University Awards
Recognising Excellence

Young Researcher Award

I hope to make basic science discoveries related to how our immune system detects and responds to pathogens, which can be translated into meaningful improvements in human health. ” Assoc Prof Ashley Lauren ST JOHN
PhD (Duke University)
BSc (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-NUS Medical School
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, NUS Medicine
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Research Achievements

  • Identified promising therapeutic targets for preventing immune pathology that occurs during viral haemorrhagic fever
  • Identified a mechanism through which maternal Immunoglobulin E is translocated from the mother to the foetus, which could promote immune responses during allergic and infectious diseases
  • Unveiled a novel mechanism of vertical transmission of Zika virus infection and demonstrated that maternal immunity and antibodies to dengue virus can lead to enhanced infection in the foetuses of Zika-infected mothers
  • Determined the mechanisms leading to protective cross-reactive immune responses to viral pathogens and their vaccines
  • Identified a class of drugs that can block vascular leakage during dengue infection, that has progressed into a clinical trial to test the novel therapeutic strategy for dengue
  • Pioneered the discovery of the role of mast cells in immunosurveillance of dengue virus
  • Garnered $8.8 million research grants from the National Research Council of Singapore, Ministry of Education, US Department of Defense and other funding agencies
  • Discoveries have led to six patents and patent applications filed, with one licensed to industry on the diagnosis of severe dengue

Publication Credits

  • Published 44 papers in peer-reviewed biomedical research journals under Duke-NUS Medical School, with over 3,000 citations. These publications include Science, Science Advances and Nature Communications

International Standing

  • Co-editor for the 2020 “host-pathogens” section in Current Opinion in Immunology (2019)
  • Consulting Editor for the Journal of Clinical Investigation (since 2012)
  • Reviewer for more than 45 peer-reviewed journals, and funding agencies including the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, Qatar National Research Fund, French National Research Agency, the US Department of Defense, and Wellcome Trust
  • Regular speaker at international conferences and lectures

Awards and Accolades

  • Recipient of New Investigator Grant, National Medical Research Council of Singapore (2011)
 Honour Roll Recipients