Excelling in graduate school is not easy. How does one choose research advisor? How does one ensure that one is receiving good mentorship? When there is a conflict with lab members, how does one navigate it? Three panel speakers share their ups and downs of doing a PhD, and provide advise to our audience.

Alongside colleagues from NUS and business innovators, we shared on our growing up experiences, learning journeys in our respective career choices and moments that have shaped us into who we are today, with the aim to humanise 'success'.

This is the second event among a series of career enrichment workshops we are organising in UTown Residence. This event is on 'Getting into Grad Schol: the Whys and Hows' where I provided attendees with an overview of graduate school application process and what factors to consider when deciding on offers.

With Shi Yan and Yvonne, we shared our journeys to becoming Principal Investigators (PIs) at NUS and A*STAR. Interestingly, our experiences are similar and the top three tips to take away are: (1) be persistent and do not fear rejection, (2) find good mentors and collaborators who will support you and (3) start to collect information about PI positions early and through different channels.

In this article, I share my story getting into science and the importance of having supportive mentors, especially for early career researchers. I also discuss the potential impact a research career can have on society (education, technology, healthcare) and hope that this can inspire more talented students to consider a career in STEM. 

It can be challenging to communicate science which are micro and nano in scale, but did not deter our lab members from trying. The lab had a science outreach creative/bonding day where members built LEGO pieces to represent their research spanning biomaterials, cell transfection and immune cell engineering. Visit my office if you want to see them!

The webinar is an initiative to engage H3 Biology students about research related topics in academia, industry and policies.​

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In this webinar, I shared about the ways we can engage society through communicating science with articles, videos, museums, and toy kits.

The NUS Overseas Graduate Scholarship (OGS) is a scheme to develop a Singaporean-core academics in NUS.

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I shared about the application process for NUS-OGS, tips to create a compelling application and allay concerns students may have about embarking on a PhD journey.

The COVID pandemic has affected pre-university students from getting research experience, but we should continue to engage them to attract and retain top students in STEM.

Researchers from NUS presented their work and shared their stories to more than 40 students from Temasek Junior College.

We adapt with social distancing to carry out mentoring remotely.

With the Chinese Development Assistance Council, we informed 50 students from less privileged backgrounds about university and scholarship applications, and train them in writing personal statement and CV (link).

The ability to communicate science is a key trait of scientists that is under-appreciated. Joining 3 other speakers, I told my story how I got into science communications, and the various ways in which scientists can use to communicate science. I hope that this event has inspired the attendees to start thinking how to explain their science for different target audience.

Alongside colleagues from the Institute of Health, Innovation & Technology, we presented various aspects of science to high school students of the Global Strings Federation. I shared about the diverse ways that one can use to communicate science including videos, LEGOs, emojis and articles. 

Together with 7 undergrauduate and graduate students, we visited the Cytiva Learning Studio for Cell Therapy. Students were shown machines such as wave bioreactors and benchtop cell isolation centrifuges that are used in clinical cell manufacturing. A huge thank you to Cytiva for hosting us.

Together with two other colleagues from NUS,  we discussed the impact of technological progress - Metaverse, telehealth and Chatbot - on our society! During the forum, we considered the ethical and regulatory challenges of these emerging technology, and how they will impact human interactions. Moral of the story: we should develop human-centric technology.

I was one of the speakers at the inaugural Youth SynBioSG Scientific Symposium (Y3S) where I shared about the challenges as a young professor and how staying curious has been an important source of innovations emerging from my lab. I was impressed by the other panel members who are making impact through patents, commerical products and open innovation projects.

With the support of six NUS student researchers (Oranatt, Ernest, Daryl, Nicholas, Peter and You Kui), and our partners at the National Library Board, we had a 2-week science poster exhibition at Woodlands Regional Library. We showcased research in the area of cancer, artificial intelligence and 3D printing and how they can help in a rapidly aging society.

The IPSG Symposium is an event organised by MOE to engage JC H2 Biology teachers in teaching innovation. ​

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In this symposium, I shared about my thoughts to develop the next generation of (engineering) innovators and resources that are available for teachers to enhance their students' learning.

Interested to become an academic and lead a research team as a professor, but unclear how to start?

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I shared about my journey as an NUS undergraduate to a professor, and the scholarship resources avaiable for students to pursue PhD education and post-PhD training.

Building a stable academic pipeline is important to maintain the high research and tertiary education standards we have in Singapore.

Together with other professors, we shared about our experience in academia with students interested to apply for the Autonomous University Scholarships.

Donations play an important role to support students with financial needs and realise the impact of research. I joined two senior professors to give a Masterclass on 'Improving Health by Engineering the Immune System.' My students also assisted me to set up stations to explain our research in gene delivery, mechano-stimulations and microneedle drug delivery.

With a group of students from the NUS College, we visited ClavystBio to learn about their role in building the biotech ecosystem in Singapore. Members of the team also shared about how they navigated their careers from different backgrounds in biotech investments which resonated with students from diverse disciplines.

This is the first event among a series of career enrichment workshops we are organising in UTown Residence. This event is on 'How to Survive and Excel in Grad School' and our panellists shared tips ranging from how to manage time, say no to their supervisors, juggling multiple projects and maintaining mental health.

STEM research is not limited to universities and labs, and we should bring science closer to our community, especially in the heartland areas where most of our residents live. A group of 6 researchers from NUS shared their research through a poster exhibition at Cheng San Public Library. Here are the links to their videos and news coverage.

I joined 7 other outstanding new PIs across Asia-Pacific to share about our experiences getting offers as PIs, setting up our independent lab and how best to navigate this process. I think resource management is one of the most important skills as a PI. It refers to managing cash flows in the lab so that your members can perform experiments. It also means aligning interests across all stakeholders (students, collaborators, grantors etc).

This article in Zaobao featured a Mandarin science outreach project led by me, six NUS student researchers (Oranatt, Ernest, Daryl, Nicholas, Peter and You Kui), and our partners at the National Library Board where we discussed the motivation behind science video outreach and how we benefitted from this experience.

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Our videos had more than 1k unique views a week after posting. Link to Zaobao article.

The Biological Sciences Graduate Congress is a joint event organised by NUS, Chulalongkorn University and the University of Malaya. ​

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In this workshop, I will share how I have grown as a science communicator and diversified the ways I communicate over the last five years.

What does a professor do? What does the daily work of a professor entail? What exactly is research? Is it very stressful to become a professor?

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I joined a group of volunteers at The Astronaut Collective to engage tertiary students and share my career journey as a researcher and professor.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of science and tech. However, communicating science to the public is not easy. 

We organised a workshop to train 30 young scientists on the use of words, visuals, exhibits, and even Hokkien dialect to communicate science!