Chunlei JIAO
Chunlei JIAOAssistant Professor
[email protected]

Office Location – DBS, S3, Level 6

Affiliations

Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS 
Principal Investigator, NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI) 

Biography

Dr. Chunlei Jiao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences (affiliated with the Department of Biochemistry and NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation—SynCTI) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). His research team focuses on discovering, engineering, and designing CRISPR systems to develop new tools for diagnosing and treating diseases. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from Henan Polytechnic University, his Master’s degree from Shandong University, and his PhD from the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research in Germany, where he also conducted postdoctoral work. His research has been published in prestigious journals such as Science, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Communications, and Metabolic Engineering. Dr. Jiao has received numerous awards, including the NUS Presidential Young Professorship, the Helmholtz Doctoral Prize for Mission-Oriented Research, the PhD Prize from the Friends of HZI and a PhD with Summa Cum Laude honors. 

Professional Appointments

Assistant Professor, Presidential Young Professorship, National University of Singapore (2024 –  present)
Postdoc., Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Germany (2022 – 2024)
Research Engineer, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore (2016 – 2018)
Research Assistant, Shandong University, China (2015 – 2016)

Education

Ph.D., Infection and Immunity, Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Germany (2022)
M.Sc., Microbiology, Shandong University, China (2015)
B.Sc. Biotechnology, Henan Polytechnic University, China (2012)

Research Interest

Discovery, engineering, and design of CRISPR and novel bacterial defense systems with the aim of developing innovative platforms for disease diagnosis and treatment. 

Current Research Projects

  • Develop a sensitive and high-throughput RNA detection platform
  • Develop a precise and high efficient knock-in platform in eukaryotic cells
  • Develop a precise and non-cytotoxic RNA knock-down platform
  • Develop a long-range genome knock-out platform
  • Develop a spatial RNA recording platform

Selected Publications

  1. Jiao, C., Peeck, N.L., Yu, J., Ghaem Maghami, M., Kono, S., Collias, D., Martinez Diaz, S.L., Larose, R. and Beisel, C.L., 2024. TracrRNA reprogramming enables direct PAM-independent detection of RNA with diverse DNA-targeting Cas12 nucleases. Nature Communications, 15(1), p.5909.
  2. Jiao, C., Reckstadt, C., König, F., Homberger, C., Yu, J., Vogel, J., Westermann, A.J., Sharma, C.M. and Beisel, C.L., 2023. RNA recording in single bacterial cells using reprogrammed tracrRNAs. Nature biotechnology, 41(8), pp.1107-1116.
  3. Jiao, C. and Beisel, C.L., 2022. Reprogramming TracrRNAs for Multiplexed RNA Detection. In Riboregulator Design and Analysis (pp. 217-235). New York, NY: Springer US.
  4. Jiao, C., Sharma, S., Dugar, G., Peeck, N.L., Bischler, T., Wimmer, F., Yu, Y., Barquist, L., Schoen, C., Kurzai, O. and Sharma, C.M., 2021. Noncanonical crRNAs derived from host transcripts enable multiplexable RNA detection by Cas9. Science, 372(6545), pp.941-948.
  5. Hou, J.#, Jiao, C.#, Peng, B., Shen, Y. and Bao, X., 2016. Mutation of a regulator Ask10p improves xylose isomerase activity through up-regulation of molecular chaperones in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Metabolic Engineering, 38, pp.241-250. (#, co-first author)
  6. Hou, J., Shen, Y., Jiao, C., Ge, R., Zhang, X. and Bao, X., 2016. Characterization and evolution of xylose isomerase screened from the bovine rumen metagenome in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Journal of bioscience and bioengineering, 121(2), pp.160-165.