Dr Chan Kiat Hwa received his doctorate in Chemistry from Princeton University in 2010, under the auspices of an Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) National Science Scholarship (PhD), after working on developing chemical tools to explore iron trafficking by Mycobacterium Tuberculosis in human macrophages. Thereafter, and prior to joining Yale-NUS College, he carried out postdoctoral research at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, A*STAR, where he worked on exploring the versatile properties of water-based peptide gels in biomaterial applications.

Dr Chan’s current research interests include understanding how a small amount of peptide and the constituent of proteins may form the molecular architecture that maintains the form of gels. In the process, he also aspires to understand how one can control such molecular architecture with more finesse to build functional nanostructures. He is also interested in the utility of water-based organometallic gels to study gelation.

• Peptide self-/co-assembly
• Bioorganometallics

Chan, K. H.; Groves, J. T. “Concise Modular Synthesis and NMR Structural Determination of Gallium Mycobactin T” Journal of Organic Chemistry 2021, 86, 15453-15468, doi:10.1021/acs.joc.1c01966

Kong, J. W.; Lam, Z.; Chan, K. H.; Ganguly, R.; Lee, J. -Y. J.; Loo, L. -H.; Webster, R. D.; Wong, Z. X.; Leong, W. K. “Group VIII metal carbonyl cluster-boronic acid conjugates: cytotoxicity and mode of action studies” ACS Omega 2021, 6, 29045-29053, doi:10.1021/acsomega.1c04116.

Chan, K. H.*; Lim, J.; Jee, J. E.; Aw, J. H.; Lee, S. S. “Peptide-Peptide Co-Assembly: A Design Strategy for Functional Detection of C-peptide, A Biomarker of Diabetic Neuropathy” International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2020, 21, 9671.

Chan, K. H.*; Tay, J. J. J. “Advancement of Peptide Nanobiotechnology via Emerging Microfluidics Technology” Micromachines 2019, 10, 627, doi:10.3390/mi10100627.

Iliescu, F. S.; Poenar, D. P.; Yu, F.; Ni, M.; Chan, K. H.; Cima, I.; Taylor, H. K.; Cima, I.; Iliescu, C. “Recent advances in microfluidic methods in cancer liquid biopsy” Biomicrofluidics 2019, 13, 041503. (Featured article)

Chan, K. H.*; Lee, W. H.; Ni, M.; Loo, Y.; Hauser, C. A. E. “C-Terminal residue of ultrashort peptides impacts on molecular self-assembly, hydrogelation, and interaction with small-molecule drugs” Scientific Reports 2018, 8, 17127 doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-35431-2 (1-14).

Chan, K. H.*; Xue, B.; Robinson, R. C.; Hauser, C. A. E. “Systematic single moiety variations of ultrashort peptides produce profound effects on self-assembly, nanostructure formation, hydrogelation, and phase transition” Scientific Reports 2017, 7, 12897 doi:10.1038/s41598-017-12694-9 (1-11).

Chan, K. H.; Lee, W. H.; Zhuo, S.; Ni, M. “Harnessing supramolecular peptide nanotechnology in biomedical applications” International Journal of Nanomedicine 2017, 12, 1171-1182.

Ren, C.; Ng, G. H. B.; Wu, H.; Chan, K. H.; Shen, J.; Teh, C.; Ying, J. Y.; Zeng, H. “Instant room-temperature gelation of crude oil by chiral organogelators” Chemistry of Materials 2016, 28, 4001-4008.

Chan, K. H.; Zhuo, S.; Ni, M. “Priming the surface of orthopedic implants for osteoblast attachment in bone tissue engineering” International Journal of Medical Science 2015, 12, 701-707.

Smadbeck, J.**; Chan, K. H.**; Khoury, G. A.**; Xue, B.; Robinson, R. C.; Hauser, C. A. E.; Floudas, C. A. “De novo design and characterization of ultrashort self-associating peptides” PLoS Computional Biology 2014, 10, e1003718 (1-17). (** Co-first author)

Reithofer, M. R.; Chan, K. H.; Lakshmanan, A.; Lam, D. H.; Mishra, A.; Gopalan, B.; Joshi, M.; Wang, S.; Hauser, C. A. E. “Ligation of anti-cancer drugs to self-assembling ultrashort peptides by click chemistry for localized therapy” Chemical Science 2014, 5, 625-630.

Mishra, A.**; Chan, K. H.**; Reithofer, M. R.; Hauser, C. A. E. “Influence of metal salts on the hydrogelation properties of ultrashort aliphatic peptides” RSC Advances 2013, 3, 9985-9993. (** Co-first author)

Zhang, S.; Chan, K. H.; Prud’homme, R. K.; Link, A. J. “Synthesis and evaluation of clickable block copolymers for targeted nanoparticle drug delivery” Molecular Pharmaceutics 2012, 9, 2228-2236.

Chan, K. H.; Leong, W. K.; Jaouen, G.; Leclerq, L.; Top, S.; Vessieres, A. “Organometallic cluster analogues of tamoxifen: Synthesis and biochemical assay” Journal of Organometallic Chemistry 2006, 691, 9-19.

Chan, K. H.; Leong, W. K.; Mak, K. H. G. “Thermolysis of the osmium-antimony clusters Os3(CO)11(SbMe2Ar): Higher nuclearity clusters and arrested orthometalation” Organometallics 2006, 25, 250-259.

• Foundations of Science – Water (YCC2135; includes laboratory sessions)
• Scientific Inquiry 1 (YCC1131)
• Scientific Inquiry 2 (YCC2137; includes laboratory sessions)
• Physical Chemistry (YSC2225; includes laboratory sessions)
• Inorganic Chemistry (YSC3228; includes laboratory sessions)
• Environmental Chemistry: How The Science Informs Our Policy (YSC3259; includes laboratory sessions)
• Organometallic Chemistry (YSC4205)