Wai Leong Tam

Wai Leong TAM received his Bachelor’s degree from the NUS in 2003. He began his research career as a graduate student in the laboratory of Prof. Bing Lim at the Genome Institute of Singapore, where he worked on uncovering the bases for the pluripotency of embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells. He was awarded his PhD in 2008 and continued in the same lab for a short postdoctoral stint. In 2009, Wai Leong began his postdoctoral training under the mentorship of Prof. Robert Weinberg at the Whitehead Institute in MIT, where he concentrated on understanding breast cancer stem cell biology and cancer metastasis. He joined GIS as a Principal Investigator in 2014, and his lab currently focuses on uncovering and interrogating the emerging paradigms of cancer stem cells, and designing rational strategies to specifically target cancer stem cells as a part of cancer therapy. He concurrently holds a joint appointment at the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore since 2015. In 2015, he was awarded the Singapore NRF Fellowship.

Affiliations

• Associate Professor (Adjunct), Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS
• Principal Investigator, Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, NUS
• Associate Director, Precision Medicine and Population Genetics (Somatic), Genome Institute of Singapore, A*STAR
• Group Leader, Genome Institute of Singapore, A*STAR
• Associate Professor (Adjunct), School of Biological Sciences, NTU

Education

• Ph.D., Stem Cell Biology, Genome Institute of Singapore 2008
• B.Sc. (First Class Honors), Biology, National University of Singapore 2003

Research Interest

The Tam Laboratory seeks to harness functional genomics to gain insights into cancer biology for the development of selective therapeutics against cancer resistance and metastasis. We focus on dissecting two major cell-biological aspects relating to cancer stemness, resistance, and metastasis: (i) Alterations in cellular energetics; and (ii) Precise control of cell state transitions. We apply advanced methodologies that include genomics, transcriptomics, computational analyses, metabolomics, high-throughput chemical-genetic screens, genome engineering, and organoids, for building hypotheses that can lead to biological discoveries with clear translational value or intervention potential. The outcome is to achieve novel therapeutic interventions in cancer, which are effective and durable.

Honors & Awards

• 2015 – 2020 Singapore NRF Fellow, National Research Foundation, Singapore
• 2003 – 2007 A*STAR Graduate Scholarship, A*STAR
• 2003 – 2006 President’s Graduate Fellowship, NUS
• 2003 Vice-Chancellor’s List, NUS
• 2003 Joanna Wong Gold Medal Award, University Scholars Programme, NUS
• 2002 – 2003 Frazer & Neave Book Prize, Faculty of Science, NUS
• 2001 – 2003 Raffles Prize, Faculty of Science, NUS
• 2000 – 2003 Dean’s List (every year), NUS