Six NUS researchers honoured with prestigious SNAS Fellowships

Six NUS researchers honoured with prestigious SNAS Fellowships

Six researchers from NUS who have distinguished themselves in the field of science have been presented with fellowships awarded by the Singapore National Academy of Science (SNAS) this year. These newly elected SNAS Fellows from NUS are Professor Chen Xiaoyuan (Shawn), Professor Chua Tat Seng, Professor Loh Kian Ping, Professor Loh Xian Jun, Professor Wang Linfa, and Professor Wong Limsoon.

Established in 1976, SNAS is an independent institution that promotes technological advancements and disseminates scientific knowledge in Singapore. It has been awarding the prestigious SNAS Fellowships to outstanding scientists since 2011.

Among this year's NUS awardees are scientists who have contributed significantly to the development of novel diagnostics and vaccine strategies in Singapore's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, pioneering scientists in the field of pharmaceutical sciences and biomedical engineering, and distinguished experts leading research in cutting-edge technology such as materials science, computing, and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Professor Chen Xiaoyuan (Shawn)

Prof Chen holds joint appointment at the Department of Diagnostic Radiologyunder the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine)and the Department of Biomedical Engineeringunder the NUS College of Design and Engineering. He is also Research Director of the Nanomedicine Translational Research Programmeand the Clinical Imaging Research Centreat the NUS Medicine.

Prof Chen is a world-renowned imaging scientist who is highly acclaimed for his work in molecular imaging, nanomedicine, radiopharmaceuticals and theranostics. His research covers a range of topics from nanomedicine for gene and drug delivery to molecular imaging probe development to creating ultrasensitive nanobiosensors for biomarker detection. His work has significant implications on the advancement of basic science and has translational and clinical applications.

He is founding editor of the journal Theranosticsand co-founder of Yantai Lannacheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd. In recognition of his breakthrough achievements, Prof Chen was elected as a Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences and a member of the Academia Europea.

Prof Chen has been elected as SNAS Fellow for his significant contributions to the fields of molecular imaging and nanomedicine.

Professor Chua Tat Seng

Prof Chua is the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple (KITHCT) Chair Professor at the NUS School of Computing (NUS Computing)and he was also the founding Dean of NUS Computing from 1998 to 2000.

Prof Chua is an AI Scientist renowned for his work in exploring and researching unstructured data analytics, recommendation systems, trustable AI, as well as emerging e-commerce and Fintech applications. His research interests include multimedia information retrieval and social media analytics, focusing on extracting and retrieving text, video, and live media from the Web and social networks. He is active in the international research community through his service on editorial boards of scientific journals and as the chair of the steering committee of the International Conference on Multimedia Retrieval. In 2015, he received the ACM SIGMM Technical Achievements Award.

Prof Chua has been elected as SNAS Fellow for his outstanding contributions to research in multimodal data analytics, neural recommendation and causal reasoning towards robust and trustable AI.

Professor Loh Kian Ping

Prof Loh, a materials scientist and physical chemist from the Department of Chemistryunder the NUS Faculty of Science, has achieved world recognition for his work on two-dimensional (2D) materials, including graphene, covalent organic framework and hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites. Several of his patents on the growth and processing of graphene have been licensed by companies. He won the President's Science Award in 2014 for his breakthrough research in graphene chemistry. Prof Loh also mentors PhD students and has trained more than 30 academics worldwide.

Prof Loh has been elected as SNAS Fellow for his pioneering 2D materials research in Singapore, his academic leadership and his grooming of many young talents for Singapore.

Adjunct Professor Loh Xian Jun

An Adjunct Professor with the Department of Materials Science and Engineeringat the NUS College of Design and Engineering, Prof Loh is a pioneer and recognised global expert in the area of biodegradable thermogels. He develops these materials for applications such as biomedical, engineering, cosmetics, personal care and food.

Prof Loh's research interests primarily lie in the area of soft materials, with underlying themes, including modification of naturally available biodegradable polymers for the synthesis of soft materials, characterisation of the soft materials properties, and development of simple fabrication techniques to fabricate these soft material constructs.

He is the current President and member of the Executive Committee of the Singapore National Institute of Chemistry, and he is also the co-founder of Vitreogel Innovations, a spin-off company that develops thermogels for clinical applications.

Prof Loh has been elected as SNAS Fellow for his seminal work in the field of thermogelling polymers, from molecular understanding to clinical applications.

Professor Wang Linfa

Prof Wang is from the Programme for Emerging Infectious Diseaseat Duke-NUS Medical School, and he is also the inaugural Executive Director of the Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness and Response, a national programme set up by the Ministry of Health.

Nicknamed "batman", Prof Wang is internationally renowned the field of emerging bat-borne zoonotic viruses and bat immunology. During the response to COVID-19, he played a key role in developing novel diagnostics and vaccine strategies as well as providing advice for policymakers at both national and international levels by serving on multiple World Health Organisation committees.

In recognition of his scientific contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic, he received the President's Science Award in 2021 and the Public Administration Medal (Silver) (COVID-19) in 2023. Prof Wang was also elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2021 and of the Australian Academy of Science in 2023.

Prof Wang has been elected as SNAS Fellow for his pioneering work on bat-borne viruses and bat immunology, and his scientific leadership in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor Wong Limsoon

Prof Wong is KITHCT Chair Professor at NUS Computing, and he is also Deputy Dean and Director for the Integrative Sciences and Engineering Programme for NUS Graduate School.

Prof Wong is a renowned computer scientist and computational biologist and has made significant contributions to both fields. In computer science, he is known for fundamental theorems on the expressive power of modern query languages, solving the Kanellakis Conjecture which led to the field of embedded finite model theory, and developing the Kleisli system for integrating large-scale distributed data.

In computational biology, Prof Wong has pioneered the method for gene expression profile analysis for paediatric leukaemia treatment, protein function prediction without sequence homology, and protein complex-based methods to improve proteomic mass spectra analysis.

He has received several accolades, including being named a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery for his contributions to database theory and computational biology and the FEER Asian Innovation Gold Award in 2003 for his work on treatment optimisation of childhood leukaemias.

Prof Wong has been elected as SNAS Fellow for his innovative and fundamental contributions to database theory and computational biology.