Cancer Discovery Hub

The Cancer Discovery Hub (CDH) is a one-stop pan-omics diagnostic and research core laboratory housed at the National Cancer Centre Singapore which specialises in state-of-the-art research-grade technologies and provide expert support and mentorship to investigators on all cancer related projects. CDH strives to be at the forefront of cutting-edge cancer research, enabling preclinical therapeutic development and supporting clinical trials for biomarker discovery. The research team supports several key cancer research programs in Singapore, including TETRAD (Targeted Therapy for Blood Cancer), SYMPHONY (Singapore lYMPHoma translatiONal study), STARLIGHT (Steering Translational Rare Cancer Research into the Light), and the KKH CBCC (KK Women's and Children's Hospital Children's Blood and Cancer Centre). The lab also supports the Singapore Translational Cancer Consortium (STCC), coordinating large-scale collaborative studies at the national level. 

The CDH enables investigators to deeply interrogate the cancer genome, transcriptome, immunome, epigenome and metagenome using various technological platforms and technologies. These include the gene expression profiling using the NanoString nCounter, and next generation sequencing using the MGI G400 sequencer. Single-cell and spatial omic platforms are also available, including 10X Genomics (Chromium, Visium and CytAssist), Menarini Silicon Biosystem DEPArray and BGI Stereoseq. Importantly, the Visium and Stereoseq assays represent best-in-class technologies that are able to combine spatially-resolved whole transcriptome analysis with morphological context, complementing single cell gene expression information, enabling a complete view of disease complexity and accelerating novel biomarkers discovery. 

To further translate bench research to pre-clinical and clinical studies, the CDH also developed a robust patient-derived xenograft (PDX), cell line (PDC), and organoid (PDO) facility providing a valuable resource for pre-clinical studies and testing. These models allow investigators to overcome issues faced with other types of in-vitro models, which often poorly recapitulate genetic and epigenetic heterogeneity of the actual tumour. Organoid models, in particular, enable faster generation of tumour models compared to xenograft models, while preserving the 3-dimensional nature of in vivo tumour physiology. This allows their rapid employment in personalised medicine protocols for therapeutic testing. Coupled with the molecular profiling platforms, this accelerates novel biomarker discovery for implementation in the clinic. 

The Cancer Discovery Hub will continue to support key research programs nationally, and expand partnerships with key industry and academic partners, creating a culture of open collaboration, while simultaneously pushing the frontiers of translational cancer research. 

Notable Achievements 

1. Development of a cancer diagnostic assay with Asian-centric biomarkers 
   • A study in collaboration between the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), A*STAR’s Diagnostics Development (DxD) Hub, Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and Lucence has led to the successful clinical and commercial deployment of the UNITED cancer diagnostic panel. This diagnostic panel is now available for clinical use in over 10 countries worldwide. 
   • This work has been published by Ng CC, et al. Front Mol Biosci. 2022;9:963243 and cited in The Straits Times on Nov 22, 2022.
2. Selected presentations at major international cancer conferences 
   • 2024 EHA Congress, Madrid, Spain (Ms Lim Boon Yee) 
   • 2024 AACR Annual Meeting, San Diego (Ms Lee Jing Yi, Dr Ko Tun Kiat, Dr Jason Chan) 
   • 2023 CTOS Annual Meeting, Dublin, Ireland (Ms Elizabeth Lee) 
   • 2023 AACR Annual Meeting, Florida, USA (Ms Bavani Kannan) 
   • 2023 ESMO Sarcoma and Rare Cancers Congress, Lugano, Switzerland (Dr Jason Chan) 
   • 2022 ASH Annual Meeting, New Orleans, USA (Dr Jason Chan) 
   • 2022 CTOS Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada (Ms Lee Jing Yi) 
   • 2022 International Congress of the Asian Oncology Society, South Korea (Dr Ko Tun Kiat) 
   • 2022 AACR Annual Meeting, New Orleans, USA (Dr Jason Chan) 
   • 2022 JSMO Annual Meeting, Japan (Ms Elizabeth Lee) 
3. Notable publications 
   • Chan JY, Loh JW, Lim JQ, Liany H, Lee ECY, Lee JY, Kannan B, Lim BY, Guo Z, Lim K, Ha JCH, Ng CC, Ko TK, Huang D, Seow DYB, Cheng CL, Chan SH, Ngeow J, Teh BT, Lim ST, Ong CK. Single-cell landscape of idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease in identical twins. Blood. 2024 May 2;143(18):1837-1844. 
   • Loh JW, Lee JY, Lim AH, Guan P, Lim BY, Kannan B, Lee ECY, Gu NX, Ko TK, Ng CC, Lim JCT, Yeong J, Lim JQ, Ong CK, Teh BT, Chan JY. Spatial transcriptomics reveal topological immune landscapes of Asian head and neck angiosarcoma. Commun Biol. 2023 Apr 27;6(1):461. 
   • Lee JY, Kannan B, Lim BY, Li Z, Lim AH, Loh JW, Ko TK, Ng CC, Chan JY. The Multi-Dimensional Biomarker Landscape in Cancer Immunotherapy. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jul 16;23(14):7839. 
   • Ng DYX, Li Z, Lee E, Kok JST, Lee JY, Koh J, Ng CC, Lim AH, Liu W, Ng SR, Lim KS, Huang XX, Hong JH, Guan P, Sim Y, Thike AA, Nasir NDM, Li S, Tan PH, Teh BT, Chan JY. Therapeutic and immunomodulatory potential of pazopanib in malignant phyllodes tumor. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2022 Apr 1;8(1):44. 
   • Chan JY, Lim JQ, Yeong J, Ravi V, Guan P, Boot A, Tay TKY, Selvarajan S, Md Nasir ND, Loh JH, Ong CK, Huang D, Tan J, Li Z, Ng CC, Tan TT, Masuzawa M, Sung KW, Farid M, Quek RHH, Tan NC, Teo MCC, Rozen SG, Tan P, Futreal A, Teh BT, Soo KC. Multiomic analysis and immunoprofiling reveal distinct subtypes of human angiosarcoma. J Clin Invest. 2020 Nov 2;130(11):5833-5846.