Weiping Han is a Distinguished Principal Scientist as well as the Head of Laboratory of Metabolic Medicine (LMM) at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (A*STAR IMCB), . He was the founding director of Neurometabolism in Health & Disease at IMCB, and the Program Director of A*STAR’s Strategic Research Program Brain-Body Initiative (Neurometabolism). He is also Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Member of the Neuroscience Program at National University of Singapore (NUS), and Professor in the Signature Research Program in Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disorders at Duke-NUS.

 

Weiping’s research investigates the critical role of metabolic states in maintaining cell survival and function, with a specific focus on the dysregulation and reprogramming of metabolic activities in the development of metabolic diseases and associated complications, especially liver cancer. His team has identified branched-chain amino acid, proline, and purine metabolism as key dysregulated pathways in human hepatocellular carcinoma and are actively pursuing pharmacological approaches to target these metabolic nodes for therapeutic intervention. These findings hold significant promise for developing novel treatments for this devastating disease, which currently has limited effective options. Besides his research efforts in cancer metabolism, he is also leading research programs and industry collaborations to develop next generation anti-obesity medications. 

 

Weiping obtained his PhD in Physiology from Cornell University in 1996. He did his postdoctoral work at the University of Pittsburgh, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and Center for Basic Neuroscience at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. In 2003, he was promoted to Research Assistant Professor in the Center for Basic Neuroscience at UT Southwestern Medical Center, where he studied molecular mechanisms of hormone secretion and signaling in diabetes development. In 2005, he was recruited by Sir George Radda to Singapore to set up a research program in metabolic medicine at the Singapore Bioimaging Consortium (SBIC), and was promoted to Research Director / Professor in 2013. 

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AWARDS & GRANTS​

• New! 2025: Industry Alignment Fund (Pre-Positioning) (IAF-PP) (Lead PI)

• New! 2025: A*STAR GAP Funding, industry RCA (Lead PI)

• New! 2025: National Medical Research Council Open Fund-Individual Research Grant (NMRC OF-IRG) (Lead PI)

• New! 2025: National Medical Research Council Large Collaborative Grant (NMRC-LCG) (Theme PI)

• New! 2025: A*STAR GAP Funding (Lead PI)

• 2024: Singapore Therapeutics Development Review (STDR) Pilot Grant (Lead PI)

• 2024: National Medical Research Council Open Fund-Individual Research Grant (NMRC OF-IRG) (Lead PI)

• 2024: A*STAR GAP Funding (Lead PI)

• 2023: A*STAR GAP Funding (Lead PI)

• 2023: Singapore Therapeutics Development Review (STDR) Pre-Pilot Grant (Lead PI)

• 2023: A*STAR GAP Funding (Lead PI)

• 2021: A*STAR Strategic Research Programme (SRP) – Brain-Body Initiative (Neurometabolism) (Lead PI)

• 2021: National Research Foundation (NRF) Competitive Research Programme (CRP) (Lead PI)

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