Markus R Wenk
Provost’s Chair, Professor and Head, Department of Biochemistry
Director, Singapore Lipidomics Incubator (SLING)
Tel: +65 6516 3624
Email: bchmrw@nus.edu.sg
Website: www.sling.sg

What are your present research interests?

Human health and disease are based on many critical biochemical reactions in the body that go far beyond what can be explained by genetic background and genetic variation. These biochemical components—nucleic acids (DNA, RNA), proteins, carbohydrates, metabolites and lipids—and their natural variations are often poorly characterized in human populations.

Do you have a distinctive viewpoint to your research?

SLING harbours considerable domain knowledge in lipid biochemistry and analytics. We capitalize on this core strength and believe that better analytics will inevitably offer new opportunities. The most exciting advances occur at interfaces of different disciplines. We therefore seek true interdisciplinary collaboration to build the community and to advance knowledge in lipid biology.

What do you see as your future research directions?

To further advance development and application of lipidomic technologies in research and development, the ‘engine’, and to now start translation of such technologies into true applications outside the laboratory.

Does your laboratory have a particularly strong research expertise?

Mass spectrometry-based lipidomics and a well advanced model for engagement with collaborative parties.

Recent Publications

1. Lim YP, Go MK, Raida M, Inoue T, Wenk MR, Keasling JD, Chang MW, Yew WS. Synthetic Enzymology and the Fountain of Youth: Repurposing Biology for Longevity. ACS Omega. 2018; 3(9):11050-11061.
2. Burla B, Arita M, Arita M, Bendt AK, Cazenave-Gassiot A, Dennis EA, Ekroos K, Han X, Ikeda K, Liebisch G, Lin MK, Loh TP, Meikle PJ, Orešič M, Quehenberger O, Shevchenko A, Torta F, Wakelam MJO, Wheelock CE, Wenk MR. MS-based lipidomics of human blood plasma: a community-initiated position paper to develop accepted guidelines. J Lipid Res. 2018; 59(10):2001-2017.
3. Bowden JA, Heckert A, Ulmer CZ, Jones CM, Koelmel JP, Abdullah L, Ahonen L, Alnouti Y, Armando AM, Asara JM, Bamba T, Barr JR, Bergquist J, Borchers CH, Brandsma J, Breitkopf SB, Cajka T, Cazenave-Gassiot A, Checa A, Cinel MA, Colas
RA, Cremers S, Dennis EA, Evans JE, Fauland A, Fiehn O, Gardner MS, Garrett TJ, Gotlinger KH, Han J, Huang Y, Neo AH, Hyötyläinen T, Izumi Y, Jiang H, Jiang H, Jiang J, Kachman M, Kiyonami R, Klavins K, Klose C, Köfeler HC, Kolmert J, Koal
T, Koster G, Kuklenyik Z, Kurland IJ, Leadley M, Lin K, Maddipati KR, McDougall D, Meikle PJ, Mellett NA, Monnin C, Moseley MA, Nandakumar R, Oresic M, Patterson R, Peake D, Pierce JS, Post M, Postle AD, Pugh R, Qiu Y, Quehenberger O, Ramrup
P, Rees J, Rembiesa B, Reynaud D, Roth MR, Sales S, Schuhmann K, Schwartzman ML, Serhan CN, Shevchenko A, Somerville SE, St John-Williams L, Surma MA, Takeda H, Thakare R, Thompson JW, Torta F, Triebl A, Trötzmüller M, Ubhayasekera SJK,
Vuckovic D, Weir JM, Welti R, Wenk MR, Wheelock CE, Yao L, Yuan M, Zhao XH, Zhou S. Harmonizing lipidomics: NIST interlaboratory comparison exercise for lipidomics using SRM 1950-Metabolites in Frozen Human Plasma. J Lipid Res. 2017; 58(12):2275-2288.
4. Saw WY, Tantoso E, Begum H, Zhou L, Zou R, He C, Chan SL, Tan LW, Wong LP, Xu W, Moong DKN, Lim Y, Li B, Pillai NE, Peterson TA, Bielawny T, Meikle PJ, Mundra PA, Lim WY, Luo M, Chia KS, Ong RT, Brunham LR, Khor CC, Too HP, Soong R, Wenk MR, Little P, Teo YY. Establishing multiple omics baselines for three Southeast Asian populations in the Singapore Integrative Omics Study. Nat Commun. 2017;8(1):653. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00413-x.