KONG Mengya

Research Fellow, Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore

mengya.kong@nus.edu.sg
Level 10 T-Lab
National University of Singapore
5A Engineering Drive 1
Singapore 117411

Kong Mengya

Research Fellow

Principal Investigator

Alexander Bershadsky

Research Interests

Cell-matrix adhesion, Cell mechanotransduction, Cell migrationg

Qualifications

  • Ph.D. Inorganic Chemistry, Fudan University, China
  • B.Sc. Applied Chemistry, East China University of Science and Technology, China

Biography

Mengya Kong received her Bachelor’s degree in Applied Chemistry from the East China University of Science and Technology and her PhD from Fudan University under the supervision of Prof. Fuyou Li and Prof. Wei Feng. Her doctoral research focused on near-infrared lanthanide-based luminescent materials and time-domain strategies for interference-free detection in cellular and mouse models.

Subsequently, she joined Associate Prof. Wenting Zhao’s laboratory at Nanyang Technological University as a Research Fellow. In collaboration with Prof. Alexander Bershadsky, she used engineered nanotopographical substrates to investigate how podosome-mediated adhesion enables THP-1 macrophage-like cells to sense and respond to their physical microenvironment, integrating nanofabrication, advanced fluorescence microscopy, and quantitative analysis of cell adhesion and migration.

She is currently a Research Fellow in Prof. Alexander Bershadsky’s laboratory at the Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms governing cell–matrix adhesion and mechanosensing, with a broader interest in how adhesion complexes and cytoskeletal systems translate physical cues into cellular responses.

Technical Skills

Super-resolution microscopy, Cell culture, Nanofabrication

Recent/ Selected Publications

  1. Kong, M., Gu, Y., Liu, Y., Shi, Y., Wu, N., Feng, W., & Li, F. (2019). Luminescence lifetime–based in vivo detection with responsive rare earth–dye nanocomposite. Small, 15(46), 1904487. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201904487
  2. Kong, M.*, Gu, Y.*, Chai, Y., Ke, J., Liu, Y., Xu, X., … & Li, F. (2021). Luminescence interference-free lifetime nanothermometry pinpoints in vivo temperature. Science China Chemistry, 64(6), 974-984. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-020-9948-8 (*: equal contribution)
  3. Mitra, A., Cutiongco, M. F., Burla, R., Zeng, Y., Na, Q., Kong, M., Vinod, B., Nai, M., Hübner, B., Ludwig, A., Lim, C., Shivashankar, GV., Saggio, I., & Zhao, W. (2025). Acute chromatin decompaction stiffens the nucleus as revealed by nanopillar-induced nuclear deformation in cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(19), e2416659122. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2416659122