Ocular Anti Infective & Inflammation | Singapore National Eye Centre

Overview

The evolution of antimicrobial resistant pathogens is regarded as clinical “super challenges” of the 21st century. In ophthalmology, infectious keratitis remains one of the most important causes of corneal blindness globally, and is especially prevalent in Asia, while endophthalmitis remains the most devastating complication following elective ophthalmic surgery at a global level.

Fungal infections, and the development of antimicrobial resistant bacterial infections remain major global challenges affecting populations today. At the same time, there has been a marked decrease in discovery and development of new antibiotics owing to unfavourable economic return and challenges in gaining approval. In addition, advances in medical materials have brought about the use of metals and plastics for restoring or replacing the damaged body parts. However, harmful bacteria and fungus adhered to surgical tools, contact lenses, lens cases, medical implants and fixation devices pose significant threat to the patients. If unchecked, the colonised bacteria may increase hospital stay duration, costs as well as affect the quality of life leading to increased number of deaths.

An estimated 1.4 million people suffer from infectious complications acquired in the hospitals every year. With the world population ageing rapidly, there will be a large number of elderly patients who are immunocompromised and more susceptible to infections, many times stemming from surgical sites, burns, chronic wounds, catheter insertion sites or contact lens infections, among others.

The aim of our group is to collaborate with peers around the world to understand the evolution of antimicrobial resistance among the infectious keratitis patients as well as to develop strategies that might accelerate the rational design of antimicrobials and antimicrobial formulations.

Projects

Asia Cornea Society for Infectious Keratitis Study (ACSIKS): ACSIKS is a Pan-Asian study commissioned by the Asia Cornea Society to determine the demographics, risk factors, microbiology, clinical outcomes and antimicrobial resistance pattern among infectious keratitis patients throughout Asia. The largest study of its kind, involving over 6,500 patients, the study covers 13 different centres involving 8 countries in Asia: China, India, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. The specific goals of the programme are:
- Standardisation of protocol for the study of infectious keratitis across various centres
- Determination of the demographic profile and identification of the key risk factors associated with infectious keratitis in Asian countries
- To depict the current medical and surgical practice patterns for infectious keratitis
- To document the range of microorganisms causing infectious keratitis and the patterns of antibiotic resistance for bacterial isolates and
- To establish central repositories for the bacterial and fungal organisms isolated, for subsequent studies on microbial resistance and to aid future development of therapeutic agents
  
  Bacterial isolates from ACSIKS are currently housed in SERI’s ACSIKS Repository, and microbiological studies are currently underway to further identify organisms and antimicrobial resistance patterns, whilst serving as an important resource for evaluating therapeutic responses to new antimicrobial therapies.
Collaborative Ocular Tuberculosis Study (COTS): Ocular infections encompass a wide array of potential pathogens with heterogeneous presentations. In an increasingly global ophthalmic world with new emerging infections, this area of ophthalmology demands the attention of all clinicians and scientists, any one of whom may encounter situations with puzzling presentations related to infectious causes. While the clinicians struggle to establish universally acceptable guidelines for treatment of ocular infectious disease, the scientists are challenged with the newer antimicrobials and increasing resistance to currently available molecules. Through the consortium of Collaborative Ocular Tuberculosis Study (COTS) (www.oculartb.net) and infectious uveitis network (www.infectiousuveitis.org) established by Adj Assoc Prof Agrawal and team, the clinicians are trying to establish evidence-based algorithm for management of intraocular infectious diseases related to ocular tuberculosis, syphilis, viral uveitis, fungal endophthalmitis and toxoplasmosis. The ocular infections team will investigate the molecular mechanisms of ocular infectious disease and newer treatment options for management of recalcitrant ocular infectious disease.
Combatting Antimicrobial Resistance by Cell-selective, Pore-forming Peptides & Polymers: One of the strategies to combat antimicrobial resistance is through the development of membrane-targeting antimicrobial peptides & polymers. We use both de novo and rational design principles to synthesise antimicrobial peptides and polymers. The polymers or the peptides target microbial cells with greater affinity than mammalian cells, thus enhancing their therapeutic potential. The designed polymers promote cell migration in the presence of wound inhibitory factors thus expanding their utility as antimicrobials as well as averting exaggerated inflammation.
Enhancing the Drug Permeability by Combination Therapy: Owing to their relatively larger size, antimicrobial peptides must interact with outer membrane components of the Gram-negative bacteria prior to the disruption of cytoplasmic membrane. We determined that by disrupting the supramolecular organisation of lipopolysaccharides (the major OM component), branched peptides enhanced the permeability of various classes of antibiotics. The use of peptides that have strong affinity for bacterial outer membrane/cell wall components which are absent in mammalian cells would overcome the drawbacks associated with antimicrobial peptides.
Nature-inspired Antimicrobial Nanocoatings for Infection Control: Ultrafine nanofibres with broad spectrum antimicrobial properties are indispensable in the areas of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, advanced wound dressings, personal protective equipment, sustained drug delivery and intelligent implants. To achieve this goal, we have developed several strategies that confer broad spectrum antimicrobial properties of medical devices, tissue engineering scaffolds, advanced wound dressings and sustained drug delivery.
Bacteriophages Therapy: In 2024, the US witnessed the outbreak of multi-drug resistant (MDR) P. aeruginosa due to contamination of artificial tears. The emergence of carbapenem-resistant pathogens stand in critical and high-class groups, warranting more research and development for new treatment strategies. Bacteriophage therapy has been revitalised in recent years due to the emergence of MDR bacteria and feeble progress in discovering new chemical antibiotics. To achieve this objective, we have developed a polyphage cocktail for MDR bacterial eye infections. We will establish the safety and effectiveness of the phage cocktail therapy in relevant animal models.

Core Competencies

The research and development capability of the Ocular Anti Infective & Inflammation Research Group has been achieved through a series of outstanding collaborations with local and overseas universities and institutes. Our important participating universities and institutes include Singapore National Eye Centre, Bio-Informatics Institute, Institute of Materials Research & Engineering, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Burn Centre at Singapore General Hospital, Lee Kong Chian (LKC) School of Medicine (at Nanyang Technological University), Departments of Pharmacy and Mechanical Engineering (at National University of Singapore). In addition, we collaborate with overseas collaborators on various aspects of antimicrobials peptide design. Our key collaborators include the University of Liverpool, the University of Birmingham, Guangzhou Medical University and the Tianjin University. The following are our core competencies:

Screening of antimicrobials against a wide range of resistance as well as susceptible microbes
Determination of the mechanism of action of membrane-targeting antimicrobials
Safety and efficacy of antimicrobials in mice and rabbit models of bacterial and fungal keratitis
Laboratory and pilot scale preparation of nanofibres
Big data analytics and AI models using the global consortium and network related to ocular infections

Publications

Ho CS, Wong CTH, Aung TT, Lakshminarayanan R, Mehta JS, Rauz S, McNally A, Kintses B, Peacock SJ, de la Fuente-Nunez C, Hancock REW, Ting DSJ. Antimicrobial Resistance: A Concise Update. Lancet Microbe. 2025 Jan;6(1):100947.
Khor WB, Lakshminarayanan R, Periayah MH, Prajna VN, Garg P, Sharma N, Mehta JS, Young A, Goseyarakwong P, Puangsricharern V, Tan AL, Beuerman RW, Tan DT; ACSIKS GROUP. The Antibiotic Resistance Profiles of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa in the Asia Cornea Society Infectious Keratitis Study. Int Ophthalmol. 2024 Aug 31;44(1):361.
Agrawal R, Testi I, Bodaghi B, Barisani-Asenbauer T, McCluskey P, Agarwal A, Kempen JH, Gupta A, Smith JR, de Smet MD, Yuen YS, Mahajan S, Kon OM, Nguyen QD, Pavesio C, Gupta V; for COTS CON group. Collaborative Ocular Tuberculosis Study (COTS) Consensus Guidelines on the Management of Tubercular Uveitis - Report 2: Guidelines for Initiating Anti-tubercular Therapy in Anterior Uveitis, Intermediate Uveitis, Panuveitis and Retinal Vasculitis. Ophthalmol. 2020;S0161-6420: 30598-4.
Rojas-Carabali W, Guérand T, Cifuentes-González C, Abisheganaden J, Rk P, Wei YC, Mejía-Salgado G, de-la-Torre A, Smith JR, Kempen JH, Nguyen QD, Pavesio C, Lee B, Gupta V, Peyrin T, Agrawal R; Collaborative Ocular Tuberculosis Study (COTS) Group. Dynamic Prediction of Treatment Failure in Ocular Tuberculosis Using Machine Learning and Explainable AI. Transl Vis Sci Technol. 2025 Oct 1;14(10):31.
Aung TT et al., Tan DTH, Chan ASY, Lakshminarayanan R*. Structure-activity Relationship in E-lysine Peptides: The Length Effects on Antifungal Activity. Biomacromolecules. 2025 Oct 13;26(10):6653-6666.
Ting DSJ, Aung TT, et al., and Lakshminarayanan R*. Biosynthetic -poly-L-lysine for the Treatment of Extensively- and Pan-drug-resistant Pseudomonas Aeruginosa. NPJ Antimicrob Resist. 2025 Sep 9;3(1):77.
Wu S, Mayandi V, Leng Goh ET, Wang W, Han N, Zhong R, Luo Z, Wang Y, Chen M, Lakshminarayanan R*, Ruan Z*, Liu S*, Lin S*. Boronic Acid Derivatives Inhibit Candida Albicans Growth by Compromising Energy Metabolism. J Adv Res. 2025 Jul 28:S2090-1232(25)00573-9.
Mayandi V, Kang WT, Ting DSJ, Goh ETL, Lynn MN, Aung TT, Vadivelu J, Barathi VA, Chan ASY, Lakshminarayanan R*. Propranolol Ameliorates the Antifungal Activity of Azoles in Invasive Candidiasis. Pharmaceutics. 2023 Mar 23;15(4):1044.
Tram NDT, Xu J, Mukherjee D, Obanel AE, Mayandi V, Selvarajan V, Zhu X, Teo J, Barathi VA, Lakshminarayanan R*, Ee PLR*. Bacteria‐responsive Self‐assembly of Antimicrobial Peptide Nanonets for Trap‐and‐kill of Antibiotic‐resistant Strains. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2023;33(5):2210858.
Zhu X, Tram NDT, Murali DM, Barathi VA, Venkatesh M, Lakshminarayanan R*, Ee PLR. Antimicrobial Peptide-conjugated Graphene Coatings for Prevention and Treatment of Bacterial Infections. Nanoscale. 2025 Aug 28;17(34):19914-19927.
Cui M, Zheng M, Wiraja C, Chew SWT, Mishra A, Mayandi V, Lakshminarayanan R*, Xu C*. Ocular Delivery of Predatory Bacteria with Cryomicroneedles against Eye Infection. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2021 Nov;8(21):e2102327.
Ghomi ER, Mayandi V, Chellappan V, Dubey N, Amuthavalli K, Neisiany RE, Barathi VA, Verma NK, Lakshminarayanan R*, Ramakrishna S*. Biomimetic Aligned Nanofibrous Dressings Containing Cell-selective Polymer Enhance Diabetic Wound Regeneration. Mater. Des. 2024;238:112694.
Ghomi ER, Lakshminarayanan R*, et al., Electrospun Aligned PCL/Gelatin Scaffolds Mimicking the Skin ECM for Effective Antimicrobial Wound Dressings. Adv Fiber Mater 2022; N.A.:1-17.
Peguda HK, Lakshminarayanan R, Carnt NA, Gu Z, Willcox MDP. The Activity of Polyhomoarginine against Acanthamoeba Castellanii. Biology (Basel). 2022 Nov 28;11(12):1726.