Our Research

Awards and Significant Achievements

Research Groups

Pain Research (Basic Science) Group

 
The Research Laboratory of the Department of Anaesthesia, National University of Singapore, is supervised by Professor Lee Tat Leang and Associate Professor Low Chian Ming, and headed by Associate Professor Ti Lian Kah.
 
The research emphasis of the laboratory is on translational clinical research which is geared towards patient care.
 
Major research themes of the laboratory are:

• Isolation of novel neuropeptides involved in chronic pain
• Identification of the mechanisms of neuropeptides for analgesic development
• Chronic pain and sensory research using animal models
• Biomarkers for chronic pain assessments

 Several faculty members are active members of the Special Interest Group in Pain Research under NUSMed since 2008. Strong and active collaboration with A/P Sanjay Khanna from the Department of Physiology and clinicians have generated productive research outputs in terms of scientific publications, securing competitive national research grants, the generation of chronic pain animal models and the training of research students and staff.
 
Team Leader:

• Associate Professor Ti Lian Kah 

Supervisors:

• Professor Lee Tat Leang
• Associate Professor Low Chian Ming

Team Members:

• Dr Li Chunmei (Laboratory Executive)
• Dr Tan Chee Kuan Francis (Research Fellow)

Cardiac Group

The Cardiac Anaesthesia Research Group actively publishes on outcomes after cardiac surgery, particularly in the fields of acute kidney injury and atrial fibrillation. The Group, headed by A/Prof Ti Lian Kah and Dr Sophia Chew, together with team members Dr Roderica Ng and Ms Vanessa Chua, strives to investigate important adverse outcomes after cardiac surgery, particularly as it relates to the different ethnic groups in our South-East Asian population. An important goal of the Group is to focus on identifying unique risk factors, particularly modifiable ones, leading to improved outcomes after cardiac surgery for our patients. 

The Group has the advantage of being able to combine outcome data from two of the national heart centres in Singapore – National University Heart Centre, Singapore and National Heart Centre Singapore – which accounts for the vast majority of heart surgeries performed in our country. We actively collaborate with our health care partners, particularly in the area of cardiothoracic surgery and perfusion, and welcome new partners and collaborators.
 
Team Leader:

• Associate Professor Ti Lian Kah

Team Members:

• Ms Vanessa Chua (Assistant Manager/Research Coordinator)
• Dr Sophia Tsong Huey Chew

2021 Journal Publications

1. Liu G, Tan JH, Hey HWD, Lau LL, Thambiah J, Kumar N, Tan J, Ruiz J, Nga V, Lwin S, Teo K, Ning C, Agrawal RV, Ng B, Wong WH, Yeo TT, Wong HK. A novel hospital capacity versus clinical justification triage score (CCTS) for prioritization of spinal surgeries in the "new normal state" of the COVID-19 pandemic. Eur Spine J. 2021 May;30(5):1247-1260. doi: 10.1007/s00586-020-06679-y. Epub 2021 Jan 2.
2. Lean LL, Chin BZB, Koh LY, Loh NW, Loh MH. The hospital difficult airway team: experience and implications for patient care. Ir J Med Sci. 2021 Nov;190(4):1561-1563. doi: 10.1007/s11845-020-02471-5. Epub 2021 Jan 22.
3. Le, T.T., Gutiérrez-Sacristán, A., Son, J. et al. Multinational characterization of neurological phenotypes in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Sci Rep 11, 20238 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-99481-9
4. For more information about Publications, click here.

Research Facilities

The Anaesthesia Research Laboratory is situated in MD4 (Level 2), in the National University of Singapore. The laboratory consists of an open laboratory for general molecular biology, as well as specialised rooms with HPLC facilities and cell culture.

Open laboratory for molecular biology research

 High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) facilities

 Cell culture facilities

Quality Improvement & Patient Safety

Quality Improvement & Patient Safety (QuIPS) Group

The QuIPS workgroup was set up in 2011 under the leadership of Associate Professor Eugene Liu. The workgroup aims to execute the patient safety plans of the department through a systematic approach. We conduct ongoing audit of key performance indicators for patient safety  and any areas of deficiencies are identified. Interventions are continually implemented to imprvoe patient safety and quality of care. Examples of recent projects include intra-operative antibiotic prophylaxis, verification of unverified results and MRI under GA/sedation workflow.