NUS Research - Trailblazing Academics

NUS Trailblazing Academics

foreword.

As a leading global University based in Asia, NUS is proud to serve as an education, research, innovation, and enterprise hub that attracts the best minds from within Singapore, and around the world.

Our community of researchers represents a cornerstone of the University. We bring together and nurture thought leaders from diverse fields; encouraging interdisciplinary approaches that spark new ideas, and answer old questions.

We push the boundaries of fundamental research and encourage the translation of findings into real-world solutions. Health Innovation, Materials Research, Smart Nation, Social Sciences and Sustainability are key areas of research

that we pursue to address crucial and complex issues relevant to Asia and the world.

In 2021, our researchers collaborated with 3,788 institutes or universities from 175 countries, and produced over 12,700 research publications across leading international journals, conference proceedings and books. We also actively pursue collaboration through industry and government partnerships to ensure our research makes an impact where it is needed most.

These contributions are just the beginning of a challenging, yet exciting journey ahead. Driven by our talented research faculty, and through continued partnership and collaboration, our research will continue to fuel innovation and provide solutions that address the world’s most pressing needs.

Professor CHEN Tsuhan Deputy President (Research & Technology)

Professor Wynne HSU

Transforming Healthcare with AI

Professor Janice LEE Mong Li

Promoting Trust in Social Media

Professor Tulika MITRA

Frontiers in Edge Computing and IoT

Professor PEH Li Shiuan

Future of Wearables

Professor Abhik ROYCHOUDHURY

Trustworthy Software Systems

Professor TEO Chung Piaw

Adding Flexibility to Operational Supply Chains

Professor ZHANG Rui

Highly Secure Cellular-Connected Unmanned Aerial Vechicles

Professor Elaine HO Lynn-Ee

Ageing, Care and Social Networks

Associate Professor LIN Weiqiang

Balancing Labour and Automation in Airports

Assistant Professor Reuben NG Reframing Ageing

Professor Ivan PNG Paak Liang Economics of Productivity and Innovation

Professor Leher

Professor HO Ghim Wei

Capturing the Full Potential of the Sun

Professor KOH Lian Pin

Nature-Based Climate Solutions in the Tropics

Associate Professor LEE Poh Seng

Efficient Cooling with Better Heat Transfer

Associate Professor Jolene LIN

Climate Litigation and Transnational Environmental Law

Professor LIU Bin

In Pursuit of Green Energy Solutions

Assistant Professor WANG Lei

Sustainable Fuels Through CO2 Reduction

Associate Professor YAN Ning

Low-Carbon to

Professor CHNG Wee Joo

Fighting Cancer with Genomics

Professor Dean HO

AI for Personalised Health Interventions

Professor LIM Chwee Teck

Human Disease Mechanobiology

Professor LOK Shee-Mei

Next-Generation Vaccines

Associate Professor SHAO Huilin

Disease Diagnostics and Monitoring

Assistant Professor Andy TAY Kah Ping

Engineering Immunity to its Full Potential

Professor Ashok

Professor Antonio H. CASTRO NETO

On the Hunt for New and Better Materials

Professor LIU Xiaogang

Exciting X-Ray Developments

Professor Sir Konstantin NOVOSELOV In Pursuit of Novel Advanced Materials

Professor Barbaros ÖZYILMAZ

Synthesising Novel 2D Materials

Assistant Professor TAN Yu Jun Sustainable Self-Healing Devices

Associate Professor Benjamin TEE Chee Keong

State-of-the-Art Smart Electronic Skin Material

Professor YANG Hyunsoo Towards THz Devices

SMART NATION

Digitalisation has revolutionised many areas of our lives, from e-commerce to health innovation. Developing strategic capabilities in data science, analytics and optimisation, artificial intelligence, as well as cybersecurity will transform Singapore into a trusted digital innovation hub.

The NUS Smart Nation Research Cluster, integrates various interdisciplinary research entities, with a focus on three key areas: Big Data, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence;

Security, Privacy and Risk; and Modelling, Simulation and Visualisation. Research in these areas is conducted collaboratively, between disciplines, industries, businesses and government agencies to develop resilient digital solutions that secure the nation’s digital infrastructure, and enable the adoption of next generation automated and smart technologies.

Wynne HSU

Provost’s Chair Professor, NUS Computer Science Director, Institute of Data Science, NUS | whsu@comp.nus.edu.sg

BSc (National University of Singapore), MSc & PhD (Purdue University)

TRANSFORMING HEALTHCARE WITH AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising healthcare. Increasingly sensitive methods of data acquisition along with powerful machine-learning-based analysis methods have enabled the development of novel and innovative technologies to be used in the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases.

A leader in the field, Professor Wynne Hsu has developed numerous data mining, analytic, and knowledge discovery tools for biological and

medical applications. These include tools that enable the exploration of disease incidence and the subsequent prediction of disease progression, tools that facilitate the identification of drug-diseaselab interactions for personalised medication reccomendation, and tools for ‘data cleaning’, whereby data quality is improved through the identification of data artifacts, which are consequential of erroneous links between data entries of multiple database resources.

Prof Hsu currently pursues novel AI-based medical applications in collaboration with Singapore Health Services (SingHealth) to transform chronic care for hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia (DHL) using AI. Leading a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, health services researchers and data scientists, Prof Hsu is currently developing an AI system known as JARVISDHL, which integrates similarity analysis, disease modelling and image analysis to identify patients that are at a high risk of disease complications in an Asian setting. The tool also

guides patients in managing their chronic conditions through shared decision making so as to empower them to take charge of their own treatment options and lifestyle choices. Successful implementation of the JARVISDHL system would achieve the vision of a proactive, personalised and right-site care for patients that provides evidencebased treatment options, quantifies personalised treatment benefits and utilise intelligent nudges for positive lifestyle change to minimise the risk of disease complications.

“

We aim to stop or slow down DHL progression as well as their complications by 20% in five years.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Oei, R. W., Hsu, W., Lee, M. L., & Tan, N. C. (2022). Using similar patients to predict complication in patients with diabetes, hypertension, and lipid disorder: a domain knowledge-infused convolutional neural network approach. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Foo, A., Hsu, W., Lee, M. L., & Tan, G. S. (2022, August). DP-GAT: A Framework for Image-based Disease Progression Prediction. In Proceedings of the 28th ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (pp. 2903-2912).

Bhoi, S., Lee, M. L., Hsu, W., Fang, H. S. A., & Tan, N. C. (2022, July). Chronic Disease Management with Personalized Lab Test Response Prediction. Proceedings of the Thirty-First International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence

JARVISDHL system analysing a patient at risk of DHL. elenabsl / shutterstock.com

Gao, Q., Tan, N. C., Fang, H. S. A., Lee, M. L., & Hsu, W. (2022). Glycaemic control of Asian patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus on tiered up-titration of metformin monotherapy: A one-year real-world retrospective longitudinal study in primary care. Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, 187, 109874.

Bhoi, S., Lee, M. L., Hsu, W., Fang, H. S. A., & Tan, N. C. (2021). Personalizing Medication Recommendation with a Graph-Based Approach. ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS), 40(3), 1-23.

PROMOTING TRUST IN SOCIAL MEDIA

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Misinformation and fallacious rumours continue to run rampant, creating polarisation undermining trust. Now is as important a time as ever to study the effects of misinformation.

Janice LEE Mong Li

Director, NUS Centre for Trusted Internet and Community Professor, NUS Computer Science | leeml@comp.nus.edu.sg

BSc, MSc & PhD (National University of Singapore)

Social media platforms are primary drivers for the spread of false information. Not only do they maximise the reach and speed by which information is shared, but they may also facilitate and motivate the creation of false information. Misand disinformation has the potential to unduly influence attitudes and behaviour, causing people to think and act differently than they would if they were correctly informed. Leading efforts to mitigate the spread

of false information is Director of the NUS Centre for Trusted Internet and Community, and Professor of Computer Science, Professor Lee Mong Li.

Prof Lee’s expertise lies in the analysis of semi-structured and spatio-temporal data, and the design of models to understand user behaviour on social networks. User opinions may be influenced by both their social neighbours’ opinions and

their own inherent biases. To better understand a user’s response to false information, Prof Lee has developed an opinion model that captures such fluctuations. She has also designed solutions, like MIST (Minimizing mISinformaTion), to help mitigate the negative influence of misinformation on social media.

In addition, Prof Lee collaborates with Professor Wynne Hsu, Director for Institute of Data Science, to develop frameworks to assess the credibility of claims made on social media, and to innovate solutions that help users gauge the trustworthiness of such claims.

Together with her team of computer scientists, social scientists, and policymakers at CTIC, Prof Lee hopes to design strategies that balance the information processing needs of online users, with their cognitive processing abilities and emotional responses.

This will help to ensure users receive a more comprehensive knowledge of issues and empower them to discern mis- or disinformation.

Verifying credibility in social media. Naumova Marina / shutterstock.com

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Barik, A. M., Hsu, W., & Lee, M. L. (2022, April). Incorporating External Knowledge for Evidence-based Fact Verification. In Companion Proceedings of the Web Conference 2022 (pp. 429-437).

Li, T., Hsu, W., Lee, M. L., & Chieu, H. L. (2020, November). Probabilistic Decision Modeling in Social Networks. In 2020 IEEE 32nd International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI) (pp. 466-473). IEEE.

Saxena, A., Hsu, W., Lee, M. L., Leong Chieu, H., Ng, L., & Teow, L. N. (2020, April). Mitigating misinformation in online social network with top-k debunkers and evolving user opinions. In Companion Proceedings of the Web Conference 2020 (pp. 363-370).

Lim, W. Y., Lee, M. L., & Hsu, W. (2019). End-to-end time-sensitive fact check,”. In ACM SIGIR Workshop on Reducing Online Misinformation Exposure (ROME).

Poddar, L., Hsu, W., Lee, M. L., & Subramaniyam, S. (2018, November). Predicting stances in twitter conversations for detecting veracity of rumors: A neural approach. In 2018 IEEE 30th International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI) (pp. 65-72). IEEE.

FRONTIERS IN EDGE COMPUTING AND I oT

“

You need to bring the power of a server to the tiny device using a small battery.

Tulika MITRA

Provost’s Chair Professor, NUS Computer Science | tulika@comp.nus.edu.sg

BE (Jadavpur University), ME (Indian Institute of Science) & PhD (Stony Brook University, New York)

Electronic devices are becoming increasingly connected with the physical infrastructure around us, forming what is known as the Internet-of-Things (IoT). Such IoT devices imbue intelligence into our physical world and have the potential to transform our cities, with diverse applications like smart home devices, automotive electronics, and intelligent transportation systems being realised.

Edge computing in IoT systems allows data processing and analysis to be performed closer to where the data is created, or on the IoT devices, rather than sending the data to the cloud. This allows better security, privacy, and real-time latency for sensitive applications. However, edge computing is limited by the computing power and battery life of the IoT devices.

To address this issue, Professor Tulika Mitra, whose expertise lies in various aspects of design automation of embedded real-time systems, cyber-physical systems, and IoT, has recently embarked on a fiveyear research programme called PACE, which is funded by the NRF Competitive Research Programme grant. This effort will create an innovative, reusable, versatile, ultralow power, software programmable hardware accelerator that achieves a 50x improvement in energy efficiency for edge devices. As an illustration of the benefit of such accelerators, it is hoped that PACE could replace current backpack-scale edge analytics solutions carried by rescue service personnel with tiny wearable edge devices.

Prof Mitra is particularly interested in designing highly efficient universal accelerators that can support different application programs at

different points through softwaredefined re-configurability. Her recent development, the HyCUBE accelerator chip, is a novel CoarseGrained Reconfigurable Array (CGRA) architecture, offering a good balance between flexibility, power efficiency, and performance. Measurements from the HyCUBE chip show great power efficiency improvement compared to commercial IoT platforms.

Software-defined hardware accelerator for edge computing.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Wijerathne, D., Li, Z., Bandara, T. K., & Mitra, T. (2022). PANORAMA: Divide-and-Conquer Approach for Mapping Complex Loop Kernels on CGRA. In Proceedings of the 59th ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference (pp 127–132).

Li, Z., Wu, D., Wijerathne, D., & Mitra, T. (2022, April). LISA: Graph Neural Network based Portable Mapping on Spatial Accelerators. In 2022 IEEE International Symposium on High-Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA) (pp. 444-459). IEEE.

Bandara, T. K., Wijerathne, D., Mitra, T., & Peh, L. S. (2022, February).

REVAMP: a systematic framework for heterogeneous CGRA realization. In Proceedings of the 27th ACM International Conference on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems (pp. 918932).

Wang, S., Pathania, A., & Mitra, T. (2020). Neural network inference on mobile SoCs. IEEE Design & Test, 37(5), 50-57.

Karunaratne, M., Mohite, A. K., Mitra, T., & Peh, L. S. (2017, June).

Hycube: A cgra with reconfigurable single-cycle multi-hop interconnect. In Proceedings of the 54th Annual Design Automation Conference 2017 (pp. 1-6).

FUTURE OF WEARABLES

PEH Li Shiuan

Provost’s Chair Professor, NUS Computer Science | peh@comp.nus.edu.sg

BSc (National University of Singapore) & PhD (Stanford Univeristy)

Existing wearables such as fitness trackers and smart watches rely on very simple processor chips due to their highly constrained battery life, which in turn limits the applications

With advances in computer architecture that can run highly sophisticated software on tiny wearables, and the advent of flexible sensors, the next generation of smart wearables promises exciting

With this vision, Professor Peh Li Shiuan from NUS School of Computing, is leading an

interdisciplinary research team with other NUS faculty that architects ultra-low-power chips and uses these to power flexible sensors for nextgeneration wearable applications.

Prof Peh is known for her work in developing on-chip networks, where small chip islands are networked to enable them to run computation in parallel at low power. On-chip networks are now used commercially in data centre servers, running aggressive workloads such as artificial intelligence (AI). At NUS, her group has been designing on-chip networks for various ultra-low-power wearable chips, offering a highperformance computing platform for running sophisticated software on tiny wearables.

Armed with such wearable computing platforms, her group envisions enabling several next-generation applications that these platforms enable. For instance, pH Watch is the first demonstration of a reusable sweat sensor. It pairs the heart rate sensor (pulse oximeter) used in today’s wearables, with a sensor that measures the pH of and generates outputs, using aggressive software processing that benefits from the

ultra-low-power wearable processor chips her group has designed.

Prof Peh has also recently prototyped AI-on-skin, demonstrating how future wearables can be conformal, worn as gloves, sleeves, shirts, with the ultralow-power AI chips embedded directly on the electronic skin, thus enabling highly interactive applications in user interaction, object recognition, and sports coaching.

SELECTED

PUBLICATIONS

Upadhyay, M., Juneja, R., Wang, B., Zhou, J., Wong, W. F., & Peh, L. S. (2022, July). REACT: a heterogeneous reconfigurable neural network accelerator with software-configurable NoCs for training and inference on wearables. In Proceedings of the 59th ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference (pp. 1291-1296).

Balaji, A. N., & Peh, L. S. (2021, May). AI-onskin: Enabling On-body AI Inference for Wearable Artificial Skin Interfaces. In Extended Abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-7).

Wang, B., Karunarathne, M., Kulkarni, A., Mitra, T., & Peh, L. S. (2019, November). Hycube: A 0.9 v 26.4 mops/mw, 290 pj/op, power efficient accelerator for iot applications. In 2019 IEEE Asian Solid-State Circuits Conference (A-SSCC) (pp. 133136). IEEE.

Balaji, A. N., Yuan, C., Wang, B., Peh, L. S., & Shao, H. (2019, June). pH watch-leveraging pulse oximeters in existing wearables for reusable, realtime monitoring of pH in sweat. In Proceedings of the 17th annual international conference on mobile systems, applications, and services (pp. 262-274).

Karunaratne, M., Mohite, A. K., Mitra, T., & Peh, L. S. (2017, June). Hycube: A cgra with reconfigurable single-cycle multi-hop interconnect. In Proceedings of the 54th Annual Design Automation Conference 2017 (pp. 1-6).

TRUSTWORTHY SOFTWARE SYSTEMS

Abhik ROYCHOUDHURY

Provost’s Chair Professor, NUS Computer Science | abhik@comp.nus.edu.sg

MSc & PhD (Stony Brook University, New York)

Automated program repair has many applications ranging from fixing security vulnerabilities to self-healing programs.

Behind the implementation of Singapore’s Smart Nation Initiative are programmers working hard at developing software for a myriad of applications. Code debugging — a colloquial term used to identify and remove errors from computer software code — is a major focus in this effort. In fact, it has been estimated that software developers

spend half of their time debugging software, which translates to $312 billion per year. Automating the debugging process would improve efficiency of programmers, in addition to saving development costs.

At the forefront of this emerging field is Professor Abhik Roychoudhury, a recipient of the Ministry of Education’s AcRF Tier 3 grant for his research on Automated Program Repair. Automated program repair allows the identification and rectification of software errors and vulnerabilities to be performed in an automated manner — an approach that would not only improve a programmer’s productivity, but could also help to fix security vulnerabilities in real-time. For example, the ability to identify

and patch vulnerabilities before they are exploited by hackers or those with malicious intent, may enable developers to gain the upper hand in securing online systems.

In addition, Prof Roychoudhury and his team are also conducting research to find vulnerabilities in computer programs by combining black-box or grey-box fuzzing with symbolic execution approaches. Fuzzing is a technique used for software testing, where invalid or unexpected inputs are generated to allow users to detect coding errors and security loopholes automatically. Using black-box or grey-box fuzzing techniques, inputs are automatically generated with little to no knowledge of the computer program itself.

Prof Roychoudhury aims to debug software errors and vulnerabilites with automation. Siberian Art / shutterstock.com

Official logo of Ministry of Education Tier 3 programme on Automated Program Repair.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Meng, R., Dong, Z., Li, J., Beschastnikh, I., & Roychoudhury, A. (2021). Finding Counterexamples of Temporal Logic properties in Software Implementations via Greybox Fuzzing. arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.02312.

Boehme, M., Cadar, C., & Roychoudhury, A. (2021). Fuzzing: Challenges and Reflections. IEEE Softw., 38(3), 79-86.

Goues, C. L., Pradel, M., & Roychoudhury, A. (2019). Automated program repair. Communications of the ACM, 62(12), 56-65.

Pham, V. T., Böhme, M., Santosa, A. E., Căciulescu, A. R., & Roychoudhury, A. (2019). Smart greybox fuzzing. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 47(9), 1980-1997.

Mechtaev, S., Yi, J., & Roychoudhury, A. (2016, May). Angelix: Scalable multiline program patch synthesis via symbolic analysis. In Proceedings of the 38th international conference on software engineering (pp. 691-701).

TEO Chung Piaw

Provost’s Chair Professor, NUS Analytics and Operations

Executive Director, Institute of Operations Research and Analytics

Co-Director, SIA-NUS Digital Aviation Corporate Laboratory | bizteocp@nus.edu.sg

BSc (National University of Singapore) & PhD (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)

ADDING FLEXIBILITY TO OPERATIONAL SUPPLY CHAINS

Recent trends in consumer markets have shown a shift towards customised products and faster upgrades in technological products. This has resulted in more product lines, shorter product life cycles, and a higher demand for variability. Facing increased uncertainty in demand, businesses must employ process flexibility to match their supply and remain competitive.

Describing innovative methods to introduce such flexibility is Professor

Teo Chung Piaw. An expert in service and manufacturing operations, supply chain planning, discrete optimisation, and machine learning, Prof Teo is designing efficient network structures to support supply chain operations with the use of real-time allocation flexibility. This is beneficial to many large-scale systems, as realtime allocation flexibility eliminates the need to hold safety stock — the quantity of product stored in the warehouse to prevent out-ofstock situations.

Prof Teo is also working on solving the problem of real-time resource deployment. This is often encountered in service platforms such as Grab, where decisions like matching drivers and passengers need to be made in quick succession. Such deployment is challenging as decisions are often made without completely understanding how the environment will evolve in the immediate future.

In addressing this challenge, Prof Teo adopts the approach of prescriptive analytics. Prescriptive analytics goes beyond just predicting the various outcomes after analysing current and past data like in predictive analytics. It also recommends the best solution

moving forward given the various outcomes predicted. In addition, Prof Teo also employs algorithms such as convex optimisation and clustering to integrate optimisation with machine learning. This improves the decision-making process for challenging scenarios such as realtime deployment and allocation of resources.

With funding from the MOE AcRF Tier 3 grant, Prof Teo hopes to develop modelling platforms that use largescale conic optimisation algorithms that are applicable to different fields, including transportation, logistics, and service systems.

Network backbone to support flexible shipping operations with equivalent performance to a fully flexible network.

A little flexibility can go a long way in improving the performance of the operational system. “

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Yan, Z., Natarajan, K., Teo, C. P., & Cheng, C. (2022). A Representative Consumer Model in Data-Driven Multiproduct Pricing Optimization. Management Science.

Li, X., Sun, H., & Teo, C. P. (2022). Convex optimization for bundle size pricing problem. Management Science, 68(2), 1095–1106.

Zhong, Y., Zheng, Z., Chou, M. C., & Teo, C. P. (2018). Dynamic inventory pooling policies to deliver differentiated service. Management Science, 64(4), 1555.

Chou, M. C., Chua, G. A., Teo, C. P., & Zheng, H. (2011). Process flexibility revisited: The graph expander and its applications. Operations research, 59(5), 1090-1105.

Chou, M. C., Chua, G. A., Teo, C. P., & Zheng, H. (2010). Design for process flexibility: Efficiency of the long chain and sparse structure. Operations research, 58(1), 43-58.

HIGHLY SECURE CELLULAR-CONNECTED UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES

ZHANG Rui

Provost’s Chair Professor, NUS Electrical & Computer Engineering | elezhang@nus.edu.sg

BE & ME (National University of Singapore), PhD (Stanford University)

Tremendous growth in the application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or drones, has been observed in recent years. This is occurring not only in defence, but also in civil applications. It is thus crucial that UAVs can be flown safely and reliably.

To achieve this, UAVs and their associated ground stations, require ultra-reliable, low-latency, and highly secure communication links. Such links must support critical commands, facilitate signaling, and ensure high-

capacity data communication capable of transferring information, including video, securely between the UAV and the base station.

Professor Zhang Rui, who has been listed as a Highly Cited Researcher by Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics since 2015, is working on solutions that meet these requirements.

One effort is focused on optimising the design and performance of wireless communication networks by

leveraging on the cellular network for UAV communications.

Cellular-connected UAVs represent a promising technology that achieves the above goal. Here, UAVs operate on existing and future cellular networks. Compared to the traditional groundto-UAV communications via point-topoint links, cellular-connected UAVs have several advantages including ubiquitous accessibility, better performance, ease of monitoring, management, and navigation. They are also more cost effective.

Prof Zhang is also looking into enhancing power transfer networks for UAVs. For example, the UAV-enabled wireless power transfer (WPT) technique may provide a sustainable energy supply for widely distributed low-power ground devices (GDs) in large-scale wireless networks.

To this end, Prof Zhang and his team have designed a framework to optimise UAV trajectory that considers the maximum charge of ground devices. In this case, the devices may be operating over a large area, and be in communication with multiple UAVs.

Ground pilot controls UAV through cellular communications.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Zeng, Y., Xu, X., Jin, S., & Zhang, R. (2021). Simultaneous navigation and radio mapping for cellular-connected UAV with deep reinforcement learning. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 20(7), 42054220.

Ezuma, M., Erden, F., Kumar Anjinappa, C., Ozdemir, O., Guvenc, I., & Matolak, D. (2020). UAV Detection and Identification. UAV Communications for 5G and Beyond, 71-102.

Zeng, Y., Wu, Q., & Zhang, R. (2019). Accessing from the sky: A tutorial on UAV communications for 5G and beyond. Proceedings of the IEEE, 107(12), 2327-2375.

Zeng, Y., Lyu, J., & Zhang, R. (2018). Cellular-connected UAV: Potential, challenges, and promising technologies. IEEE Wireless Communications, 26(1), 120-127.

Wu, Q., Zeng, Y., & Zhang, R. (2018). Joint trajectory and communication design for multi-UAV enabled wireless networks. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 17(3), 2109-2121.

SOCIAL SCIENCES

From the study of cultural influence, to population growth, and public policy formulation, our Social Science research broadly investigates the factors that shape the wellbeing of a nation. With digitalisation transforming many areas of our lives, from health and wellbeing to commerce and enterprise, it is imperative to understand the social impact of technology adoption and change.

At NUS, we take a data-driven approach to the social sciences and aim to carry out research that instils resilience across population groups. Through various research centres we conduct population studies and cultural research that allows us to better understand human and social issues, economic development, and ultimately guide public policy formulation to benefit the nation and its citizens.

HO Lynn-Ee Elaine

Vice Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Research Division

Senior Research Fellow, Asia Research Institute

Professor, NUS Geography | elaine.ho@nus.edu.sg

BSocSc (National University of Singapore) & PhD (University College London)

AGEING, CARE AND SOCIAL NETWORKS

Despite being a young city-state, Singapore has one of the most rapidly ageing populations in the world. The proportion of residents aged 65 years and above increased from 7.2% in 2000 to 16% in 2021. Furthermore, the old-age support ratio of residents, which is the ratio of residents aged 20–64 years for each resident aged 65 years and over declined from 13.5 in 1970s to 4.0 in 2021. Such an imbalance can result in social isolation and depression in older adults.

To address this issue, Professor Ho Lynn-Ee Elaine examines the social and geographical characteristics of older adults’ social networks to understand how social networks may be shaped by the societal and physical environment in which seniors reside. To do this, social network analysis is combined with qualitative research and Geographic Information Science (GIS). This work, titled ‘Ageing and Social Networks: Mapping the Lifeworlds of Older Singaporeans’ is funded by the Social Science Research Council’s Thematic Grant.

Prof Ho hopes that her studies will expand knowledge on ageing and social network theories, as well as advance qualitative GIS methods so that they can be integrated into survey research.

With an increasing number of older adults moving across borders to provide or receive care, Prof Ho also looks beyond Singapore to focus on Transnational Relations, Ageing and Care Ethics (TRACE). Here, she investigates how global care circulations mediate experiences

of ageing and what this means for transnational relations and care ethics. The TRACE project considers three interrelated aspects of care circulation: grandparenting migration; caring for the aged and the left-behind care chains of foreign carers; and retirement migration. By studying how ageing is experienced across national borders and through transnationalism, Prof Ho hopes to develop a grounded understanding of care relations that is useful for (re)conceptualising care ethics in transnational contexts.

We need to move past the Singaporean versus others dichotomy to consider other aspects of difference-making as well. “

Elderly from different nationalities practising taichi together.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Ho, E. L. E., Liew, J. A., Zhou, G., Chiu, T. Y., Yeoh, B. S., & Huang, S. (2021). Shared spaces and “throwntogetherness” in later life: A qualitative GIS study of non-migrant and migrant older adults in Singapore. Geoforum, 124, 132-143.

Ho, E. L. E., & Ting, W. C. (2021). Informality during migration,“conversion” within and across national spaces: Eliciting moral ambivalence among informal brokers. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 46(4), 944-957.

Ho, E. L. E., Zhou, G., Liew, J. A., Chiu, T. Y., Huang, S., & Yeoh, B. S. (2021). Webs of care: qualitative GIS research on aging, mobility, and care relations in Singapore. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 111(5), 1462-1482.

Ho, E. L. E., & Chiu, T. Y. (2020). Transnational ageing and “care technologies”: Chinese grandparenting migrants in Singapore and Sydney. Population, Space and Place, 26(7), e2365.

Ho, E.L.E. and Huang, S. (2018) Care Where You Are: Enabling Singaporeans to Age Well in Place, Singapore: Straits Times Press

LIN Weiqiang

“ BALANCING LABOUR AND AUTOMATION IN AIRPORTS

Examining the interactions between labour and automation can shed light on the future of airport infrastructure.

Associate Professor, NUS Geography | weiqiang@nus.edu.sg

BSocSci & MSocSci (National University of Singapore), & PhD (Royal Holloway, University of London)

The aviation industry has faced challenges in labour, infrastructure and technology even before the COVID-19 pandemic set in. As a mobilities geographer, Associate Professor Lin Weiqiang from NUS Geography is motivated by the rapid acceleration of aeromobilities in Asia, and wants to better understand the inner workings of the aviation industry, and simultaneously, better inform policies surrounding labour and technology.

Funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research (SSHR) Fellowship, his research project

focuses on airport functions — passenger formalities in checkin and gate boarding, as well as airside services relating to baggage handling and ramp operations. He studies the daily routines of workers and how they navigate within the broader aviation ecosystem. In particular, he is interested in the welfare of airport workers, including the racial and gendered aspects of airport work, as well as how migrant and aged workers cope with new technological changes.

In a nutshell, airport operations are increasingly being automated. This could ensure efficiency and minimise disruptions, but in some cases alter and affect human labour. Assoc Prof Lin’s research aims to understand how automation changes airport operations in Asia, and what this means for airport employees, their working conditions, and the services they provide. He believes it is important to examine industrial changes from a social science perspective, to ensure that any future automation will be sustainable and beneficial to both workers and passengers.

In addition to his research on labour and automation, Assoc Prof Lin has expertise in the production of airspaces in Southeast Asia, and the discursive and technological framings of air logistics in Singapore and China.

Understanding how automation changes airport operations in Asia will provide insights into how future automation can better serve both passengers and airport workers.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Lin, W. (2022). Automated infrastructure: COVID-19 and the shifting geographies of supply chain capitalism. Progress in human geography, 46(2), 463-483.

Lin, W. (2022). Atmospheric conditioning: Airport automation, labour and the COVID-19 pandemic. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 47(1), 214-228.

Lin, W. (2020). Evental infrastructure: momentous geographies of technoscience production. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 110(6), 1770-1786.

Lin, W., & Ai, Q. (2020). ‘Aerial Silk Roads’: Airport Infrastructures in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Development and Change, 51(4), 1123-1145.

Lin, W. (2019). Infrastructure’s expenditures: Changi airport, food cargo and capital’s technosphere. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 43(1), 76-93.

Reuben NG

Assistant Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy | spprng@nus.edu.sg

BSocSci (National University of Singapore), MSc (University of Oxford) & PhD (Yale University)

REFRAMING AGEING

The global population is ageing rapidly. Gains in life expectancy coupled with declines in fertility have resulted in a situation where older individuals may soon outnumber the young. Currently, there are approximately one billion adults aged 60 years or older, however this number will increase to two billion by 2050. With such a shift in the global demographic, urgent action is needed to stamp out age discrimination and reframe ageing from being a burden to a blessing.

Assistant Professor Reuben Ng from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public

Policy and Lead Scientist at the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk uses big data analytics to examine negative age stereotypes over the news and social media. As a behavioural and data scientist, his mission is to combat ageism and reframe ageing so that society perceive old age positively, as a productive period of discovery, rather than one of decline and dependence.

In one study, Asst Prof Ng compared the narratives of ageing over 210 years and found that they have shifted from uplifting narratives of

heroism and kinship in the 1800s to darker tones of illness, death, and burden in the 1900s. This study won the Mather Institute Innovative Research on Aging Awards.

Another study found that wellintentioned policies for older adults increased society’s negative perceptions of them. Asst Prof Ng provided a framework for policymakers to better communicate age-related policies and spur intergenerational cohesion.

Against this background, it is paramount to champion the needs of older adults and celebrate ageing. Asst Prof Ng recently analysed how age advocacy organisations could better leverage social media to raise awareness of the needs of older adults — creating an influential playbook for these organisations to optimise campaign efforts.

Asst Prof Ng was also awarded the prestigious Social Science and Humanities Research (SSHR) Fellowship, to conduct research addressing the skills gap in Singapore.

My dream is to create a society free of ageism where old age is celebrated as a productive period of discovery rather than decline and dependence. “

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Ng, R., Chow, T. Y. J., & Yang, W. (2022). The impact of aging policy on societal age stereotypes and ageism. The Gerontologist, 62(4), 598-606.

Ng, R., & Indran, N. (2022). Not Too Old for TikTok: How Older Adults are Reframing Aging. The Gerontologist.

Ng, R., Indran, N., & Liu, L. (2022). A playbook for effective age advocacy on Twitter. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 70(8), 2363-2370.

Ng, R., & Indran, N. (2022). Role-based framing of older adults linked to decreased ageism over 210 years: Evidence from a 600-million-word historical corpus. The Gerontologist, 62(4), 589-597.

Ng, R. (2021). Anti-Asian Sentiments During the COVID-19 Pandemic Across 20 Countries: Analysis of a 12-Billion-Word News Media Database. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(12), e28305.

Asst Prof Ng strives to make his research accessible to audiences of all kinds. He worked with local artists to communicate complex Big Data Insights using batik art.

ECONOMICS OF PRODUCTIVITY & INNOVATION

Ivan PNG Paak Liang

Distinguished Professor, NUS Strategy & Policy | ipng@nus.edu.sg

BA (University of Cambridge) & PhD (Stanford Univeristy)

Policymakers and scholars over-emphasise innovation as a source of growth. They should not overlook growth from laggard businesses catching up with the productivity of industry leaders.

Businesses and society rarely function in isolation. Public policies and business practices directly impact the efficiency and profitability of the other. Understanding how businesses and governments approach productivity and innovation is the focus of Professor Ivan Png Paak Liang from NUS Business School.

A leading Singapore economist, Prof Png investigates how patents and secrecy serve as mechanisms by which businesses appropriate the returns from innovations. Trade secrets can be held for an unlimited duration while patents only provide exclusive rights to the inventor for twenty years. Further trade secrets extend to subject matter such as customer lists that are not patentable. Businesses worldwide report secrecy to be more effective in appropriability than patents. Prof Png’s research found a nuanced relation between changes in trade secrets law and R&D among U.S. businesses. This relation increases with the size of the company — as measured by sales revenues.

Recently, Prof Png was awarded Prof Png was awarded the Social Science Research Thematic Grant to conduct

research into service productivity. In this interdisciplinary project, scholars with diverse expertise such as data analytics, optimisation, stochastic modelling, applied microeconomics, and behavioural science work together to advance new scientific knowledge in the disciplines. Partnering with both public service agencies and private sector enterprises, the research integrates econometric methods and a series of field experiments to develop cost-effective and scalable strategies, raising the productivity levels of several service industries.

In research funded by the Social Science Research Council, Prof Png studied the productivity of service businesses including supermarkets.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Gong, J., & Png, I. P. L. (forthcoming). Automation enables specialisation: Field evidence. Management Science.

Hou, Y., Png, I. P. L., & Xiong, X. (2022). When stronger patent law reduces patenting: Empirical evidence. Strategic Management Journal.

Yi, J., Chu, J., & Png, I. P. L. (2022). Early-life exposure to hardship increased risk tolerance and entrepreneurship in adulthood with gender differences. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(15), e2104033119.

Ho, T. H., Png, I. P., & Reza, S. (2018). Sunk cost fallacy in driving the world’s costliest cars. Management Science, 64(4), 1761-1778.

Png, I. P. (2017). Law and innovation: evidence from state trade secrets laws. Review of Economics and Statistics, 99(1), 167-179.

Leher SINGH

Deputy Director, Centre for Family and Population Research Associate Professor, NUS Psychology | psyls@nus.edu.sg

BA (Bryn Mawr College) & PhD (Brown)

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

The first two years of a child’s life are crucial for their language development. But what type of language environment is helpful in establishing vocabulary during early childhood? Does the acquisition of multiple languages modify cognitive, social, and linguistic functioning in young children? These are questions that guide Associate Professor Leher Singh as she conducts research to understand language development in children and infants, as well as the influence of multilingualism on cognitive and language development.

In a recent study, she found that infants exposed to two languages adopted more efficient information processing, which indicates that exposure to bilingualism encourages fundamental aspects of early memory development. In addition, the increased flexibility shown by bilingual infants has other effects on development. This may allow them to learn new languages more efficiently and to be less prone to social stereotyping. In recent research, she examined the role of socio-economic disadvantage on

infant language development. She found that even before infants begin to talk, their family’s socio-economic status predicts their language ability. However, she has also found that regardless of socio-economic status, parents who read more to their infants will bolster their infants’ language abilities.

Currently, Assoc Prof Singh is investigating the impact of bilingualism on social, cognitive and language development and identifying the risks in language development

for children from disadvantaged families. She hopes that her research will be able to examine the effects of socio-economic status on language development, identify gaps in language development and implement interventions that allow all children to begin their academic journey with equal potential.

It is important for us to broaden our science and study infants and children from all walks of life. Only in doing so, can we create a level playing field for children. “

Influence of multilingualism on cognitive and language development.

Princess_Anmitsu / shutterstock.com

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Singh, L., & Cheng, Q.Q., Yeung, J. W-J (in press). Socio-economic status predicts native speech discrimination in the first year of life. Developmental Science.

Singh, L., Yeung, J-Y, Cheng, Q.Q., & Heng, E. (in press). The home literacy environment mediates effects of socio-economic status on infant vocabulary development. Developmental Science.

Singh, L., Rajendra, S., & Mazuka, R. (2022). Diversity and representation in studies of infant perceptual narrowing. Child Development Perspectives, 16(4), 191-199.

Singh, L., Cheng, Q., Tan, S. H., Tan, A., & Low, Y. L. (2022). Language acquisition in a multilingual society: English vocabulary norms and predictors in Singaporean children. Child Development, 93(1), 288-305.

Singh, L., Quinn, P.C., Qian, M.K., & Lee, K. (2020). Bilingualism is associated with less racial bias in preschool children. Developmental Psychology, 56, 888-896.

Climate change poses an existential threat to people, and many of the world’s ecosystems. It has expedited the need for new, clean energy solutions, and has exacerbated food and water security concerns, globally.

At NUS, we pursue innovative strategies to mitigate the impact of climate change and ensure sustainable urbanisation, with innovations that promote health and wellbeing of residents. Through synergistic,

interdisciplinary platforms, we pursue solutions, tailored for tropical, urban, and Asian settings.

Carbon capture technologies, green energy or hydrogen-based energy alternatives, naturebased climate solutions and sustainable urban farming strategies are amongst the key solutions that are contributing to global sustainability efforts and climate action.

CAPTURING THE FULL POTENTIAL OF THE SUN

HO Ghim Wei

Professor, NUS Electrical and Computer Engineering | elehgw@nus.edu.sg

BSc & MSc (National University of Singapore), PhD (University of Cambridge)

In tropical countries like Singapore, solar energy remains one of the most viable sources of renewable energy for power generation. In 2020, Singapore achieved its solar deployment target of 350 megawattpeak (MWp) in just the first quarter of the year. This represents an amount sufficient to power 60,000 households a year.

energy based technologies to sustainably produce clean fuels, energy and water.

One research focus is on the synthesis of catalytic and interfacial heterogeneous nanostructures that are tailored to improve the efficiency of fuel production using solar energy. For example, Prof Ho has synthesised wurtzite cobalt(II) oxide nanorods with atomic zinc sites that exhibit highly efficient and stable photocatalytic activity toward carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction. From this, methane gas is produced without the use of any sacrificial agents or photochemical sensitisers. Methane gas is cleaner than alternative fossil fuels when combusted.

Beyond CO2 reduction, Prof Ho also looks into effective ways to produce clean water using solar energy. For example, she is developing a three-dimensional (3D) photothermal catalytic spherical isotopic evaporator, which enables the evaporation of interfacial water under solar irradiation, purifying the water in the process. In contrast to the conventional two-dimensional (2D) steam generators, which do not allow maximum absorption of solar energy at dawn and dusk, the spherical isotropic evaporator will always have a hemispherical surface facing the sun, thereby maximising the absorbance of solar energy throughout the day for improved water purification efficiency.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Wei, J., Meng, F. L., Li, T., Zhang, T., Xi, S., Ong, W. L., ... & Ho, G. W. (2022). Spontaneous Atomic Sites Formation in Wurtzite CoO Nanorods for Robust CO2 Photoreduction. Advanced Functional Materials, 32(15), 2109693.

Ding, T., & Ho, G. W. (2021). Using the sun to cogenerate electricity and freshwater. Joule, 5(7), 1639-1641.

Yilmaz, G., Meng, F. L., Lu, W., Abed, J., Peh, C. K. N., Gao, M., ... & Ho, G. W. (2020). Autonomous atmospheric water seeping MOF matrix. Science advances, 6(42), eabc8605.

Gao, M., Peh, C. K., Zhu, L., Yilmaz, G., & Ho, G. W. (2020). Photothermal catalytic gel featuring spectral and thermal management for parallel freshwater and hydrogen production. Advanced Energy Materials, 10(23), 2000925.

Gao, M., Zhu, L., Peh, C. K., & Ho, G. W. (2019). Solar absorber material and system designs for photothermal water vaporization towards clean water and energy production. Energy & Environmental Science, 12(3), 841-864.

Schematic illustration of the spherical evaporator developed by Prof Ho.

NATURE-BASED CLIMATE SOLUTIONS IN THE TROPICS

As Singapore invests in the R&D of innovative solutions for climate change and other sustainability challenges, we have the opportunity to be part of something bigger than ourselves, to punch above our weight, and to create positive outcomes for Singapore and the world.

KOH Lian Pin

Director, Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions Vice Dean of Research and Development, Faculty of Science | lianpinkoh@nus.edu.sg

BSc & MSc (National University of Singapore), PhD (Princeton University)

The climate crisis has galvanised immediate action around the world, particularly in the development and implementation of innovative climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. Some of these strategies involve protecting or restoring natural ecosystems to reduce carbon emissions or capture carbon dioxide from the air. Together these strategies

are known as nature-based climate solutions.

Spearheading this effort at NUS is Professor Koh Lian Pin, an expert in the field of sustainability and environmental science, and Director of the Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions (CNCS). Prof Koh is also the Director of the Tropical

Marine Science Institute, and the Vice Dean of Research and Development at the Faculty of Science.

The goal of the CNCS is to produce cutting-edge science to inform climate policies, strategies and actions in Singapore and the AsiaPacific region. Prof Koh seeks to achieve this by understanding the impacts of climate change on both humans and the environment and identifying nature-based solutions for climate mitigation and adaptation. Finally, he seeks strategies to overcome barriers that hinder the implementation of these solutions. By developing science-based decisionsupport tools, he seeks to reconcile environmental protection with socioeconomic development.

Prof Koh is currently focusing his research on the tropics, which is a region rich in biodiversity, yet undergoing rapid population growth, and is therefore under immediate

threat. The key to avoiding further destruction and degradation of the environment in the region is to promote sustainable solutions that include conservation, restoration, and improvement in the management of natural habitats. In the midst of balancing competing priorities and trade-offs, the ultimate goal is to attain solutions that are scientifically sound, economically feasible and socially acceptable.

Prof Koh and his team developed a dashboard to help policymakers and investors in their decision making on nature-based projects.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Zeng, Y., Koh, L. P., & Wilcove, D. S. (2022). Gains in biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services from the expansion of the planet’s protected areas. Science Advances, 8(22), eabl9885.

Sarira, T. V., Zeng, Y., Neugarten, R., Chaplin-Kramer, R., & Koh, L. P. (2022). Co-benefits of forest carbon projects in Southeast Asia. Nature Sustainability, 5(5), 393-396.

Koh, L. P., Zeng, Y., Sarira, T. V., & Siman, K. (2021). Carbon prospecting in tropical forests for climate change mitigation. Nature communications, 12(1), 1-9.

Zeng, Y., Friess, D. A., Sarira, T. V., Siman, K., & Koh, L. P. (2021). Global potential and limits of mangrove blue carbon for climate change mitigation. Current Biology, 31(8), 1737-1743.

Zeng, Y., Sarira, T. V., Carrasco, L. R., Chong, K. Y., Friess, D. A., Lee, J. S. H., ... & Koh, L. P. (2020). Economic and social constraints on reforestation for climate mitigation in Southeast Asia. Nature Climate Change, 10(9), 842-844.

EFFICIENT COOLING WITH BETTER HEAT TRANSFER

LEE Poh Seng

Associate Professor, NUS Mechanical Engineering

Executive Director, Energy Studies Institute (ESI)

Director, Centre for Energy Research & Technology (CERT)

Co-Director, Singapore Energy Centre (SgEC) | pohseng@nus.edu.sg

Cooling technologies are crucial to maintaining optimal temperatures and ambient humidity within data centres, especially in humid tropical cities like Singapore. Ideally, data centres are kept between 23 to 27°C and 50 to 60% humidity. This ensures the computing infrastructure they house is not damaged from overheating and data is not lost. However, maintaining a suitable environment requires a lot of energy, contributing significantly to carbon emissions.

With a critical role in supporting the digital economy, it is imperative to develop sustainable cooling technologies for data centres in Singapore. To that end, Associate Professor Lee Poh Seng from NUS Mechanical Engineering is developing innovative cooling technologies, such as an additive manufactured unibody heat sink design that features two cooling modes, i.e., air and liquid cooling, in a single integrated piece. This eliminates the need for connectors and ducts. This direct

BE & ME (National University of Singapore), PhD (Purdue University)

chip hybrid cooling method can serve as an alternative, greener cooling solution that will significantly reduce server downtime due to overheating or inapt humidity issues.

With Assoc Prof Lee’s expertise in high-efficiency/performance thermal management techniques and microscale heat transfer, he has also developed various novel and effective techniques to improve the performance of microchannel heat sinks and mitigate critical issues of hotspots and large temperature gradients in electronic devices. These efforts have resulted in numerous patent applications being awarded.

Assoc Prof Lee currently leads the Energy Studies Institute (ESI), the leading energy policy think tank in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Through research, networking, and facilitating dialogue among stakeholders, including the government, academia, the energy industry and the public, ESI plays a

strategic role in shaping the evolving energy narratives and landscapes domestically and externally amid the global low-carbon energy transition development. ESI’s core objective is to contribute to our government’s agenda to enhance Singapore’s economic competitiveness and stay relevant on the international stage while simultaneously ensuring Singapore’s energy security and environmental sustainability commitments.

Assoc Prof Lee and his research team members investigating a high-performance two-phase microchannel heat sink.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Xiong, X., & Lee, P. S. (2021). Vortex-enhanced thermal environment for air-cooled data center: An experimental and numerical study. Energy and Buildings, 250, 111287.

Xiong, X., Fulpagare, Y., & Lee, P. S. (2021). A numerical investigation of fan wall cooling system for modular air-cooled data center. Building and Environment, 205, 108287.

Zeng, S., Sun, Q., & Lee, P. S. (2020). Thermohydraulic analysis of a new fin pattern derived from topology optimized heat sink structures. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 147, 118909.

Riaz, F., Lee, P. S., & Chou, S. K. (2020). Thermal modelling and optimization of low-grade waste heat driven ejector refrigeration system incorporating a direct ejector model. Applied Thermal Engineering, 167, 114710.

Zeng, S., & Lee, P. S. (2019). Topology optimization of liquid-cooled microchannel heat sinks: An experimental and numerical study. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 142, 118401.

Jolene LIN

Director, Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law

Associate Professor, NUS Law | jolene.lin@nus.edu.sg

LLB (London School of Economics), LLM (New York University) & PhD (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

CLIMATE LITIGATION AND TRANSNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

More than half of the world’s population reside in the Asia-Pacific region, and it is projected that 41% of the world’s energy usage in 2040 will stem from this region. As such, it is crucial that mitigation strategies addressing the world’s climate crisis focus on AsiaPacific nations, and practices adopted by their populations.

Indeed, achieving sustainable development goals related to energy consumption and carbon emissions requires significant shifts in consumer

behaviour and lifestyles. While this is a multifaceted problem, policy development and regulatory support will play a significant role. Seeking to better understand the influence of law and governance on climate action is the Director of the AsiaPacific Centre for Environmental Law, Associate Professor Jolene Lin.

Assoc Prof Lin’s main areas of expertise are climate change law and transnational environmental law. Together with other authors, she

has published a book titled “Climate Change Litigation in the Asia Pacific”, which is the first scholarly examination of climate change litigation in the Asia Pacific region. This book brings together legal academics and lawyers from around the world to achieve a comprehensive understanding of how litigation can hasten the pace of climate action in Asia Pacific countries such as Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and China.

Assoc Prof Lin and her team have also analysed greenhouse gas emission strategies proposed by International Maritime Organization (IMO), including National Action Plans (NAPs), market-based mechanisms (MBMs) and the adoption of alternative fuels for the shipping industry. Her findings indicate that

true decarbonisation in the maritime sector can only be achieved with zerocarbon fuels, such as hydrogen fuels. Furthermore, the team also observed that private sectors tend to shift their resources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after better understanding climate-related financial risks and opportunities. This can give insights into how policies can be implemented to steer private sectors towards achieving IMO goals.

“

The law offers levers to achieve the ultimate goal: to cut greenhouse gas emissions, achieve climate justice for vulnerable communities, and leave our future generations a healthy environment.

Achieving sustainable development goals with climate change litigation.

TarikVision / shutterstock.com

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Garcia, B., Foerster, A., & Lin, J. (2021). Net zero for the international shipping sector? An Analysis of the Implementation and Regulatory Challenges of the IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions. Journal of Environmental Law, 33(1), 85-112.

Lin, J., & Kysar, D. A. (Eds.). (2020). Climate Change Litigation in the Asia Pacific. Cambridge University Press.

Peel, J., & Lin, J. (2019). Transnational climate litigation: The contribution of the global south. American Journal of International Law, 113(4), 679-726.

Lin, J. (2018). Global Cities, climate change, and transnational lawmaking. Governing Climate Change, 1–20.

Streck, C., & Lin, J. (2008). Making markets work: a review of CDM performance and the need for reform. European Journal of International Law, 19(2), 409-442.

IN PURSUIT OF GREEN ENERGY SOLUTIONS

LIU Bin

Director, Centre for Hydrogen Innovations (CHI) Senior Vice Provost, Faculty & Institutional Development | cheliub@nus.edu.sg

BSc & MSc (Nanjing University), PhD (National University of Singapore)

The world is in need of innovative and scalable systemlevel solutions that can sustain our energy needs and tackle the challenges of climate change.

The ability to control the functional properties of organic materials

Recognised for her contributions to polymer chemistry research, and the development of organic nanomaterials for biomedical, environmental and energy applications, Prof Liu is now focused on the pursuit for functional organic material-based green energy solutions.

Conjugated polymers, for example, are proving to be promising alternatives to traditional semiconductors for photocatalysis. Prof Liu and her team have synthesised highly efficient photocatalytic polymers for the production of hydrogen from water. Hydrogen is considered a clean fuel as it could be obtained from water using renewable energy, and produces water during its combustion, rather than carbon dioxide (CO2).

However, challenges remain in translating hydrogen fuel technology for real-world use. In particular the costs of transportation and production remain high, and due to its unique structure, hydrogen cannot be easily liquefied using pressure. As Director of CHI, Prof Liu will oversee the development of novel technologies that address this, and other infrastructural challenges. Through an interdisciplinary

approach, the centre aims to catalyse breakthroughs and innovations to enable a global hydrogen economy.

As a member of the University Sustainability and Climate Action Council, and one of the world’s most influential minds, Prof Liu is determined to conduct impactful research in sustainability and grow the NUS Sustainability Cluster to create meaningful solutions that can positively impact the everyday life of many — both now, and in the future.

Conjugated polyelectrolyte nanoparticles facilitate splitting of hydrogen from water in the presence of sunlight.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Dai, C., & Liu, B. (2020). Conjugated polymers for visible-light-driven photocatalysis. Energy Environmental Science, 13(1), 24–52

Dai, C., Pan, Y., & Liu, B. (2020). Conjugated polymer nanomaterials for solar water splitting. Advanced Energy Materials, 10(42), 2002474.

Wu, W., Mao, D., Xu, S., Hu, F., Li, X., Kong, D., & Liu, B. (2018). Polymerization-enhanced photosensitization. Chem, 4(8), 1937-1951.

Dai, C., Xu, S., Liu, W., Gong, X., Panahandeh-Fard, M., Liu, Z., Zhang, D., Xue, C., Loh, K. P., & Liu, B. (2018). Dibenzothiophene-s,s-dioxide-based conjugated polymers: highly efficient photocatalyts for hydrogen production from water under visible light. Small, 14(34), 1801839.

Etgar, L., Gao, P., Xue, Z., Peng, Q., Chandiran, A. K., Liu, B., Nazeeruddin, M. K., & Grätzel, M. (2012). Mesoscopic CH3NH3PbI3/TiO2 heterojunction solar cells. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 134(42), 17396–17399

WANG Lei

Assistant Professor, NUS Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering | wanglei8@nus.edu.sg

BSc & MSc (Dalian University of Technology), PhD (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

SUSTAINABLE FUELS THROUGH CO 2 REDUCTION

Today, over 34 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) is emitted each year globally. While efforts to reduce the environmental burden of such emissions has focused on the development and adoption of alternative energy technologies, a growing body of work is turning to the development of technologies to capture and convert CO2 into carbonbased fuels and chemicals. The successful implementation of such technologies will not only provide a source of clean energy for our future energy needs, but also provide much needed mitigation strategies to combat growing carbon emissions.

Spearheading this emerging field of research is Assistant Professor

Wang Lei from NUS Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. A recipient of the Singapore NRF Fellowship (2021), Asst Prof Wang is focusing on developing better electrocatalytic processes to transform CO2 into fuels and valuable chemicals. At the core of his research are efficient electricity-to-fuel and fuel-toelectricity conversion methods, which stem from the development of catalytic materials, processes, and reactors. He has, for example, developed an electrocatalyst that is composed of gold nanoparticles on a polycrystalline copper foil (Au/Cu). This catalyst is highly active for CO2 reduction to alcohols such as ethanol and n-propanol, which are valuable chemicals, widely used in many manufacturing processes.

Asst Prof Wang aims to develop an in-depth understanding of the interfacial chemistry of the catalysts and identify the levers that control overall system performance in an electrocatalytic process, such as selectivity, activity, and durability. Such scientific insights will enable him to design technologies that change the energy landscape, and contribute to carbon emission reduction. He also wishes to expand his research expertise beyond CO2 reduction and electrochemical organic synthesis, into oxygen/nitrogen reduction, the electrochemical oxidation of fuels and the partial oxidation of methane to methanol.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Zhang, T., Jin, J., Chen, J., Fang, Y., Han, X., Chen, J., ... & Wang, L. (2022). Pinpointing the axial ligand effect on platinum single-atom-catalyst towards efficient alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction. Nature Communications, 13(1), 1-14.

Chen, J., Liu, X., Xi, S., Zhang, T., Liu, Z., Chen, J., ... & Wang, L. (2022). Functionalized Ag with Thiol Ligand to Promote Effective CO2 Electroreduction. ACS nano, 16(9), 1398213991.

Chen, J., & Wang, L. (2022). Effects of the catalyst dynamic changes and influence of the reaction environment on the performance of electrochemical CO2 reduction. Advanced Materials, 34(25), 2103900.

Wang, L., Higgins, D. C., Ji, Y., Morales-Guio, C. G., Chan, K., Hahn, C., & Jaramillo, T. F. (2020). Selective reduction of CO to acetaldehyde with CuAg electrocatalysts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(23), 12572-12575.

Wang, L., Nitopi, S., Wong, A. B., Snider, J. L., Nielander, A. C., Morales-Guio, C. G., ... & Jaramillo, T. F. (2019). Electrochemically converting carbon monoxide to liquid fuels by directing selectivity with electrode surface area. Nature Catalysis, 2(8), 702-708.

The process of transforming CO2 into valuable chemicals and fuels.

LOW-CARBON TO NO-CARBON SOLUTIONS

“

As a chemical engineer, my grand vision is that before the end of this century all chemicals will be manufactured from renewable resources in environmentally friendly, energy efficient and economically viable manners.

YAN Ning

Associate Professor, NUS Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering | cheyann@nus.edu.sg

BE & PhD (Peking University)

The urgent need to reduce carbon emissions as a means to help mitigate the impact of climate change, is driving a global push for alternative, low-carbon clean-energy solutions.

Central to this effort is Associate Professor Yan Ning from NUS Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and the Centre for Hydrogen Innovations,

who conducts research focused on the catalytic conversion of renewable carbon sources, green chemistry and engineering, and catalyst development.

Of particular interest to Assoc Prof Yan is the potential for ammonia to serve as an alternative energy source. Not only are the basic

elements of ammonia (nitrogen and hydrogen) abundantly available, but the absence of carbon makes it an attractive option when it comes to meeting carbon emission targets. Its potential as an alternative energy source is being pursued through two approaches: firstly, by decomposing ammonia to obtain hydrogen, which can be used directly as a clean energy, or secondly, by mixing ammonia with natural gas to help reduce the carbon footprint of this otherwise commonly used fuel.

Assoc Prof Yan is also exploring carbon capture technologies. In a recent collaborative study, he described the development of a new material, mordenite zeolite doped with isolated Fe clusters (Fe-MOR), which can be used for carbon dioxide (CO2) sieving. The low-cost, highly efficient material is also highly selective towards CO2 absorption even in the presence of gas molecules of similar size and properties.

Assoc Prof Yan was awarded the prestigious NRF Investigatorship to continue his research in identifying pathways towards renewable chemicals, specifically to produce amines for renewable sources, using original catalyst designs and strategies.

Assoc Prof Yan and his team will be looking to develop more energy-efficient and greener methods of extracting hydrogen from ammonia.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Hülsey, M. J., Fung, V., Hou, X., Wu, J., & Yan, N. (2022). Hydrogen Spillover and Its Relation to Hydrogenation: Observations on Structurally Defined Single-Atom Sites. Angewandte Chemie, 134(40), e202208237.

Yan, N., Zhou, K., Tong, Y. W., Leong, D. T., & Dickieson, M. P. (2022). Pathways to food from CO2 via ‘green chemical farming’. Nature Sustainability, 1-3.

Zhou, Y., Zhang, J., Wang, L., Cui, X., Liu, X., Wong, S. S., ... & Wang, J. (2021). Self-assembled iron-containing mordenite monolith for carbon dioxide sieving. Science, 373(6552), 315-320.

Chen, X., Song, S., Li, H., Gözaydın, G., & Yan, N. (2021). Expanding the boundary of biorefinery: organonitrogen chemicals from biomass. Accounts of Chemical Research, 54(7), 1711-1722.

Sun, Q., Chen, B. W., Wang, N., He, Q., Chang, A., Yang, C. M., ... & Yan, N. (2020). Zeolite-Encaged Pd–Mn Nanocatalysts for CO2 Hydrogenation and Formic Acid Dehydrogenation. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 59(45), 20183-20191.

HEALTH INNOVATION

NUS’ Health Innovation researchers bring cutting-edge technologies to medical interventions, diagnostics and treatments, to improve health outcomes, promote wellbeing, and address pressing challenges faced by an ageing society.

Our research is driven by interdisciplinary collaborations involving clinician scientists, biomedical engineers, computer scientists and social scientists, and continues to push the boundaries of traditional medicine by focusing

on emerging fields such as mechanobiology, precision medicine and computational epidemiology.

Our researchers are internationally recognised for creating innovative technology-based solutions, such as personalised cancer therapies driven by artificial intelligencebased technologies or smart wearables for health monitoring, and are propelling NUS to the forefront of translational research.

FIGHTING CANCER WITH GENOMICS

The understanding of specific genetic abnormalities can identify patients that will benefit from specific drugs and treatments, as well as the doses of drugs to use.

CHNG Wee Joo

Director, National University Cancer Institute, Singapore

Professor, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS

Principal Investigator, Cancer Science Institute of Singapore | mdccwj@nus.edu.sg

MBChB (University of Leeds) & PhD (National University of Singapore)

When it comes to cancer, no two patients are the same. To improve the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer cases, the underlying pathology as well as patient-specific cellular or molecular biology must be considered. This is what drives Professor Chng Wee Joo from NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS).

His lab has been at the forefront of genomics research in blood cancer over the last decade. In the case of

multiple myeloma (MM), an incurable type of blood cancer, Prof Chng led a study on developing more effective treatments for ultra-high-risk MM patients.

Typically, the deletion of chromosome 17p13 and the gain of chromosome 1q21 are independent high-risk biomarkers. In ultra-high-risk groups, there is a co-occurrence of both chromosomal abnormalities.

Prof Chng and his team found that the cells of ultra-high-risk patients

showed defective DNA damage response (DDR), associated with high genomic instability and persistent activation of Chk1 pathway. This finding presents the biological and therapeutic relevance of Chk1 inhibition in targeting DDR and genomic instability, and suggests that Chk1 inhibitors could be a standard of care and targeted treatment for this ultra-high-risk group.

Prof Chng was also behind the research that revealed a link between RNA defects and MM progression. Traditionally, studies had focused on the role of DNA abnormalities. He was the first Asian recipient of the Brian G.M. Durie Outstanding Achievement Award in 2020 for his research on myeloma.

on MM, acute myeloid leukaemia and lymphoma. He is using global genomics methods (microarray and sequencing platforms) to identify novel prognostic markers as well as molecular abnormalities in these malignancies. These markers and abnormalities provide insights into disease pathogenesis and serve as potential targets for therapy.

As leader of the Haematologic Malignancy Tumour Group at NCIS, Prof Chng manages a translational research programme with a focus

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Soekojo, C. Y., Chung, T. H., Furqan, M. S., & Chng, W. J. (2022). Genomic characterization of functional high-risk multiple myeloma patients. Blood cancer journal, 12(1), 1-9.

Teoh, P. J., An, O., Chung, T. H., Vaiyapuri, T., Raju, A., Hoppe, M. M., ... & Chng, W. J. (2022). p53-NEIL1 co-abnormalities induce genomic instability and promote synthetic lethality with Chk1 inhibition in multiple myeloma having concomitant 17p13 (del) and 1q21 (gain). Oncogene, 41(14), 2106-2121.

Yang, F., Feng, W., Wang, H., Wang, L., Liu, X., Wang, R., ... & Zheng, G. (2020). Monocyte-derived leukemia-associated macrophages facilitate extramedullary distribution of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells. Cancer Research, 80(17), 3677-3691.

Chromosomal abnormalities linked to multiple myeloma are associated with persistent activation of CHK1, which confers drug resistance and promotes tumour growth.

Chong, P. S., Zhou, J., Lim, J. S., Hee, Y. T., Chooi, J. Y., Chung, T. H., ... & Chng, W. J. (2019). IL6 Promotes a STAT3-PRL3 Feedforward Loop via SHP2 Repression in Multiple MyelomaPRL-3 Activates STAT3 in Multiple Myeloma. Cancer research, 79(18), 4679-4688.

Teoh, P. J., An, O., Chung, T. H., Chooi, J. Y., Toh, S. H., Fan, S., ... & Chng, W. J. (2018). Aberrant hyperediting of the myeloma transcriptome by ADAR1 confers oncogenicity and is a marker of poor prognosis. Blood, The Journal of the American Society of Hematology, 132(12), 13041317.

Dean HO

Director, The N.1 Institute for Health

Director, The Institute for Digital Medicine (WisDM)

Provost’s Chair Professor & Head, NUS Biomedical Engineering | biedh@nus.edu.sg

BSc, MSc & PhD (University of California, Los Angeles)

AI FOR PERSONALISED HEALTH INTERVENTIONS

Professor Dean Ho focuses on improving patient outcomes using innovative digital medicine and optimisation technologies. It is known that when effective drugs are given at suboptimal dosages, efficacy can be impaired, or even absent. This is a major cause of clinical trial failure and is responsible for poor response rates from patients.

To address this issue, Prof Ho develops personalised interventions. He has successfully led several firstin-human trials aimed at improving

the clinical efficacy and safety of combination therapies for individual patients using artificial intelligence (AI) platforms to determine the best possible drug treatment regimens and doses for cancer patients and organ transplant recipients.

One platform, known as CURATE. AI, works by assessing a patient’s response to a drug, or combination of drugs, as they are undergoing treatment. CURATE.AI suggests optimal dosage levels depending on how the patient is responding.

Drug doses may be reduced, yet drug efficacy can increase. The risk of drug side effects is also reduced. The patient’s own data is all that is used to optimise their own regimen for the entire duration of care. This information can then be used to dynamically refine dosages that are given to broader populations, or sub-populations of patients. Such an approach is a significant shift from traditional methods, where drug dosages are predetermined based on known toxicity levels and efficacy in whole populations.

CURATE.AI has optimised human treatments for broad indications ranging from oncology to infectious diseases, and the trials have halted disease progression and resulted in durable patient responses that

far outperformed standard of care approaches. It was for this work that Prof Ho was elected as a Fellow of the US National Academy of Inventors in 2018, the highest honour for academic inventors.

“

Technology alone will not empower next-generation healthcare. Bridging disciplines spanning across digital medicine, clinical care and behavioural sciences will revolutionise future clinical practices.

Personalised treatments are necessary as patients vary from each other and also from themselves over time. CURATE.AI addresses this challenge by dynamically adjusting therapy dosing to optimise treatment in a sustained manner.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Blasiak, A., Truong, A. T., Remus, A., Hooi, L., Seah, S. G. K., Wang, P., ... & Ho, D. (2022). The IDentif. AI-x pandemic readiness platform: Rapid prioritization of optimized COVID-19 combination therapy regimens. NPJ digital medicine, 5(1), 1-12.

Wang, P., You, K., Ong, Y. H., Yeoh, J. N., Ong, J. P. Q., Truong, A. T. L., ... & Ho, D. (2022). WisDM Green: Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Design and Prioritize Compound Combinations in Peat Moss for Sustainable Farming Applications. Advanced Intelligent Systems, 2200095.

Blasiak, A., Truong, A., Tan, W. J. L., Kumar, K. S., Tan, S. B., Teo, C. B., ... & Sundar, R. (2022). PRECISE CURATE. AI: A prospective feasibility trial to dynamically modulate personalized chemotherapy dose with artificial intelligence. ASCO, 40, 1574.

Ho, D. (2020). Artificial intelligence in cancer therapy. Science, 367(6481), 982-983.

Zarrinpar, A., Lee, D. K., Silva, A., Datta, N., Kee, T., Eriksen, C., ... & Ho, D. (2016). Individualizing liver transplant immunosuppression using a phenotypic personalized medicine platform. Science translational medicine, 8(333), 333ra49-333ra49.

LIM Chwee Teck

Director, Institute for Health Innovation & Technology (iHealthtech), NUS Society (NUSS) Professor, NUS Biomedical Engineering | ctlim@nus.edu.sg

BE (National University of Singapore) & PhD (University of Cambridge)

HUMAN DISEASE MECHANOBIOLOGY

At the interface between engineering and medicine lies the field of biomedical engineering. Inherently interdisciplinary, this field is answering important scientific questions related to human diseases. At the forefront of this field is NUSS Professor Lim Chwee Teck.

Recognised for his outstanding contributions to the field of human diseases, his research focuses on human disease mechanobiology, lab-on-chip diagnostics, and flexible wearable devices for disease diagnosis and precision therapy.

One area of focus for Prof Lim’s lab is cancer diagnostics, and in particular, understanding how and

why cancer cells become metastatic. During metastasis, it is known that cancer cells change their biophysical properties, resulting in them being more deformable and less adhesive. These changes can lead to severe pathology and a poor prognosis for patients.

Using micro- and nanomechanical tools, Prof Lim investigates why and how such biomechanical changes occur in cancer cells, and how this contributes to metastasis. He has developed a microfluidic cancer biochip which can detect and isolate circulating tumour cells from the peripheral blood of patients (known as a liquid biopsy). This technology has since been commercialised with an FDA listing in USA.

In recent years, wearable technology has seen an increase in research and commercialisation due to new advances in miniaturised sensors and mobile computing. Prof Lim continues to develop the next generation of wearable technologies for healthcare. His work has, for example, led to the development of a smart bandage containing a wearable sensor that is able to perform pointof-care diagnosis of chronic wounds wirelessly. This sensor technology can detect temperature, pH, bacteria type and inflammatory factors specific to chronic wounds just within 15 minutes, enabling fast and accurate wound assessment.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Saw, T. B., Gao, X., Li, M., He, J., Le, A. P., Marsh, S., ... & Lim, C. T. (2022). Transepithelial potential difference governs epithelial homeostasis by electromechanics. Nature Physics, 18(9), 1122-1128.

Gao, Y., Nguyen, D. T., Yeo, T., Lim, S. B., Tan, W. X., Madden, L. E., ... & Lim, C. T. (2021). A flexible multiplexed immunosensor for point-of-care in situ wound monitoring. Science Advances, 7(21), eabg9614.

Khoo, B. L., Grenci, G., Lim, Y. B., Lee, S. C., Han, J., & Lim, C. T. (2018). Expansion of patient-derived circulating tumor cells from liquid biopsies using a CTC microfluidic culture device. Nature protocols, 13(1), 34-58.

Saw, T. B., Doostmohammadi, A., Nier, V., Kocgozlu, L., Thampi, S., Toyama, Y., ... & Ladoux, B. (2017). Topological defects in epithelia govern cell death and extrusion. Nature, 544(7649), 212-216.

Vedula, S. R. K., Hirata, H., Nai, M. H., Brugués, A., Toyama, Y., Trepat, X., ... & Ladoux, B. (2014). Epithelial bridges maintain tissue integrity during collective cell migration. Nature materials, 13(1), 87-96.

Microfluidic cancer biochip or CTChip developed to detect and isolate circulating tumour cells in the lab of Prof Lim.

LOK Shee-Mei

Professor, Duke-NUS Medical School & NUS Biological Sciences | sheemei.lok@duke-nus.edu.sg

BSc (Queensland University of Technology), MSc & PhD (National University of Singapore)

NEXT-GENERATION VACCINES

Viruses continue to pose a significant threat to public health worldwide. Treatment options predominately include vaccines, and antiviral drugs. Vaccines, however, are not readily available for many viruses, and antiviral agents often give rise to drug resistance. Furthermore, viruses may have more than one serotype or strain, and this complicates the development of treatment options.

To design better therapeutics and vaccines, the highly complex viral infection process must be better

understood, from pathogenesis and replication through to transmission.

Taking a structural biology approach to this challenge is Professor Lok Shee-Mei, who specialises in X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy. Her laboratory studies the interactions and structural changes of viruses during the infection process and explores how therapeutics such as antibodies could inhibit various stages of the process. Of particular interest to Prof Lok are the morphologies of flaviviruses (dengue

and Zika viruses) and alphaviruses (Sindbis and chikungunya viruses). Defining their structures may facilitate the development of nextgeneration vaccine and interventions.

Prof Lok discovered that the dengue virus changes shape at different temperatures. For instance, the dengue virus is typically in a compact ball-arrangement at 28°C. When it enters the human host of 37°C, it puffs up to reveal new surfaces in response to the increased temperature. This change in shape hinders vaccine development as the different structures must be introduced into the vaccines for the human body to recognise all of them. However, the shape change of the dengue virus also exposes weak spots on the surface of the virus that

were previously hidden, allowing the design of therapies and vaccines to target these exposed surfaces and treat dengue.

Prof Lok also imaged the highresolution structure of the poorly understood Zika virus, revealing that the virus is more thermally stable than other flaviviruses. By understanding the structure of the Zika virus, therapeutics such as antibodies and vaccines can be developed to destabilise the structure of the virus, ultimately reducing infection rates.

Prof Lok is a recipient of the prestigious National Research Foundation (NRF) Fellowship (2009) and NRF Investigatorship (2016).

The near atomic resolution cryoEM structure of Zika virus.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Fibriansah, G., Lim, E. X., Marzinek, J. K., Ng, T. S., Tan, J. L., Huber, R. G., ... & Lok, S. M. (2021). Antibody affinity versus dengue morphology influences neutralization. PLoS pathogens, 17(2), e1009331.

Zhou, Q. F., Fox, J. M., Earnest, J. T., Ng, T. S., Kim, A. S., Fibriansah, G., ... & Lok, S. M. (2020). Structural basis of Chikungunya virus inhibition by monoclonal antibodies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(44), 27637-27645.

Morrone, S. R., Chew, V. S., Lim, X. N., Ng, T. S., Kostyuchenko, V. A., Zhang, S., ... & Lok, S. M. (2020). High flavivirus structural plasticity demonstrated by a non-spherical morphological variant. Nature communications, 11(1), 1-10.

Zhang, S., Loy, T., Ng, T. S., Lim, X. N., Chew, S. Y. V., Tan, T. Y., ... & Lok, S. M. (2020). A human antibody neutralizes different flaviviruses by using different mechanisms. Cell Reports, 31(4), 107584.

Tan, T. Y., Fibriansah, G., Kostyuchenko, V. A., Ng, T. S., Lim, X. X., Zhang, S., ... & Lok, S. M. (2020). Capsid protein structure in Zika virus reveals the flavivirus assembly process. Nature communications, 11(1), 1-13.

SHAO Huilin

Associate Professor, NUS Biomedical Engineering | huilin.shao@nus.edu.sg

BA (Cornell University), PhD (Harvard University) & PhD (Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology)

DISEASE

DIAGNOSTICS AND MONITORING

Health technologies continue to evolve. More accurate diagnostic methods that help physicians make critical decisions faster, yet are less invasive and cheaper for patients, are highly desirable. Indeed, this is the goal for Associate Professor Shao Huilin, who is harnessing her knowledge of physics and engineering to develop rapid, noninvasive diagnostic tools for a range of diseases; from cancer and Alzheimer’s disease to COVID-19.

Assoc Prof Shao is behind the world’s first blood test to accurately measure the effectiveness of cancer

therapy within 24 hours of the start of treatment. Conventional procedures such as tumour imaging, and tissue biopsies are invasive, and involve a lengthy wait for results. Existing pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic approaches measure the total drug concentration in blood, which does not reflect drug efficacy in tumours.

Termed ‘Extracellular vesicle monitoring of small-molecule chemical occupancy and protein expression (ExoSCOPE)’, the technology measures drug occupancy and protein composition in

extracellular vesicles that circulate in the blood after being secreted from a solid tumour. Drug occupancy in the vesicles was correlated to drug effectiveness in solid tumours.

The test is based on a platform that employs spatial engineering of all reactions, with biorthogonal amplification of probes, and their enzyme-based optical labelling, occurring within arrays of plasmonic nano-ring resonators. This design enables drug occupancy of extracellular vesicles to be measured in real time from patient blood samples, with only a tiny amount of blood required for analysis. Each test takes less than one hour to complete, allowing physicians to continually adjust the treatment plan according to the patient’s response, and thereby improve patient prognosis.

Her research has also led to the development of a device to detect protein biomarkers of early stage Alzheimer’s disease. This blood testbased diagnostic kit called Apex, is currently being developed for clinical use.

More recently, Assoc Prof Shao’s team worked to develop a diagnostic test for COVID-19, that was much faster than conventional polymerase chain reaction-based tests, yet was just as accurate.

Ultimately, Assoc Prof Shao hopes her research can help make personalised medicine a reality, with early disease detection methods, and improved disease monitoring technologies.

World’s first blood test for real-time monitoring of cancer treatment success.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Zhao, H., Pan, S., Natalia, A., Wu, X., Ong, C. A. J., Teo, M. C., ... & Shao, H. (2022). A hydrogel-based mechanical metamaterial for the interferometric profiling of extracellular vesicles in patient samples. Nature Biomedical Engineering, 1-14.

Pan, S., Zhang, Y., Natalia, A., Lim, C. Z., Ho, N. R., Chowbay, B., ... & Shao, H. (2021). Extracellular vesicle drug occupancy enables real-time monitoring of targeted cancer therapy. Nature Nanotechnology, 16(6), 734-742.

Sundah, N. R., Natalia, A., Liu, Y., Ho, N. R., Zhao, H., Chen, Y., ... & Shao, H. (2021). Catalytic amplification by transition-state molecular switches for direct and sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2. Science Advances, 7(12), eabe5940.

Sundah, N. R., Ho, N. R., Lim, G. S., Natalia, A., Ding, X., Liu, Y., ... & Shao, H. (2019). Barcoded DNA nanostructures for the multiplexed profiling of subcellular protein distribution. Nature Biomedical Engineering, 3(9), 684-694.

Lim, C. Z., Zhang, Y., Chen, Y., Zhao, H., Stephenson, M. C., Ho, N. R., ... & Shao, H. (2019). Subtyping of circulating exosome-bound amyloid β reflects brain plaque deposition. Nature Communications, 10(1), 1-11.

ENGINEERING IMMUNITY TO ITS FULL POTENTIAL

Immuno-engineering is a powerful strategy integrating interdisciplinary research in material sciences, engineering and immunology to treat diseases.

Andy TAY Kah Ping

Assistant Professor, NUS Biomedical Engineering Presidential Young Professor | bietkpa@nus.edu.sg

BE (National University of Singapore) & PhD (University of California, Los Angeles)

The human immune system is a robust first line of defence against disease. In fact, scientists are now recognising even greater potential in this system, and are developing methods that will see it play roles in tissue regeneration, inflammation control, and even cancer treatment.

To this end, Assistant Professor Andy Tay from NUS Biomedical Engineering is modulating the immune system with biomolecules and novel materials to enhance drug delivery.

His work explores the biomolecular and biophysical properties of senescent cells such as cellular size and stiffness, and how they can be exploited for targeted therapeutics delivery.

It is known that the accumulation of senescent cells is a hallmark of ageing, and Asst Prof Tay’s research will impact the treatment of agerelated illnesses such as cancer, osteoarthritis and diabetes. The team is also exploring new methods

for targeted drug delivery to solid tumours using nanoparticles and soft robotics that can precisely deliver biologics and drugs.

As a Principal Investigator at the NUS Institute of Health Innovation & Technology (iHealthtech) and NUS Tissue Engineering Programme, Asst Prof Tay is also developing materials and tools to engineer the immune system to fight cancer, specifically through cell-based cancer immunotherapy.

efficiency of immune cell generation. This technology has been licensed for commercialisation.

Through the variety of projects in his lab, he aims to better understand the immune system and harness its potential to fight ageing-related diseases like cancer.

Cancer cell immunotherapy uses genetically modified immune cells to slow or stop the growth of cancer cells. However, the process of generating genetically engineered immune cells in the laboratory has poor efficiency. In addressing this issue, Asst Prof Tay has invented a novel method to deliver DNA into immune cells with minimal stress on these cells, improving the overall

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Le, Z., Yu, J., Quek Y. J, Bai, B., Li, X., Myint, B., Xu, C., Tay, A. (2022). Design principles of microneedles for drug delivery and sampling applications. Materials Today [In Press]

Shou, Y., Johnson, S. C., Quek, Y. J., Li, X., & Tay, A. (2022). Integrative lymph node-mimicking models created with biomaterials and computational tools to study the immune system. Materials Today Bio, 14.

The schematic shows hollow nanostraws integrated with electrical and magnetic modalities to enhance gene delivery for engineering immune cells to fight cancer.

Low, J., Chan, B., & Tay, A. (2021). Targeted Therapeutics Delivery by Exploiting Biophysical Properties of Senescent Cells. Advanced Functional Materials, 32(2), 2107990.

Tay, A., & Melosh, N. (2021). Mechanical Stimulation after CentrifugeFree Nano-Electroporative Transfection Is Efficient and Maintains LongTerm T Cell Functionalities. Small, 17(38), 2103198.

Kumar, A. R., Shou, Y., Chan, B., & Tay, A. (2021). Materials for improving immune cell transfection. Advanced Materials, 33(21), 2007421.

CANCER INTERCEPTION

Ashok VENKITARAMAN

Director, Cancer Science Institute of Singapore

Distinguished Professor, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS Director, NUS Centre for Cancer Research | csidir@nus.edu.sg

BSc (Christian Medical College), MA (University of Cambridge) & PhD (University College London)

A fundamental understanding of the mechanisms underlying human diseases is essential to discover new ways to detect and manage them. It is this perspective that drives Professor Ashok Venkitaraman’s desire to develop new strategies to intercept cancer at the earliest stages possible. His work is motivated by the idea that early cancer interception before the disease reaches an advanced stage promises to revolutionise its treatment, and even delay or prevent its onset.

Prof Venkitaraman is widely recognised for discovering how an important class of cancer-suppressing genes, exemplified by the hereditary breast cancer gene, BRCA2, guards the integrity of the human genome to prevent carcinogenesis. His research has shed light on the molecules and mechanisms that monitor the copying and repair of our DNA, and how aberrations in these processes can cause cancer.

His fundamental discoveries have led Prof Venkitaraman to innovate

technologies that accelerate the development of next-generation therapies to intercept cancer. These include new technology platforms to identify and validate therapeutic targets in complex pathways, to modulate enzyme activity via regulatory protein-protein interactions, and to interrogate cellular signaling pathways using new light microscopy-based tools. He has serially ‘spun out’ these new technologies to industry, where they are now being deployed in partnership with major pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs.

Prof Venkitaraman’s research at the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore builds on these foundational discoveries. His work has begun to reveal how chemical signals from our environment, diet and metabolism can affect the function of cancer-suppressing genes like BRCA2, deepening our fundamental

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

understanding of the origins of cancer, and opening new avenues for its treatment and prevention. He is devising new tools to target proteins and nucleic acids like RNA in diseased cells to accelerate better cancer treatment outcomes.

Prof Venkitaraman has been elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences, London, and the European EMBO academy, Heidelberg, in recognition of his contributions.

Emery, A., Hardwick, B. S., Crooks, A. T., Milech, N., Watt, P. M., Mithra, C., ... & Venkitaraman, A. R. (2021). Target identification for smallmolecule discovery in the FOXO3a tumor-suppressor pathway using a biodiverse peptide library. Cell chemical biology, 28(11), 1602-1615.

Tan, S. L. W., Chadha, S., Liu, Y., Gabasova, E., Perera, D., Ahmed, K., ... & Venkitaraman, A. R. (2017). A class of environmental and endogenous toxins induces BRCA2 haploinsufficiency and genome instability. Cell, 169(6), 1105-1118.

Jeyasekharan, A. D., Liu, Y., Hattori, H., Pisupati, V., Jonsdottir, A. B., Rajendra, E., ... & Venkitaraman, A. R. (2013). A cancer-associated BRCA2 mutation reveals masked nuclear export signals controlling localization. Nature structural & molecular biology, 20(10), 1191-1198.

Genetic & metabolic determinants of cancer evolution. Tan et al., Cell (2017)

Skoulidis, F., Cassidy, L. D., Pisupati, V., Jonasson, J. G., Bjarnason, H., Eyfjord, J. E., ... & Venkitaraman, A. R. (2010). Germline Brca2 heterozygosity promotes KrasG12D-driven carcinogenesis in a murine model of familial pancreatic cancer. Cancer cell, 18(5), 499-509.

Ayoub, N., Jeyasekharan, A. D., Bernal, J. A., & Venkitaraman, A. R. (2008). HP1-β mobilization promotes chromatin changes that initiate the DNA damage response. Nature, 453(7195), 682-686.

MATERIALS RESEARCH

By bringing modern tools such as artificial intelligence and robotics to traditional materials science, and applying engineering principles towards technology development and application, the interdisciplinary field of Materials Research is playing a pivotal role in tackling global challenges, from the climate crisis to healthcare.

Our research spans two-dimensional (2D) materials, membrane science and technology, advanced materials, intelligent materials, energy science and soft robotics. Over the years, NUS has amassed some of the world’s most prominent minds in the field, and consistently ranks as a leader for materials science research output.

ON THE HUNT FOR NEW AND BETTER MATERIALS

Antonio H. CASTRO NETO

Director, Centre for Advanced 2D Materials

Co-Director, Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials

Distinguished Professor, NUS Materials Science and Engineering | msecastr@nus.edu.sg

BSc & MSc (University of Campinas), PhD (University of Illinois)

Professor Antonio Castro Neto is a materials scientist and condensed matter theorist, with expertise in graphene and two-dimensional (2D) materials.

Recently, his research led to the creation of 2D-electrolytes, a new class of intelligent materials that have the structure of a 2D material, but behave like an electrolyte depending on external factors such as pH and temperature. Such intelligent materials could open new avenues for targeted cancer drug delivery, where the material releases the drug

payload only when certain cellular or physiological conditions are met. 2D-electrolytes also have potential applications in self-healing mobile phone screens, artificial muscles, and energy storage.

Since graphene was first isolated in 2004, there has been an explosion in graphene-related research and applications. It is the thinnest material on Earth, yet is 200-times stronger than steel, and has wide ranging applications, from transistors to biomedical devices. The Centre for Advanced 2D Materials (CA2DM),

which Prof Castro Neto directs has produced a large number of highimpact scientific publications that became invention disclosures leading to disruptive new technologies.

CA2DM is currently bringing new technologies to life in terms of patents and start-up companies that are generating new jobs in Singapore as well as creating deeptech innovation.

Prof Castro Neto and his team are committed to developing new technologies that directly address some of the biggest challenges of our time, namely, sustainability, environment, energy, health, and water. He strongly believes that it is the responsibility of scientists and engineers to address directly these fundamental issues so that new generations will have access to a healthier and more prosperous future.

Together with Professor Sir Konstantin Novoselov, Prof Castro Neto codirects the Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials (I-FIM); the world’s first institute dedicated to the design, synthesis, and application of functional intelligent materials. These functional intelligent materials (FIMs). represent a new class of materials that are dynamic and interact with their environment in order to achieve tailored functionalities. Using machine learning and artificial intelligence in order to accelerate the discovery of FIMs, I-FIM will have a direct impact on the industry of the future.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Rodin, A., Noori, K., Carvalho, A., & Neto, A. C. (2022). Microscopic theory of ionic motion in solids. Physical Review B, 105(22), 224310.

Costa, M. C., Marangoni, V. S., Trushin, M., Carvalho, A., Lim, S. X., Nguyen, H. T., ... & Castro Neto, A. H. (2021). 2D Electrolytes: Theory, Modeling, Synthesis, and Characterization. Advanced Materials, 33(25), 2100442.

Andreeva, D. V., Trushin, M., Nikitina, A., Costa, M. C., Cherepanov, P. V., Holwill, M., ... & Novoselov, K. S. (2021). Two-dimensional adaptive membranes with programmable water and ionic channels. Nature Nanotechnology, 16(2), 174-180.

Li, J., Song, P., Zhao, J., Vaklinova, K., Zhao, X., Li, Z., ... & Lu, J. (2021). Printable two-dimensional superconducting monolayers. Nature Materials, 20(2), 181-187.

Costa, M. C., Marangoni, V. S., Ng, P. R., Nguyen, H. T., Carvalho, A., & Castro Neto, A. H. (2021). Accelerated synthesis of graphene oxide from graphene. Nanomaterials, 11(2), 551.

2D-electrolytes

LIU Xiaogang

Professor, NUS Chemistry | chmlx@nus.edu.sg

BE (Beijing Technology and Business University), MSc (East Carolina University) & PhD (Northwestern University)

EXCITING X-RAY DEVELOPMENTS

X-ray imaging technology revolutionised the world of medical diagnostics and has found applications in national defence, advanced manufacturing, nuclear technology and environmental monitoring. However, X-ray technology is limited by its high cost, and is associated with safety concerns that stem from the potential for high levels of radiation exposure. Current X-ray machines use inorganic crystals to convert high-energy X-ray photons into visible light, meaning a high dose of X-rays is typically required for effective imaging.

Seeking to resolve this issue, Professor Liu Xiaogang from NUS Chemistry identified nanocrystals made from lead halide perovskite that could serve as an alternative material for X-ray technology. Not only are they less costly than inorganic materials, they are also more sensitive, being able to detect X-rays at a radiation dose 400 times lower than what is typically used in current medical diagnostics. This translates to lower medical expenses and radiation risks for patients.

Prof Liu also seeks to overcome another limitation of existing X-ray machines — their inability to capture curved three-dimensional (3D) objects at high resolution. Currently, detectors in X-ray machines are made of flat panels, generating bulky pixels with low resolution. Prof Liu’s solution sees a flexible X-ray detector made with sodium lutetium fluoride crystals and silicone rubber. This design allows

it to be wrapped around 3D objects, and could enable applications such as the detection of defects in electronics, authentication of valuable works of art, and examination of archaeological objects at microscopic scale. His team is currently developing a swallowable X-ray dosimeter for in situ monitoring of absolute absorbed dose, pH and temperature in the gastrointestinal tract.

Over the past few years, many research groups, including ours, have been taking on challenges in X-ray imaging. Our technology may provide a muchneeded solution for imaging highly curved 3D objects and enable the development of point-of-care X-ray detectors and flexible X-ray mammography devices.

Illustration of a flexible X-ray detector that is suitable for imaging curved 3D objects. It consists of a sheet of a transparent polymer embedded with luminescent nanoparticles.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Bian, H., Goh, Y. Y., Liu, Y., Ling, H., Xie, L., & Liu, X. (2021). Stimuli-Responsive Memristive Materials for Artificial Synapses and Neuromorphic Computing. Advanced Materials, 33(46), 2006469.

Mao, D., Hu, F., Yi, Z., Kenry, Xu, S., Yan, S., ... & Liu, B. (2020). AIEgen-coupled upconversion nanoparticles eradicate solid tumors through dual-mode ROS activation. Science advances, 6(26), eabb2712.

Luo, Z., Ang, M. J. Y., Chan, S. Y., Yi, Z., Goh, Y. Y., Yan, S., ... & Liu, X. (2020). Combating the coronavirus pandemic: early detection, medical treatment, and a concerted effort by the global community. Research, 2020.

Brites, C. D., Zhuang, B., Debasu, M. L., Ding, D., Qin, X., Maturi, F. E., ... & Carlos, L. D. (2020). Decoding a percolation phase transition of water at~ 330 K with a nanoparticle ruler. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 11(16), 6704-6711.

Al-Nashash, H., Luo, S., Liu, X., & All, A. H. (2020). Trading baseline with forelimbs somatosensory evoked potential for longitudinal analysis in thoracic transection spinal cord injury. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 343, 108858.

Konstantin NOVOSELOV

Nobel Laureate

Co-Director, Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials Professor, NUS Materials Science and Engineering | msekst@nus.edu.sg

MSc (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology) & PhD (Radboud Univeristy of Nijmegen)

“ IN PURSUIT OF NOVEL ADVANCED MATERIALS

We don’t want to be slaves to the existing materials. We want to be able to create our own materials with pre-determined common properties for given applications.

Best known for his work in isolating graphene, Professor Sir Konstantin Novoselov is now building on this knowledge to create cutting-edge advanced materials. In 2004, Prof Novoselov together with Professor Sir Andre Geim successfully produced graphene, the world’s first twodimensional (2D) material. It remains the strongest, most stretchable and most conductive material ever discovered.

This work, which earned them the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010, led to the discovery of other 2D materials.

To date, approximately 700 stable 2D materials have been predicted, and many remain to be synthesised. It also paved the way for groundbreaking translational research, with applications in areas that include electronics, energy solutions and water technology.

Today, Prof Novoselov is pursuing novel materials that address the unmet needs of the world. Together with Distinguished Professor Antonio Castro Neto, he co-directs NUS’ Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials, the world’s first institute dedicated to the design, synthesis, and application of functional intelligent materials, and Singapore’s sixth research centre of excellence.

Functional intelligent materials possess predetermined properties that change depending on the environment. They are therefore adaptable and have memory function. Such functional intelligent materials promise to redefine many technologies, including artificial organs and tissues, smart membranes, and smart batteries and catalysts.

Neon_dust / shutterstock.com

By combining the traditional research approach of trial and error with modern tools like machine learning and artificial intelligence, Prof Novoselov hopes to unlock new smart materials, and push the boundaries of material properties and their applications.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Berdyugin, A. I., Xin, N., Gao, H., Slizovskiy, S., Dong, Z., Bhattacharjee, S., ... & Geim, A. K. (2022). Out-of-equilibrium criticalities in graphene superlattices. Science, 375(6579), 430-433.

Shi, Y., Xu, S., Yang, Y., Slizovskiy, S., Morozov, S. V., Son, S. K., ... & Mishchenko, A. (2020). Electronic phase separation in multilayer rhombohedral graphite. Nature, 584(7820), 210-214.

Alexeev, E. M., Ruiz-Tijerina, D. A., Danovich, M., Hamer, M. J., Terry, D. J., Nayak, P. K., ... & Tartakovskii, A. I. (2019). Resonantly hybridized excitons in moiré superlattices in van der Waals heterostructures. Nature, 567(7746), 81-86.

Zhou, K. G., Vasu, K. S., Cherian, C. T., Neek-Amal, M., Zhang, J. C., GhorbanfekrKalashami, H., ... & Nair, R. R. (2018). Electrically controlled water permeation through graphene oxide membranes. Nature, 559(7713), 236-240.

Fumagalli, L., Esfandiar, A., Fabregas, R., Hu, S., Ares, P., Janardanan, A., ... & Geim, A. K. (2018). Anomalously low dielectric constant of confined water. Science, 360(6395), 1339-1342.

3D rendering of graphene.

SYNTHESISING NOVEL 2D MATERIALS

Barbaros ÖZYILMAZ

Professor, NUS Physics

Professor & Head, NUS Materials Science and Engineering | msehead@nus.edu.sg

BSc (RWTH Aachen University) & PhD (New York University)

Material innovation is necessary to support the transition toward a more sustainable and advanced future. Amorphous materials are of great technological importance so the time to act on this is now.

The term two-dimensional (2D) materials generally refers to a single layer of atoms spaced within an atomically thin crystal sheet. Such materials have good electrical and mechanical properties, however, they are also costly to produce, and being rigid, cannot be stretched. This means 2D materials are inherently challenging to scale up for industrial applications.

Materials that retain many of the desirable properties of crystalline 2D materials, but are more robust, less rigid, and cheaper to make, have long been desired.

Achieving what was previously thought to be impossible, Professor Barbaros Özyilmaz, Head of NUS Materials Science and Engineering, discovered a method to synthesise a one-atom-thick amorphous material. Termed monolayer amorphous carbon (MAC), this material is essentially a 2D material that exists in an amorphous film, rather than as a crystal. It can be stretched into irregular shapes and remains conformed to that shape. It retains the properties of traditional 2D materials.

The material is synthesised by vapourising a carbon-containing precursor gas into an atomically fine mist. This turns the carbon precursors into highly reactive, energetic species which form a MAC film when they hit the surface of almost any substrate, including copper, gold and stainless steel.

The potential for industrial applications of MAC films could revolutionise batteries, semiconductors and filtration membranes. It may also complement 2D crystals such as graphene.

The monolayer amorphous carbon (MAC) structure has widely varying atom-to-atom distance unlike crystals due to the random arrangement of five-, six-, seven- and eightcarbon rings in a planar carbon network, leading to a wide distribution of bond lengths (in Å) and bond angles.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Toh, C. T., Zhang, H., Lin, J., Mayorov, A. S., Wang, Y. P., Orofeo, C. M., ... & Özyilmaz, B. (2020). Synthesis and properties of free-standing monolayer amorphous carbon. Nature, 577(7789), 199-203.

Griffin, E., Mogg, L., Hao, G. P., Kalon, G., Bacaksiz, C., Lopez-Polin, G., ... & Lozada-Hidalgo, M. (2020). Proton and Li-ion permeation through graphene with eight-atom-ring defects. Acs Nano, 14(6), 7280-7286.

Lin, F., Qiao, J., Huang, J., Liu, J., Fu, D., Mayorov, A. S., ... & Özyilmaz, B. (2020). Heteromoiré Engineering on magnetic Bloch transport in twisted graphene Superlattices. Nano Letters, 20(10), 7572-7579.

Avsar, A., Tan, J. Y., Kurpas, M., Gmitra, M., Watanabe, K., Taniguchi, T., ... & Özyilmaz, B. (2017). Gate-tunable black phosphorus spin valve with nanosecond spin lifetimes. Nature Physics, 13(9), 888-893.

Bae, S., Kim, H., Lee, Y., Xu, X., Park, J. S., Zheng, Y., ... & Iijima, S. (2010). Roll-to-roll production of 30-inch graphene films for transparent electrodes. Nature nanotechnology, 5(8), 574-578.

TAN Yu Jun

Assistant Professor, NUS Mechanical Engineering | yujun.tan@nus.edu.sg

BE & PhD (Nanyang Technological University)

In nature, living things go through a cycle - they are born and decease, and the nutrients go back into circulation and provide food for new life. Waste does not arise. We need such circularity in robots.

The world is expected to generate 74.7 million tonnes of e-waste by 2030. However, e-waste contains toxic elements like heavy metals, plastics and flame retardants. When disposed of in landfills or burned in incinerators, these can pose a significant ecological and environmental threat. This issue is exacerbated by the challenges associated with e-waste recycling.

To address this issue, Assistant Professor Tan Yu Jun from NUS Mechanical Engineering is looking to improve the durability of electronic devices, and extend their lifespan, by incorporating self-healing or selfrepairing materials into their design. In particular, she is exploring the use of such materials in soft robotics.

For this, Asst Prof Tan turns to biomaterials, which are natural, selfrepairable, reusable, recyclable, and biodegradable. She has developed a jellyfish-like material that is transparent, electrically conductive and can autonomously self-heal in both dry and wet conditions. The material can be used to create touch, pressure and strain sensors, and can be 3D printed into soft ionic circuit boards.

Her research also touches on intelligent homeostasis systems in robots. For example, self-adaptive or self-healing systems that can identify defects, initiate healing, and monitor healing progress. These are akin to human organs. Robots with the ability to autonomously perform repair functions are useful for tasks in unpredictable environments like search and rescue missions.

Designing eco-sustainable materials and deploying green and intelligent soft robots is just one step towards the creation of the value-added sustainable technologies that the world so urgently needs.

New material inspired by the skin of jellyfish can repair itself when exposed to air or submerged in water.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Tan, Y. J. (2022). Harnessing the circular economy to develop sustainable soft robots. Science Robotics, 7(63), eabn8147.

Tan, Y. J., Susanto, G. J., Anwar Ali, H. P., & Tee, B. C. (2021). Progress and Roadmap for Intelligent Self-Healing Materials in Autonomous Robotics. Advanced Materials, 33(19), 2002800..

Tan, Y. J., Godaba, H., Chen, G., Tan, S. T. M., Wan, G., Li, G., ... & Tee, B. C. (2020). A transparent, self-healing and high-κ dielectric for low-fieldemission stretchable optoelectronics. Nature Materials, 19(2), 182-188.

Guo, H., Tan, Y. J., Chen, G., Wang, Z., Susanto, G. J., See, H. H., ... & Tee, B. C. (2020). Artificially innervated self-healing foams as synthetic piezoimpedance sensor skins. Nature communications, 11(1), 1-10.

Cao, Y., Tan, Y. J., Li, S., Lee, W. W., Guo, H., Cai, Y., ... & Tee, B. C. K. (2019). Self-healing electronic skins for aquatic environments. Nature Electronics, 2(2), 75-82.

Benjamin TEE Chee Keong

Vice Dean (Research), College of Design & Engineering

Associate Professor, NUS Materials Science and Engineering

Associate Vice President, NUS Enterprise | benjamin.tee@nus.edu.sg

BE (University of Michigan), MSc & PhD (Stanford University)

STATE-OF-THE-ART

SMART ELECTRONIC SKIN MATERIAL

Electronic skins, or e-skins, are redefining the field of robotics, and have ushered in a new era of health innovation technologies by integrating ‘sense’ into prosthetics, and giving new potential to wearable devices for health monitoring. These e-skins may be flexible, stretchable and possess the ability to self-heal, but most importantly, they mimic the human sense of touch.

At the forefront of this field is Associate Professor Benjamin Tee from NUS Material Science and Engineering, N.1 Institute for Health and NUS iHealthtech. From the development

of novel materials and devices, to the exploration of nano/micro-fabrication techniques to create flexible and stretchable electronic sensor devices, Assoc Prof Tee is recognised for his work in developing various skin-like sensor systems.

His work includes the design of microstructures that enhance the mechanical sensitivity of thin elastic films. These are used in flexible pressure sensors. He has also developed an underwatercapable electronic material that can be used in emerging soft robots, stretchable electronics and electronic

skins. More recently, he developed artificial mechanoreceptors that mimic the digital output of biological mechanoreceptors and could one day be used in neural prosthetic devices.

Assoc Prof Tee’s research group also created the world’s first underwater self-healing capable electronic sensor skin technology in the hope it can someday be used to provide mobile touchscreens, prosthetics and soft robotics the ability to “heal” or repair themselves. Currently, millions of tonnes of electronic waste is generated globally from broken mobile phones or tablets. Electronic devices made from e-skins with self-repair functions, could potentially reduce the amount of waste and enable greater environmental sustainability.

Assoc Prof Tee led a team from NUS Engineering in designing a wearable device that uses advanced sensor technology and artificial intelligence

to allow glaucoma patients to easily and painlessly monitor their condition at home. Their innovative e-skin for glaucoma monitoring received the James Dyson Award, the first time a Singapore-based team has won it its 17-year history.

Assoc Prof Tee currently leads the Sensor AI Systems Labs at NUS, a research programme established through the prestigious NRF Fellowship (NRFF) grant. This programme aims to discover and apply nanoscience to create intelligent materials, devices and systems.

“

We aim to create a future where electronic devices made from intelligent materials can perform sensing and self-repair functions to significantly reduce the amount of electronic waste in the world.

Self-healing underwater electronic skin.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Tan, Y. J., Susanto, G. J., Anwar Ali, H. P., & Tee, B. C. (2021). Progress and Roadmap for Intelligent Self-Healing Materials in Autonomous Robotics. Advanced Materials, 33(19), 2002800.

Tan, Y. J., Godaba, H., Chen, G., Tan, S. T. M., Wan, G., Li, G., ... & Tee, B. C. (2020). A transparent, self-healing and high-κ dielectric for low-field-emission stretchable optoelectronics. Nature Materials, 19(2), 182-188.

Lee, W. W., Tan, Y. J., Yao, H., Li, S., See, H. H., Hon, M., ... & Tee, B. C. (2019).

A neuro-inspired artificial peripheral nervous system for scalable electronic skins. Science Robotics, 4(32), eaax2198.

Cao, Y., Tan, Y. J., Li, S., Lee, W. W., Guo, H., Cai, Y., ... & Tee, B. C. K. (2019). Selfhealing electronic skins for aquatic environments. Nature Electronics, 2(2), 75-82.

Tee, B. C. K., Chortos, A., Berndt, A., Nguyen, A. K., Tom, A., McGuire, A., ... & Bao, Z. (2015). A skin-inspired organic digital mechanoreceptor. Science, 350(6258), 313-316.

TOWARDS TH z DEVICES

YANG Hyunsoo

Professor, NUS Electrical and Computer Engineering Globalfoundaries Chaired Professor | eleyang@nus.edu.sg

BSc (Seoul National University), MSc & PhD (Stanford University)

The world is becoming increasingly automated, with artificial-intelligence based technology redefining how we work, live and interact. Such progress greatly depends on the ability of computer infrastructure to support large-scale data acquisition, real-time data processing, and data storage. This has ushered in the need for new computer processors, nonvolatile storage methods and wireless data transfer technology that is not only faster, but also energy efficient and sustainable.

In pursuit for the next-generation computing technology is Professor Yang Hyunsoo, who was awarded the NRF Investigatorship (2020) to explore next-generation non-volatile memory technology.

His research focuses on the development of next-generation ‘terahertz’ computer memories, an upgrade from the current gigahertz speeds. Present day computer processors operate at around three to five gigahertz. The higher the

frequency, the more calculations the computer will complete in a second.

Prof Yang is also developing spintorque oscillators to harvest and convert wireless radio frequencies into energy that can power small electronics. This could give rise to energy-efficient applications in communications, computing, and neuromorphic systems.

He has also explored the development of non-volatile magnetic memory based on spin transfer torque where he discovered an efficient way to switch magnetisation of a ferromagnetic layer at room temperature using ‘spin waves’ from a topological insulator. Spin waves are propagating disturbances in the ordering of magnetic materials. This method enables magnetisation switching without electrical current, thereby reducing heat and power

dissipation from the device, and making it an attractive option for energy efficient devices.

By developing new materials and technology, Prof Yang hopes that research in this area will lead to a paradigm shift in the performance of computers and the sustainability of devices.

An artistic impression of terahertz magnetic memory operation using spin waves.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Yang, H., Valenzuela, S. O., Chshiev, M., Couet, S., Dieny, B., Dlubak, B., ... & Roche, S. (2022). Two-dimensional materials prospects for nonvolatile spintronic memories. Nature, 606(7915), 663-673.

He, P., Koon, G. K. W., Isobe, H., Tan, J. Y., Hu, J., Neto, A. H. C., ... & Yang, H. (2022). Graphene moiré superlattices with giant quantum nonlinearity of chiral Bloch electrons. Nature Nanotechnology, 17(4), 378-383.

Kim, S. K., Beach, G. S., Lee, K. J., Ono, T., Rasing, T., & Yang, H. (2022). Ferrimagnetic spintronics. Nature Materials, 21(1), 24-34.

Sharma, R., Mishra, R., Ngo, T., Guo, Y. X., Fukami, S., Sato, H., ... & Yang, H. (2021). Electrically connected spin-torque oscillators array for 2.4 GHz WiFi band transmission and energy harvesting. Nature communications, 12(1), 1-10.

Wang, Y., Zhu, D., Yang, Y., Lee, K., Mishra, R., Go, G., ... & Yang, H. (2019). Magnetization switching by magnon-mediated spin torque through an antiferromagnetic insulator. Science, 366(6469), 1125-1128.

acknowledgements.

Published by the Office of the Deputy President (Research & Technology) National University of Singapore © 2022

This edition of NUS Trailblazing Academics would not have been possible without the cooperation of the researchers included. Their input and contributions are sincerely appreciated.

Editorial: Steven John Wolf, Lim Guan Yu & Low Yuan Lin Design: Naoki Ichiryu & Koh Pei Wen