Cheng Foh Le

Contact

• workRoom DB05 Block D
  Malaysia Campus
  Jalan Broga
  43500 Semenyih
  Selangor Darul Ehsan
  Malaysia
• work+6 (03) 8725 3645
• ChengFoh.Le@nottingham.edu.my
• https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2295-6690

Biography

Dr Le Cheng Foh is an Assistant Professor at the School of Biosciences, Faculty of Science, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC). He was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the School of Pharmacy, UNMC for three years prior to joining the Faculty as an academic.

He obtained his PhD from the University of Malaya in 2013 for his research on designing and development of Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs) as alternative antibiotics against Streptococcus pneumoniae. The significance of his works had been recognised in a number of conferences and symposia. In 2013, Dr Le received the Young Investigator Award in the 9^th International Symposium on Antimicrobial Agents and Resistance (ISAAR-9) for his research on the design of a series of novel AMPs which successfully cured the mice from lethal pneumocococal infection. Prior to this, he was awarded the BioInnovation Award during the BioMalaysia 2011 and BioMalaysia 2013. He also won a Silver Medal during the University of Malaya Innovation and Creativity Expo 2010.

Expertise Summary

Antimicrobial Peptides, Drug Discovery & Design, Bioproduction of AMPs, High Throughput Peptide Biosynthesis, Pneumococcal Vaccine, Pneumococcal Serotype Epidemiology, Antibiotic Resistance

Teaching Summary

Programme Director, BSc (Hons) Biotechnology

Module convenor for :-

• BIOS1037 Biochemistry: Building Blocks of Life
• BIOS2058 Microbial Biotechnology
• BIOS3062 Environmental Biotechnology
• BIOS4141 Advanced Industrial & Environmental Biotechnology

Teaching contribution a number of biotechnology & microbiology related modules.

Research Summary

Dr Le's major interest is on drug discovery using Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs). Currently, he focuses on the directed evolution and next-generation discovery of AMPs using microbial host expression… read more

Selected Publications

• LE, CHENG-FOH, FANG, CHEE-MUN and SEKARAN, SHAMALA DEVI, 2017. Intracellular Targeting Mechanisms by Antimicrobial Peptides. Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy. 61(4),
• CHENG-FOH LE, MOHD YASIM MOHD YUSOF, HAMIMAH HASSAN and SHAMALA DEVI SEKARAN, 2015. In vitro properties of designed antimicrobial peptides that exhibit potent antipneumococcal activity and produces synergism in combination with penicillin Scientific Reports. 5, 9761
• CHENG-FOH LE, MOHD YASIM MOHD YUSOF, MAHMOOD AMEEN ABDULLA HASSAN, VANNAJAN SANGHIRAN LEE, DIYANA MOHD ISA and SHAMALA DEVI SEKARAN, 2015. In vivo efficacy and molecular docking of designed peptide that exhibits potent antipneumococcal activity and synergises in combination with penicillin Scientific Reports. 5, 11886
• LE, CHENG-FOH, GUDIMELLA, RANGANATH, RAZALI, ROZAIMI, MANIKAM, RISHYA and SEKARAN, SHAMALA DEVI, 2016. Transcriptome analysis of Streptococcus pneumoniae treated with the designed antimicrobial peptides, DM3 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS. 6,

• View all publications

Current Research

Dr Le's major interest is on drug discovery using Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs). Currently, he focuses on the directed evolution and next-generation discovery of AMPs using microbial host expression systems. The optimised systems will be applied for bioproduction and high-throughput screening and expression of AMP analogues as novel leads. Besides, his research is aligned towards understanding the fundamental principles governing the biological activity of AMPs towards designing therapeutically-enhanced synthetic peptide variants to be used as the novel antimicrobial agents.

He is also working on discovering novel antimicrobial compounds from the natural environments and improving on the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the antimicrobial compounds. A key area of his research interest is pneumococcal vaccination, in particular pneumococcal serotype distribution and antibiotic profiling,

• KAMAL, HINA, LE, CHENG FOH, SALTER, ANDREW M. and ALI, ASGAR, 2021. Extraction of protein from food waste: An overview of current status and opportunities COMPREHENSIVE REVIEWS IN FOOD SCIENCE AND FOOD SAFETY. 20(3), 2455-2475
• LISTER, ALEX J. J., LE, CHENG FOH, CHEAH, EDDY SEONG GUAN, DESA, MOHD NASIR MOHD, CLEARY, DAVID W. and CLARKE, STUART C., 2021. Serotype distribution of invasive, non-invasive and carried Streptococcus pneumoniae in Malaysia: a meta-analysis PNEUMONIA. 13(1),
• CHU XIN NG, CHENG FOH LE and SAU HAR LEE, 2021. Cationicity and Hydrophobicity Enhance the Cytotoxic Potency of Phoratoxin C Anticancer Peptide Analogues against Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells Current Bioactive Compounds. 17,
• MAHENDRAN, ARUN SURIA KARNAN, LIM, YIN SZE, FANG, CHEE-MUN, LOH, HWEI-SAN and LE, CHENG FOH, 2020. The Potential of Antiviral Peptides as COVID-19 Therapeutics FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY. 11, 1475
• CHIA, WEN YI, CHEW, KIT WAYNE, LE, CHENG FOH, LAM, SU SHIUNG, CHEE, CHELSEA SIEW CHYI, OOI, MAE SEE LUAN and SHOW, PAU LOKE, 2020. Sustainable utilization of biowaste compost for renewable energy and soil amendments. Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987). 267, 115662
• WIN NEE PHONG, SHOW, PAU LOKE, LE, CHENG FOH, TAO, YANG, CHANG, JO-SHU and LING, TAU CHUAN, 2018. Improving cell disruption efficiency to facilitate protein release from microalgae using chemical and mechanical integrated method BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL. 135, 83-90
• SOH FCO, KEE JH, THIEN MY, YING YL, LE CF, NGUYEN D, GOH BH, PUNG SY and PUNG YF, 2018. Antibacterial activity by ZnO nanorods and ZnO nanodisks: A model used to illustrate "Nanotoxicity Threshold". J Ind Eng Chem. 62, 333-340 (IF: 4.421)
• JINDAL, HASSAN MAHMOOD, RAMANATHAN, BABU, LE, CHENG FOH, GUDIMELLA, RANGANATH, RAZALI, ROZAIMI, MANIKAM, RISHYA and SEKARAN, SHAMALA DEVI, 2018. Comparative genomic analysis of ten clinical Streptococcus pneumoniae collected from a Malaysian hospital reveal 31 new unique drug-resistant SNPs using whole genome sequencing JOURNAL OF BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE. 25,
• TANG, SWEE-SEONG, PRODHAN, ZAKARIA H, BISWAS, SUDHANGSHU K, LE, CHENG-FOH and SEKARAN, SHAMALA D, 2018. Antimicrobial peptides from different plant sources: Isolation, characterisation, and purification. Phytochemistry. 154, 94-105
• LOOI QH, FOO JB, LIM MT, LE CF and SHOW PL, 2018. How far have we reached in development of effective influenza vaccine? Int Rev Immunol.
• LE, CHENG-FOH, KAILAIVASAN, THINA HAREESH, CHOW, SEK-CHUEN, ABDULLAH, ZUNOLIZA, LING, SUI-KIONG and FANG, CHEE-MUN, 2017. Phytosterols isolated from Clinacanthus nutans induce immunosuppressive activity in murine cells INTERNATIONAL IMMUNOPHARMACOLOGY. 44, 203-210
• PHONG, WIN NEE, LE, CHENG FOH, SHOW, PAU LOKE, CHANG, JO-SHU and LING, TAU CHUAN, 2017. Extractive disruption process integration using ultrasonication and an aqueous two-phase system for protein recovery from Chlorella sorokiniana ENGINEERING IN LIFE SCIENCES. 17(4), 357-369
• LE, CHENG-FOH, FANG, CHEE-MUN and SEKARAN, SHAMALA DEVI, 2017. Intracellular Targeting Mechanisms by Antimicrobial Peptides. Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy. 61(4),
• RAMANATHAN B, JINDAL HM, LE CF, GUDIMELLA R, ANWAR A, RAZALI R, POOLE-JOHNSON J, MANIKAM R and SEKARAN SD, 2017. Next generation sequencing reveals the antibiotic resistant variants in the genome of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. PloS one. 12(8), e0182524
• LE, CHENG-FOH, GUDIMELLA, RANGANATH, RAZALI, ROZAIMI, MANIKAM, RISHYA and SEKARAN, SHAMALA DEVI, 2016. Transcriptome analysis of Streptococcus pneumoniae treated with the designed antimicrobial peptides, DM3 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS. 6,
• PHONG, WIN NEE, LE, CHENG FOH, SHOW, PAU LOKE, LAM, HON LOONG and LING, TAU CHUAN, 2016. Evaluation of Different Solvent Types on the Extraction of Proteins from Microalgae 52, 1063-1068
• KAH YEAN LUM, SUN TEE TAY, CHENG FOH LE, VANNAJAN SANGHIRAN LEE, NADIA HANIM SABRI, RUKUMANI DEVI VELAYUTHAN, HAMIMAH HASSAN and SHAMALA DEVI SEKARAN, 2015. Activity of Novel Synthetic Peptides against Candida albicans Scientific Reports. 5, 9657
• CHENG-FOH LE, MOHD YASIM MOHD YUSOF, HAMIMAH HASSAN and SHAMALA DEVI SEKARAN, 2015. In vitro properties of designed antimicrobial peptides that exhibit potent antipneumococcal activity and produces synergism in combination with penicillin Scientific Reports. 5, 9761
• CHENG-FOH LE, MOHD YASIM MOHD YUSOF, MAHMOOD AMEEN ABDULLA HASSAN, VANNAJAN SANGHIRAN LEE, DIYANA MOHD ISA and SHAMALA DEVI SEKARAN, 2015. In vivo efficacy and molecular docking of designed peptide that exhibits potent antipneumococcal activity and synergises in combination with penicillin Scientific Reports. 5, 11886
• HASSAN MAHMOOD JINDAL, CHENG-FOH LE, MOHD YASIM MOHD YUSOF, RUKUMANI DEVI VELAYUTHAN, VANNAJAN SANGHIRAN LEE, SHARIFUDDIN MD ZAIN, DIYANA MOHD ISA and SHAMALA DEVI SEKARAN, 2015. Antimicrobial Activity of Novel Synthetic Peptides Derived from Indolicidin and Ranalexin against Streptococcus pneumoniae PLoS ONE. 10(6), 0128532
• ZAINAL ABIDIN ALI, W. AHLIAH ISMAIL, CHENG-FOH LE, HASSAN MAHMOOD JINDAL, ROSIYAH YAHYA, SHAMALA DEVI SEKARAN and R. PUTEH, 2014. Antibacterial Coating for Elimination of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli Journal of Nanomaterials. 2014(2014), 523530
• JINDAL, H. M., LE, C. F., MOHD YUSOF, M. Y. and SEKARAN, S. D., 2014. Net charge, hydrophobicity and specific amino acids contribute to the activity of antimicrobial peptides. JUMMEC. 17(1), 7
• LE, C. F., JEFFERIES, J. M., YUSOF, M. Y., SEKARAN, S. D. and CLARKE, S. C., 2012. The epidemiology of pneumococcal carriage and infections in Malaysia: Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther. 10(6), 707-19
• LE, C. F., MOHD YUSOF, M. Y. and SEKARAN, S. D., 2011. Current trend in pneumococcal serotype distribution in Asia: J Vaccines Vaccin J Vaccines Vaccin. S2:001
• LE, C. F., PALANISAMY, N. K., MOHD YUSOF, M. Y. and SEKARAN, S. D., 2011. Capsular serotype and antibiotic resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates in Malaysia: PLoS One PLoS One. 6(5), e19547
• PALANISAMY, N. K., MOHD YUSOF, M. Y., ONG, S. Y., MANSOR, M., LE, C. F. and SEKARAN, S. D., 2009. Variation of sequence of genes encoding the MurMN Operon and cell wall composition in Streptococcus pneumoniae strains of different susceptibility levels to penicillin: J Infect Dis Antimicrob Agents J Infect Dis Antimicrob Agents. 26(3), 12