The DaRE Lab is interested in DNA and RNA editing, particularly in the context of cell identity. Although living cells have biological information hardwired into their genomes, this information can be naturally or artificially altered, either at the level of DNA where the changes can be permanent or at the level of RNA where the changes can be dynamic. We are focused on (1) developing and applying powerful new genome engineering technologies to understand cell fate decisions and (2) unraveling the functions and regulation of RNA editing in human development and diseases. Our research activities fall under the broad umbrella of systems and synthetic biology.
Recent News
June 2022: Adrian's review on small molecules to enhance CRISPR-mediated homology directed repair is now available online in Drug Discovery Today. Well done!
Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1359644622002768
June 2022: Congratulations to Anh for winning the URECA Journal Publication Award!
June 2022: Our novel approach (named Dinopore) to directly identify A-to-I RNA editing sites using nanopore native RNA sequencing and machine learning models has been published in Nature Methods. Congratulations to the team!
Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-022-01513-3
Research Briefing: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-022-01514-2
May 2022: Cheyenne (RI) and Pin Rui (NUS High) join our lab under the Nanyang Research Programme. Welcome!
January 2022: Congratulations to our graduate student, Mandy, for winning 2nd place in our school's annual PhD symposium!
January 2022: Our fluorescent probe-based LAMP assay for COVID-19, named LANTERN, has been published in ACS Synthetic Biology. Congratulations to the team!
Paper: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acssynbio.1c00538
November 2021: Congratulations to our undergraduate students for achieving a Gold Medal in this year's iGEM competition!
September 2021: Congratulations to Anh for being selected as a highly commended entrant in the 2021 Global Undergraduate Awards!
September 2021: Michelle, Wei Heng, Wei Kee, and Howard join our lab to pursue research under the URECA programme for outstanding undergraduate students. Welcome!
August 2021: Yi Yong, Cheryl, Shannon, and Zheng Qiao join our lab for their FYP. Welcome!
July 2021: Our PhD student, Joel, passes his qualifying exam. Congratulations!
April 2021: Our undergraduate students are taking part in the iGEM synthetic biology competition this year. Good luck!
March 2021: Our CRISPR diagnostic assay for COVID-19, named VaNGuard, has been published in Nature Communications. Congratulations to the team!