Mitchell LAI
I am currently Senior Lecturer with the Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS). Since December 2020 I received an honorary appointment as an Associate Professor with the College of Medicine and Health at the University of Exeter. I am also a Principal Investigator at the Memory, Aging and Cognition Centre (MACC), National University Health Systems. I obtained my BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Alberta in 1995, and PhD in Neurochemistry and Pharmacology from the University of Sydney in 2003. In the intervening period, and for some time thereafter (till 2007), I enjoyed stints with the Department of Clinical Research (DCR), Singapore General Hospital under the Directorship of Dr Aw Swee Eng, starting as Laboratory Technician and ending as Principal Research Scientist. While at DCR, I started long term collaborations on dementia neurochemistry and biomarkers with Christopher Chen, now Director of MACC; as well as Professors Paul Francis and Clive Ballard, both now at the University of Exeter. Working with an international team of top-notch collaborators, I intend to develop my interests in dementia research using multi-modal, converging strategies encompassing clinico-pathologic, cellular as well as -omics approaches. I am also interested in discovering and characterizing novel therapeutic targets and drug candidates for neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory processes. At NUS where my primary role is that of an Educator, I am involved in a number of teaching and curriculum development activities for Life Science, Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy and Medical students, and also serve as Education Director for Life Science and Postgraduate modules for my department.
In my spare time, I enjoy the thrills and tribulations of parenting a boy and a girl born 8 years apart, the occasional traveling sans children, and learning about & experiencing good food and drinks.
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