Chua Kaw Bing

Impact

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD)in children is caused by human enteroviruses, including enterovirus 71 (EV71), coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16), and coxsackievirus A6 (CVA6). The illness may last up to 10 days and is usually self-limiting, but outbreaks result in substantial socio economic and public health burdens.Following the frequent occurrence of epidemics and outbreaks of HFMD associated with neurological complications and high mortality in young children, there are still no commercially available antiviral drugs to treat HFMD and its associated morbidities and risk of mortality.

Collaborations, Achievements & Honours

  • Commercialised the treatment of hand, foot and mouth diseases in children due to enterovirus EV71 and CVA16
  • Pioneered Nipah, Tioman and Pulau viruses
  • Discovered the aetiological agents causing the outbreak of HFMD with fatal encephalomyelitis
  • Discovered the first outbreak of Chikungunya in Malaysia
  • Prevented the outbreak of Nipah virus in Malaysia
  • Charles C. Shepard ScienceAward(2001)
  • Guinness EffortAward(2000)
  • Rotary ClubVocationAward(1999)
  • Recipient, Merdeka Award (1998)
  • Listed as a noteworthy virologist and paediatrician by Marquis Who’s Who

Research Areas

Molecular Pathogenesis, Human & Veterinary Diseases, Infectious Disease

Affiliations

  • Senior Principal Investigator,
  • TLL Fellow, Royal College Physicians Edinburgh
  • Member, New York Academy of Sciences
  • Life Member, Malaysian Society Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
  • Life Member, Malaysian Paediatrics Association
  • Life Member, Malaysian Medical Association
  • Life Member, Malaysian Chinese Association
  • Life Member, University Malaya Medical Alumni

Question

How do we treat, control and prevent hand, foot and mouth diseases due to enterovirus 71 (EV71)and coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16)?

Approach

Kaw Bing’s lab pioneered a better understanding of the prevention, control and treatment of viruses specific to hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD).

Currently, no commercial antiviral drugs for HFMD treatment are available. Kaw Bing discovered that numerous sulfonated azo dyes, widely used as food additives, were identified as having potent antiviral activities against human enteroviruses. Among them, brilliant black BN (E151) was able to inhibit all enterovirus 71 (EV71), coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16), and coxsackievirus A6 (CVA6)strains tested, and studies highlight E151 as a promising antiviral agent against these viral infections.

Kaw Bing’s lab is also developing a candidate oral live attenuated vaccine against HFMD, based on the principle and approach ofSabin oral live attenuated polio vaccine.

Looking ahead, Kaw Bing hopes to conduct seminal Phase II and III clinical trials for the commercial use of HFMD treatment products, which set the stage for mitigating outbreaks of enterovirus A71 and coxsackievirus A16 in children.

Bio

Kaw Bing joined TLL as Senior Director,Strategic Research Project in 2011. He graduated from the University of Malaya in 1979 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. He also received the MRCPUK in Paediatrics in 1983 and the Master of Medicine (Paediatrics) from theNational University of Singapore in 1984.

Kaw Bing read his doctorate in medicine at the Malaya University in 1998.Subsequently, he obtained MRC Path and FRCP from the UK and Edinburgh respectively in 1999. He also received his PhD in Molecular Virology from University of Malaya in 2002, and FRCPath (UK) in 2007. Before joining TLL, Kaw Bing began his professional career as a house and medical officer at theUniversity Malaya Medical Centre in 1979. He also worked as a consultant paediatrician for 10years at the Chinese Maternity Hospital and several specialist centres in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. During the 1990s, Kaw Bing began his academic career as a lecturer in the University of Malaya, then Professor of Paediatrics and Medical Microbiology at the International Medical University. Kaw Bing also served as a consultant clinical virologist with the Ministry of Health, Malaysia from 2003.

A co-author of several research papers and recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, Kaw Bing was instrumental in establishing the aetiological agents causing the outbreak of hand, foot and mouth diseases with fatal encephalomyelitis, as well as the outbreak of chikungunya and Nipah virusesin Malaysia.

In the pursuit of establishing the Nipah virus’natural reservoir, Kaw Bing also discovered the paramyxovirus(Tiomanvirus), orthoreovirus(Pulau virus), and Waddlia malaysiensis bacterium. He further isolated four novel viruses during his search for potential infectious agents of acute respiratory diseases of aetiology

Adjunct Senior Principal Investigator

Chua Kaw Bing

The lab focuses on the prevention, control and treatment of viruses specific to the hand, foot and mouth disease.

Contact

chuakb@tll.org.sg
+65 6872 7715

Group Publications