Where Academia Meets Industry: A Fireside Chat with Asst Prof Cheong Jit Kong & Dr Esther Gan

Speaker

Dr Cheong Jit Kong completed his PhD training at a joint NUS-Harvard Institutes of Medicine program and subsequently trained as a Singapore Millennium Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Prof David Virshup's laboratory at Duke-NUS Medical School, where he also co-founded the Duke-NUS Early Career Scientist Association (DUNES). Jit has been awarded multiple national and international research grants, including NMRC-CBRG New Investigator Grant, the international St. Baldrick’s Foundation Childhood Cancer Research Grant, MOE AcRF Tier 2 Research Grant and the National Academy of Medicine Healthy Longevity Global Catalyst Award. He is also the Head of External Innovation for MiRXES Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-headquartered RNA-centric multi-omics biotech company that creates innovative diagnostic solutions for the early detection of diseases accessible on a global scale.

Dr Esther Gan’s career has spanned academic research, biotechnology and industry partnerships, with a focus on translating biomedical research into potential therapies. Trained in infectious diseases, Esther has worked on vaccines and therapeutic antibodies for dengue, Zika, yellow fever and COVID-19. In collaboration with Arcturus Therapeutics, she contributed to the preclinical development of a self-amplifying mRNA COVID-19 vaccine that has since been licensed for use in Japan and Europe. Esther subsequently joined Nuevocor, where she was a co-inventor of NVC-001, an AAV-based gene therapy for LMNA-related dilated cardiomyopathy that is now being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial. She has also supported partnerships among biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical firms and public-sector researchers. In her current role at Associate Professor Lena Ho’s laboratory, Esther works on the translational and commercial development of novel therapeutic peptides. Her experience provides a practical perspective on the opportunities and challenges involved in moving research from the laboratory towards clinical application.