to Respiratory Medicine Division at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston as a Research Fellow in Medicine.

Dr. Wong started his academic career in 1995 when he joined the Department of Pharmacology at NUS. Since then, he has built the Respiratory Pharmacology Laboratory, and study the pathogenesis of and develop mechanism-based pharmacological agents for the treatment of airway inflammation, oxidative damage, DNA damage in asthma, COPD, and viral/bacterial exacerbation conditions, using small molecule drugs, Chinese herbal medicinal bioactive molecules, natural/nutritional products, antisense oligonucleotides/siRNA, pharmacoproteomics and pharmacometabolomics platform. The Respiratory Pharmacology Laboratory has been continuously supported by extramural funding over the past 20 years.

To discover pathogenic mediators for respiratory inflammation, his team has characterized novel functional roles of two potential therapeutic targets apolipoprotein L2 (ApoL2) and dendritic cell-derived interferon-induced protein (DCIP) in mediating airway inflammation. To discover novel mechanism-based strategies to control airway inflammation, his team is the first to report the anti-inflammatory benefit of RIP2 siRNA, p38a MAPK antisense oligonucletodie (ASO), p44/42 MAPK inhibitor (U0126) and GSK-3b inhibitor (TDZD-8) in murine models of airway inflammation. NF-kB pathway is the master switch of inflammation, his team is the first to demonstrate protective actions of soybean bioactive molecule genistein, bioactive molecule andrographolide, anti-malarial drug artesunate and vitamin E isomer g-tocotrienol in in vivo murine model of airway inflammation. His team has collaborated with Prof Ehud Razin to investigate the role of TFE3 in mast cell-mediated allergic responses, and with Prof Ong Choon Nam of School of Public Health to investigate metabolomics of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from asthma mice. His team has filed 4 patent applications independently or with industrial partners. Furthermore, his team has translated pre-clinical study findings of artesunate into a human clinical trial by treating asthmatic patients with artesunate.

Current Research Interests

Project: Molecular mechanisms underlying impact of allergen on airway inflammation

Selected Publications

Q.T.N. Tran, W.S.F. Wong, C.L.L. Chai (2017) Labdane Diterpenoids as potential anti-inflammatory agents. Pharmacol. Res. 124:43-63. [IF=4.497]

H.Y. Peh, W.S.D. Tan, T.K. Chan, C.W. Pow, P.S. Foster, W.S.F. Wong (2017) Vitamin E isoform g-tocotrienol protects against emphysema in cigarette smoke-induced COPD. Free Radic. Biol. Med. 110:332-344 [IF=5.886]

T.K. Chan, W.S.D. Tan, H.Y. Peh, B.P. Engleward, W.S.F. Wong (2017) Aeroallergens induce ROS production and DNA damage, and dampen anti-oxidant responses in bronchial epithelial cells. J. Immunol. 199:39-47. [IF=5.287]

W.S.D. Tan, W. Liao, S. Zhou, W.S.F. Wong (2017) Is there a future for andrographolide in the treatment of inflammatory diseases? Deciphering its major anti-inflammatory mechanisms of action. Biochem. Pharmacol. 139:71-81. [IF=5.009]

J. Dong, W. Liao, H.U. Peh, T.K. Chan, W.S.D. Tan, L. Li, N.W. Khaing, W.S.F. Wong (2017) Ribosomal protein S3 gene silencing controls house dust mite-induced experimental asthma. Br. J. Pharmacol. 174:540-552. [IF=5.259]

W. Liao, J. Dong, H.Y. Peh, L.H. Tan, K.S. Lim, L. Li, W.S.F. Wong (2017) Oligonucleotide therapy for obstructive and restrictive respiratory diseases. Molecules 22:139. [IF=2.465]

H.S. Chan,  Y.L. Chua, H.Y. Peh, V. Jovanovic, N. Gascoigne, W.S.F. Wong, F.T. Chew, B. J. Hanson, D.M. Kemeny, P.A. MacAry (2016) Molecular engineering of a therapeutic antibody for Blo t 5-induced allergic asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol 139:1705-1708.e6. [IF=12.485]

Y. L. Chua, K.H. Liong, C.-H. Huang, H.S. Wong, Q. Zhou, S.S. Ler, Y. Tang, C.P. Low, H.Y. Koh, I.-C. Kuo, Y. Zhang, W.S. Fred Wong, H.Y. Peh, H.Y. Lim, Moyar Q Ge, A. Haczku, V. Angeli, P.A. MacAry, K.Y. Chua, David M Kemeny (2016) Blomia tropicalis-specific TCR transgenic Th2 cells induce inducible BALT and severe asthma in mice by an IL-4/IL-13 dependent mechanism. J. Immunol. 197:3771-3781. [IF=5.285]

Chan TK, Loh XY, Peh HY, Tan WNF, Tan WSD, Li N, Tay IJ, Wong WSF, Engelward BP (2016) House dust mite-induced asthma causes oxidative damage and DNA double-strand breaks in the lungs. J Allergy Clin Immunol 138:84-96. [IF=12.485]

W. Liao, W.S.D. Tan, W.S.F Wong (2016) Andrographolide restores steroid sensitivity to block lipopolysaccharide/IFNg-induced IL-27 and airway hyperresponsiveness in mice. J Immunol. 196:4706-4712. [IF=6.293]

Peh HY, Tan WSD, Liao W, Wong WSF (2016) Vitamin E therapy beyond cancer: tocopherol versus tocotrienol. Pharmacol. Ther. 162:152-169.[IF=9.723]

Footitt J, Mallia P, Durham A, Ho WE, Trujillo-Torralbo MB, Telcian A, Del Rosario A, Cheng C, Peh HY, Kebadze T, Aniscenko J, Stanciu L, Essilfie-Quaye S, Ito K, Barnes PJ, Elkin S, Kon OM, Wong WSF, Adcock IM, Johnston SL (2016) Oxidative and nitrosative stress and histone deacetylase-2 activity in exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Chest 149:62-73. [IF=7.132]

Laboratory Staff

Liao Wupeng Winston
Snr Research Fellow
phcliao@@nus.edu.sg