Melody Leong

Areas of interest

Blood cancer Inflammation and cancer Lung cancer Ovarian cancer Pancreatic cancer

Research group

Biography

Dr Melody Leong is a postdoctoral researcher, passionate about advancing our understanding of disease biology and translating scientific discoveries into meaningful therapeutic strategies to improve patient outcomes.

Dr Leong’s research background spans Epigenetics and Neuroscience, with a particular focus on Down Syndrome and Intellectual Disability Disorders (IDD). During her PhD, she investigated the effects of mutations in chromatin modifier genes associated with IDD, aiming to better understand how these genetic alterations influence neurodevelopment and contribute to disease.

Dr Leong’s current research aims to understand the fundamental mechanisms that regulate tumour and immune signalling pathways controlling cell function, to uncover key molecular drivers of the disease and identify potential drug targets to support the development of more effective treatments for lung cancer.

Publication highlights

McRae HM*, Leong MPY*, Bergamasco MI, Garnham AL, Hu Y, Corbett MA, Whitehead L, El-Saafin F, Sheikh BN, Wilcox S, Hannan AJ, Gecz J, Smyth GK, Thomas T, Voss AK (2024) Loss of PHF6 causes spontaneous seizures, enlarged brain ventricles and altered transcription in the cortex of a mouse model of the Borjeson-Forssman-Lehmann intellectual disability syndrome. PLoS Genet 20:e1011428 .
Lee HC, Hamzah H, Leong MPY, Md Yusof H, Habib O, Zainal Abidin S, Seth EA, Lim SM, Vidyadaran S, Mohd Moklas MA, Abdullah MA, Nordin N, Hassan Z, Cheah PS, Ling KH (2021) Transient prenatal ruxolitinib treatment suppresses astrogenesis during development and improves learning and memory in adult mice. Sci Rep 11: 3847.
Jabbarzadeh P, Leong MPY, Ismail P, Ling KH (2019) Antitumor effects of berberine against EGFR, ERK1/2, P38 and AKT in MDA-MB231 and MCF-7 breast cancer cells using molecular modelling and in vitro study. Pharmacol Rep 71:13–23.
Lee HC, Md Yusof HH, Leong MPY, Zainal Abidin, S, Seth, E A, Hewitt, C A, Vidyadaran, S, Nordin, N, Scott, H S, Cheah, P S, & Ling, K H (2019) Gene and protein expression profiles of JAK-STAT signalling pathway in the developing brain of the Ts1Cje down syndrome mouse model. Int J Neurosci 129:871–881.
Bala U, Leong MPY, Lim CL, Shahar HK, Othman F, Lai MI, Law ZK, Ramli K, Htwe O, Ling KH, Cheah PS (2018) Defects in nerve conduction velocity and different muscle fibre-type specificity contribute to muscle weakness in Ts1Cje Down syndrome mouse model. PLoS One 13:e0197711.
Leong MPY, Bala U, Lim CL, Rosli R, Cheah PS, Ling, K H (2018) Transcriptomic profiling of skeletal muscle from the Ts1Cje mouse model of Down syndrome suggests dysregulation of trisomic genes associated with neuromuscular junction signaling, oxidative stress and chronic inflammation. Neuroscience Research Notes 1:21–41.
Ling KH, Brautigan PJ, Moore S, Fraser R, Leong MPY, Leong JW, Zainal Abidin S, Lee HC, Cheah PS, Raison JM, Babic M, Lee YK, Daish T, Mattiske DM, Mann JR, Adelson DL, Thomas PQ, Hahn CN, Scott HS (2016) In depth analysis of the Sox4 gene locus that consists of sense and natural antisense transcripts. Data Brief 7:282–290.

Dr Melody Leong

Areas of interest

Research group

Biography

Publication highlights

Keep up-to-date with our latest discoveries