Photos of the FB lab at Singapore’s Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology. Early days: David Gill and Joanne Chia 2010 (Left, top). Beach clean-up day 2019 : LeSon Tran, Jasmine, Anh Tuan, Felicia and Joanne (Left, bottom). Beach clean-up day 2019: Anh Tuan and Joanne re-organise the forest (Right)

Our research team in Singapore was highly international and its diversity contributed to its successes. Researchers from all over the world came to contribute to IMCB research and blend with the Singapore-based culture. The group became expert at and used RNAi screening to attack various cell biology problems.

The group put hard work in exploring the fascinating workings of the human cell and had a lot of fun solving biological mysteries, collaborating and creating life-long memories that everyone could bring forward into the next step of their life.

We’ve made Albert Einstein’s thought our own:

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science”.

Among the accomplishments of this group:

Role of the GALA pathway in Arthritic diseases (Tran, Nat com, 2025)

Establishing the first siRNA screening platform in Singapore

“Cool robots”

Discovery of the cellular basis of the GALA pathway (Gill, JCB, 2010)

“These enzymes are moving!”

Genetic dissection of the intracellular trafficking of toxins (Moreau, Dev Cell, 2011)

“So many genes involved!”

Discovery of the effects of signaling pathway on the Golgi (Chia, Mol Sys Biol. 2012)

“The plastic Golgi”

Discovery of the Nuclear Endosomal pathway (Chaumet, Nat Com, 2016

“What, wait! Endosomes that fuse with the nuclear outer membrane??”

Role of GALA in liver cancer and regulation of the protease MMP14 (Nguyen, Cancer Cell, 2017)

“Sweetening scissors”

Role of GALA-glycosylated Calnexin at the surface of cancer cells in ECM degradation (Nat Cell Biol, 2020)

“Calnexin in invadosomes?”