Dive into the life and work of A/Prof Ang Beng Ti as a Clinician, Scientist and Philanthropist.
I became a clinician-scientist because…
Being a surgeon, an appreciation of structural anatomy so as to understand the pathological basis of disease and to formulate surgical approaches, formed a large part of training and daily clinical practice. However, at the same time, I had always been intrigued by the molecular underpinnings of disease, having enjoyed biochemistry in medical school – this fascination led me to pursue bench biology training so as to explore the nature of the conditions I encounter in my patients.
I chose to work in this field because…
My research interest is in the field of neuro-oncology, specifically seeking out precision medicine approaches to the therapy of individuals with malignant glioma. Seeing the dismal outlook of patients with aggressive brain tumours, I hope that our scientific contributions will eventually facilitate the discovery of an effective management strategy for this aggressive cancer.
A typical day at work involves…
My work is divided between clinical work (surgery and reviewing patients in the clinic) and attending to the vagaries of research and the reality of sustaining an active research program. I am tremendously fortunate to be able to have a partner co-principal investigator to aid me in this challenging endeavour, who fortuitously turned out to be my college classmate whose own research journey crossed paths with mine.
Besides my regular duties, I am also involved in…
Outside of my work, I am on the board of directors of a charity called iC2 PrepHouse, which provides support for children with low vision. The vision of these children is objectively assessed and strategies to optimize the use of their residual vision are tailored to the individual. The use of assistive technology, the teaching of orientation and mobility skills and instruction in Braille, if required, is carried out so as to allow these children to function in a sighted society. We had discovered that this core support for low vision children was lacking locally and hence set out to establish this service, as a charity organization.
Currently I am researching on…
Our lab is focused on the biology of malignant glioma. These are aggressive brain tumours which invade into surrounding brain tissue and are associated with a poor survival. They are also unfortunately the most common type of cancer arising from the substance of the brain. Following maximal safe surgical resection, adjuvant therapy in the form of radiation therapy and chemotherapy is required to deal with remnant gross (as brain tissue harbouring critical functions cannot be removed) and microscopic (as the margin between tumour and normal brain is indistinct) disease. The objective of our research is to elucidate the molecular differences between seemingly similar tumours seen on conventional histopathology and to establish the tumour subtypes which will respond to specific molecular pathway inhibitors. In this way, rather than the use of arbitrary chemotherapeutic agents, specific drugs can be matched to individual patients so as to improve treatment outcomes.
The biggest challenge in my job is…
The conduct of science in the present day requires extensive collaboration and the co-ordination of the activities of multiple individual groups as part of a programmatic research effort is particularly demanding. Apart from this, neurosurgical emergencies require immediate attention and thus the unpredictability of clinical practice adds to challenges in time management.
The biggest misconception about scientists is probably…
That the research eventually leads to clear and successful outcomes. Having experienced both clinical patient care and research, I must say that whilst patient care and surgery is not without its difficulties, in general, the outcome after therapy is obvious. For research, persistence and hard work over many years is usually required to produce a significant body of work for publication. On many occasions, roadblocks and failures are common and research is all about troubleshooting experiments and devising new or alternative means to establish the validity of the proposed hypothesis.
My latest publication talks about…
Our latest publication in Nature Communications deals with the identification of a STAT3 gene signature that is able to group patients with glioblastoma into STAT3-high and –low cohorts. This exciting development thus opens the potential for identification of a subset of patients which respond to STAT3 inhibitors – indeed the bench data demonstrated how STAT3 inhibitor treatment mitigated the viability and tumorigenicity in orthotopic mouse xenograft models implanted with STAT3-high glioma cells. In addition, we address the biology of STAT3 inhibitor resistance in STAT3-low cells by analysing a combination of the STAT3 signature and the results of a kinome screen on glioma cells treated with STAT3 inhibitors. We were able to show that dual inhibition of IGF-1R and STAT3 is a successful strategy with regards to the STAT3-low glioma cell lines. The study establishes the need for continued analysis of tumoral subtype as the disease progresses in individual patients.
In my free time, I enjoy…
Spending time with family is always a joy. Apart from this, I enjoy high-intensity interval training, Muay Thai and western boxing – all of which are great for combating stress!
A book I will recommend everybody to read is…
I would recommend everyone to take a look at “The Ants” – and you will soon realize that this tome, which won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction, is a true labour of love from two entomologists (Bert Hölldobler and E. O. Wilson) who have dedicated their lives to their work and it is an inspiration to scientists from all fields. It is written in an engaging style and probably one of the most interesting “textbooks” I have ever come across.
I enjoy my job because…
It truly allows me to see how fragile life can be and thus to appreciate all that we have, and the opportunity to make a difference to patients, both now in my clinical practice and in the future, through my research discoveries. [APBN]
About the Interviewee
