Chng Shu Sin
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry
Faculty of Science
Tel: +65 6516 3270
Email: chmchngs@nus.edu.sg

What are your present research interests?

Research in my laboratory is focused on understanding outer membrane biogenesis in bacteria. Specifically, we are interested in elucidating how lipids are transported across the cell envelope of Gram-negative bacteria and mycobacteria.

Do you have a distinctive viewpoint to your research?

I believe in focusing on basic science. Discoveries in fundamental research will (continue to) guide future applications in global health, biotechnology, and other areas.

What do you see as your future research directions?

The outer membrane in part renders Gram-negative bacteria and mycobacteria intrinsically resistant to many clinically relevant antibiotics. By understanding lipid trafficking and membrane biogenesis, we hope to develop and exploit novel strategies to combat “super-bugs”, and contribute to the global problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Does your laboratory have a particularly strong research expertise?

We have strong expertise in membrane protein biochemistry – we express and purify membrane protein complexes, and reconstitute their activities in vitro. We also have key unique expertise in bacterial lipid profiling and analysis. Here, we label lipids (e.g. lipopolysaccharides, phospholipids, mycolic acids) with radioactive or chemical analogs to study composition and localization in cells.

Recent Publications

1. Ercan B*, Low WY*, Liu X, Chng SS# (2019) Characterization of interactions and phospholipid transfer between substrate binding proteins of the OmpC-Mla system. Biochemistry 58,114-119. (*equal contribution, #corresponding author)
(invited contribution to “Future of Biochemistry: The International Issue” (Jan 2019))
2. Yeow J*, Tan KW*, Holdbrook DA*, Chong ZS, Marzinek JK, Bond PJ#, Chng SS# (2018) The architecture of the OmpC-MlaA complex sheds light on the maintenance of outer membrane lipid asymmetry in Escherichia coli. J Biol Chem 293:11325-11340. (*equal contribution, #co-corresponding authors)
3. Shrivastava R, Jiang XE, Chng SS# (2017) Outer membrane lipid homeostasis via retrograde phospholipid transport in Escherichia coli. Mol Microbiol 106:395-408. (#corresponding author)
4. Xu ZJ, Meshcheryakov VA, Poce G, Chng SS# (2017) MmpL3 is the flippase for mycolic acids in mycobacteria. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 114:7993-7998. (#corresponding author)