Name: Chee Kai Chan
Email: chee.chan@nu.edu.kz
Department of Biomedical Sciences
My research interest is 3 fold
1) HPV genotyping, genetic epidemiology and diagnostics. Presently we have 2 grants that allow us to carry out a nationwide genotyping of HPV in Kazakhstan; to look at the prevalence of the high-risk HPV types and its association with CINI, CINII and CINIII cervical cancer in the country. Together with Dr Azizan Azliyati and Dr Gulzhanat Aimagambetova we have also started the development of a point of care diagnostic device with funding from a university commercialization grant in collaboration with a biotechnology company in Malaysia. HPV genotyping and its associated risk with cervical cancer is an important concern in Central Asia in particular with regards to developing an effective vaccination program
2). Nutrigenomics. We are working to look at the interaction between micronutrients as genetic regulators and key genes that impact various aspects of mental health and metabolic disease.
We are looking at the interaction of nutrition and lifestyle changes with an individual’s genetic variation and big data analysis in the context of
i) health and diseases such as Autism, TB and Alzheimer’s
ii) Metabolic syndrome such as diabetes, CVD and obesity.
3) Enhancing gene therapy, gene and drug delivery
We are working to develop novel non-viral gene delivery vectors and strategies to enhance mitochondrial and nuclear delivery for gene therapy. To test for the effectiveness and usefulness of these novel gene delivery strategies we have chosen beta-thalassemia and cancer as disease models. We have also investigated the use of various polymeric nanoparticle encapsulation strategies and the use of ultrasound to improve non-invasive and targeted delivery of therapeutic drugs, genes and artificial chromosome to treat and to correct genetic defects. Using fluorescent probes to track nano polymers conjugated to nuclear or mitochondrial targeting signal peptides and generating GFP nuclear bound fusion proteins; we track and analyzed the intracellular and nuclear targeting kinetics of these complexes at the cellular level.
