Bio
Dr. Regina Hoo is an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Biomedical Data Science (CBDS) and the Signature Programme in Cancer and Stem Cell Biology (CSCB) at Duke-NUS Medical School.
She leads the Laboratory of Cancer Ecosystems, which investigates how diverse cellular lineages interact to shape tissue function in health and disease. Her team integrates innovative experimental platforms with advanced analytical approaches to uncover fundamental principles governing tumour initiation, progression, therapeutic response, and resistance. A major focus of the laboratory is cancers in Asian populations, with emphasis on tumour-immune interactions, cancer plasticity, and the regulatory roles of tissue-resident innate immune cells.
Regina’s research career has been shaped by a longstanding interest in how tissues and cellular systems respond to environmental and inflammatory challenges, and how mechanisms of inflammation and tolerance influence disease. She received her PhD in Microbiology and Immunology and an Honours Bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences (Biomedical Science) from the National University of Singapore. She subsequently completed postdoctoral fellowships in pathogen genomics at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, and in single-cell genomics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK, where she developed expertise in understanding host-pathogen interactions, cellular states, and tissue responses at high resolution. Prior to joining Duke-NUS, she was a Senior Research Scientist at the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), where she applied these perspectives to translational lung cancer research, investigating how inflammatory and immune programmes shape tumour biology and therapeutic responses.
Education
Doctor of Philosophy
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Bachelor of Science in Life Sciences Hons Class 2B
National University of Singapore, Singapore