Prof. Wen Siang Tan

Wen Siang TAN is an enthusiast of phage display and virus-like particles (VLPs), particularly their applications in the development of multi-component vaccines, drug delivery systems and immunological reagents. He has established many new methods to purify the VLPs of hepatitis B virus, nodavirus, Newcastle disease virus and Nipah virus. He has also developed methods to package anti-cancer drugs in VLPs, and display ligands on their surface for specific targeted delivery to cancer cells. The methods he has introduced include the "Nano-Glue", "Add-and-Display", "pH responsive and heat-responsive VLPs" for displaying cancer ligands and specific delivery of anticancer drugs, proteins and nucleic acids into cancer cells. In 2012, he was awarded the Top Research Scientists of Malaysia. In 2019, he was elected as a fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia. In 2020, he was elected as the recipient of the Malaysian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research Excellence Award.