Education 2008: Ph.D. (Genomics and Computational Biology) The University of Queensland 2003: M.Phil. (Algal Biotechnology) with Distinction University of Malaya 2001: B.Sc. (Industrial Biology) Hons I Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Research interests Genome sequencing of coral reef symbionts Scalable phylogenomic approaches Evolutionary genomics of microbes, lateral genetic transfer Laboratorial skills RNA extraction from extremely recalcitrant species; basic techniques in molecular biology, enzymology and medical bacteriology Computational skills Analysis of next-generation sequencing data (de novo genomics, transcriptomics and epigenomics), phylogenomics High-Performance Computing, PERL scripting, UNIX, PBS, R HTML/CSS/PHP, mySQL, PostgreSQL, LaTeX, BibTeX, EndNote Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Flash, ActionScript, website design and maintenance Professional services Associate Faculty Member, F1000 Prime (Genomics & Genetics, Bioinformatics) Grant reviewer: Czech Science Foundation, Swiss National Science Foundation, and Center for Tropical and Subtropical Aquaculture (USDA) Manuscript reviewer (journal): Bioinformatics, BMC Bioinformatics, BMC Genomics, Briefings in Bioinformatics, Gene, Genome Biology, Genome Biology and Evolution, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Journal of Applied Phycology, Journal of Molecular Evolution, Marine Biology, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Phycologia, Phycological Research, the Plant Journal, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, PLoS Genetics, PLoS ONE, Trends in Genetics, Trends in Microbiology, and Virulence Manuscript reviewer (conference): International Conference on Genome Informatics (GIW) and IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine (BIBM) Webmaster, Wiki-site and internal data portal (user-interactive) for the Research Co-ordination Network of the Porphyra Genome Project Webmaster, University of Malaya Algal Research Laboratory, umalgae.atspace.com Languages Native: Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin) Competent: English, Malay Elementary: French Beginner: Japanese Research experience 2013-present: GBRF Senior Research Officer, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, and ARC Centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics, The University of Queensland, since Jul 2013 Genome sequencing of coral symbioint, Symbiodinium 2011-13: Research Officer, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, and ARC Centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics, The University of Queensland The role of lateral genetic transfer in microbial evolution 2009-11: Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, and Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, Jul 2009 - Oct 2011 Plastid orign and evolution, evolutionary biology of microbial eukaryotes and red algal genomics. 2008-09: Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Department of Biology, The University of Iowa, Apr 2008 - Jun 2009 Molecular evolution of microbial eukaryotes. 2007-08: Postdoctoral Research Officer, ARC Centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics, The University of Queensland, Oct 2007 - Apr 2008 Units of genetic transfer in prokaryotes, within single- and multi-copy gene families. 2003-07: Ph.D. project, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Jul 2003 - Sep 2007 Detecting recombination in biological sequences; units of genetic transfer among microbial genomes. 2003: Research assistant, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Apr-Jun RNA extraction from protoplast; protoplast culture of red seaweed. 2001-03: M.Phil. Project, Institute of Postgraduate Studies, University of Malaya Functional genomic study of the red seaweed Gracilaria changii using expressed sequence tag approach. 2001: Research Assistant, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Malaya, Jul-Dec Extraction of RNA from seaweeds; sampling of seaweeds in Morib, Port Dickson and Langkawi; maintenance of the University of Malaya seaweed herbarium. 2000/01: Honours Project, Biology Department, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Biochemical study on enzymatic reactions in alkalophilic bacteria; bacterial genomic DNA extraction. 2000: Intern, Bacteriology Division, Institute for Medical Research Malaysia, Apr-Jun Medical bacteriology and mycology: diagnosis of pertussis, tuberculosis, Salmonella and Shigella, melioidoisis and Ricketsial disease; computational data management of WHONet. 2000: Research Assistant, Department of Bioprocess Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Apr-Jun Gene cloning and transformation in bacteria for enhancing biotechnological potential of a gene coding for hemicellulose-degrading enzyme. Teaching experience 2013: ResTeach Fellow, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, UQ Genomics and Bioinformatics (BIOL3004/BIOC6020), Advanced Genome Informatics (BINF7001). 2012: Tutor, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, UQ, Feb-May Genomics and Bioinformatics (BIOL3004), including preparation of practical in multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetics. 2010-11: Lecturer, Professional Science Master's Program, Rutgers University, Oct Gave lectures on the subjects of genome assembly and annotation, single-cell genomics, and their applications in studying eukaryote evolution, for a graduate level course Concepts in Biotechnology and Genomics, as part of the new Masters in Business and Science (MBS) program 2009: Lecturer, Department of Biology, University of Iowa, Spring Co-teaching the graduate course of Molecular Phylogenetics on the subjects of maximum parsimony, molecular clocks and dating, and horizontal gene transfer. 2008: Lecturer, Department of Biology, University of Iowa, Oct Co-teaching the graduate course of Bioinformatics on the subject of sequence similarity search. 2003, 2005-2008: Virtual Teaching Assistant, The S-Star Alliance http://www.s-star.org/ Introductory course to Bioinformatics pioneering online problem-based learning (PBL) approach. 2005: Tutor, School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Sciences, Griffith University, Jul-Oct Subject: Molecular Genetics (2004BBS). 2004-05: Tutor, School of Molecular and Microbial Sciences, The University of Queensland Subjects: Genomics and Bioinformatics (BIOL3004), Molecular and Microbial Biology (BIOL1014) with elective module on protein structure and evolution. Supervision experience Guillaume Bernard University of Queensland, Research Higher Degree student, Oct 2013-present Anne Senabouth University of Queensland, Summer Research Program, Oct-Dec 2012 Hung Viet Nguyen University of Queensland, Honours Program, Feb-Oct 2012 Guillaume Bernard Université Bordeaux 1, Masters Program Internship, Mar-Sep 2012 Maisarah Mahbob University of Queensland, Summer Student Research Program, Nov 2011-Jan 2012 Shraddha Desai Rutgers University, NSF Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) Program, Jun-Oct 2011 Titas Banerjee Rutgers University, NSF Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) Program, Jun-Aug 2010 Christina Jenkins, Francesca Baglivi, John Vaubel University of Iowa, Mini-project for Molecular Phylogenetics (graduate course), Apr-Jul 2009 Callan Gavaghan (Grace Lutheran College, Rothwell) and Liam Nolan (Marist College, Ashgrove), QLD Australia CSIRO Student Research Scheme, Sep 2006 Meilin Godenzi (MacGregor State High, MacGregor) and Stacey Llewellyn (Christian Outreach College, Carindale), QLD Australia CSIRO Student Research Scheme, Sep 2005 Awards 2013: Poster Prize, Phylomania, The UTas Theoretical Phylogenetics Meeting, Hobart 2012: Best Poster Award, BioInfoSummer, AMSI Summer Symposium in Bioinformatics, Adelaide 2009: SMBE Postdoctoral Travel Award, 13th SMBE Annual Meeting, Iowa City 2008: Student Bursary Scholarship, 19th International Conference on Genome Informatics (GIW), Gold Coast 2007: SMBE Graduate Travel Award, 11th SMBE Annual Meeting, Halifax 2004: Travel Scholarship Award, BioInfoSummer, ICE-EM Summer Symposium in Bioinformatics, Canberra 2004: ISCB Travel Fellowship Award, International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) 2003: International Postgraduate Research Scholarship Award, Commonwealth Government of Australia and the University of Queensland 2002: Travel Grant Award, 2nd International Conference on Structural Biology and Functional Genomics 2001: PASCA Postgraduate Fellowship Award, Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment, Malaysia 2001: Outstanding Student Award, Malaysian Senators Club 2001: The Royal Academic Award, Malaysian Conference of Rulers Grants 2014: SCMB ResTeach Fellowship, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland. 2014: UQ Early Career Researcher Grant, The University of Queensland. Host-specific adaptive evolution of the coral reef symbiont Symbiodinium. Chief Investigator. 2013: UQ ResTeach Fellowship, The University of Queensland. 2013: University of Malaya Research Grant, University of Malaya. The use of phylogenomics to understand evolution and environmental adaptation of Chlorella isolates from different latitudes. Partner Investigator (Chief Investigator: Phaik Eem Lim). 2002: Vote F Postgraduate Research Grant (F0131/2002A), Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment, Malaysia. Generation of expressed sequence tags of the red seaweed Gracilaria changii. Chief Investigator. Memberships Phycological Society of America Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution International Society for Computational Biology Asia-Pacific Society for Applied Phycology Golden Key National Honour Society
	©2013 Cheong Xin Chan Information on this site does not relate to the official business of any institutions at the University of Queensland and/or Rutgers University, and shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by any of the forementioned.