Three outstanding members of CDE faculty have been presented with Singapore’s highest honours for scientists and engineers: the annual President’s Science & Technology Awards (PSTA).
At a ceremony held on 3 October 2025 at the NUS University Cultural Centre, Professor Lim Chwee Teck (Biomedical Engineering) was presented with the President’s Science Award (PSA), whilst Assistant Professor Andy Tay Kah Ping (Biomedical Engineering) and Assistant Professor Wang Xinchao (Electrical and Computer Engineering) were both presented with the Young Scientist Award (YSA).
Organised by the National Research Foundation, Singapore, the annual awards honour the exceptional contributions of researchers based in Singapore who have also helped to advance the country’s strategic research priorities.
The PSA recognises accomplishments generally acknowledged by other Science and Technology practitioners as being significant and impactful to their field. The YSA is awarded to researchers aged 40 years and below who are actively engaged in R&D in Singapore, and who have shown great potential to be world-class researchers in their fields of expertise. It is administered by the Singapore National Academy of Science and supported by NRF. Prof Lim’s PSA was presented by Singapore’s President Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, whilst Asst Prof Andy Tay’s and Asst Prof Wang Xinchao’s YSAs were presented by NRF Chairman, Mr Heng Swee Keat.
Professor Teo Kie Leong, Dean of CDE, said: “On behalf of CDE and NUS as a whole, I extend my warmest congratulations to Professor Lim, Assistant Professor Tay and Assistant Professor Wang on receiving the nation’s highest scientific honours this evening. Their dedication to research that advances knowledge and translates it into real benefits for society are truly outstanding. Their achievements, and their recognition through these prestigious awards, are a source of great pride for their colleagues and the University.”
Prof Lim Chwee Teck was awarded the PSA for his pioneering contributions to cancer research through innovative mechanobiology approaches, successfully bridging engineering, biological sciences and medicine to foster a deeper understanding of cancer metastasis.
Prof Lim’s trailblazing research resulted in a paradigm shift in our understanding of cancer metastasis – the spread of cancer from the primary tumour site to other parts of the body – which is the leading cause of cancer mortality. His work introduced the concept of “mechanoresilience”, unveiling why only a small population of cancer cells survive the treacherous journey through the bloodstream. Using custom-made microfluidic platforms to simulate the extreme conditions, Prof Lim and his team identified the distinctive characteristics of these mechanoresilient cancer cells that confer survival advantage and treatment resistance. These revolutionary findings pave the way for more innovative and effective cancer treatment and better diagnostic tools to predict and address metastatic risk.
Prof Lim said: “The President’s Science Award is a profound honour that recognises not only my team’s work, but also equally important, reinforces our commitment to push the frontiers of science, mentor the next generation, and translate discoveries into tangible benefits for society.”
Highly decorated with numerous local and international awards, Prof Lim is also an elected fellow of 10 esteemed academies, reflecting global recognition of his contributions, leadership and impact. He was recently named an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, one of the highest honours in global engineering.
Beyond his scientific excellence, Prof Lim is also a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded six start-ups, including one that commercialised a cancer biochip and achieved a successful IPO in 2018. This cancer biochip earned him the President’s Technology Award in 2011.
Prof Lim serves as Director of the NUS Institute for Health Innovation & Technology (iHealthtech), where he leads multidisciplinary teams to drive advances in healthcare. He also holds appointments in multiple departments and units in the university, including the Department of Biomedical Engineering of CDE and Mechanobiology Institute.
Asst Prof Andy Tay was presented with the YSA for advancing biomaterial-based therapies that modulate immune responses to improve diabetic wound healing and enhance cancer immunotherapy outcomes.
To promote wound healing in diabetic patients, Asst Prof Tay’s team established a 4R (Remove, Reprogram, Replace, Reimagine) strategy that generates an optimal amount of an essential immune cell. In preclinical models, this 4R strategy demonstrated accelerated wound healing by up to 200% compared to existing therapies.
As for the development of cancer immunotherapies, Asst Prof Tay’s lab team engineered nanostraws – hollow tubes about 10,000 times smaller than a grain of rice – to deliver proteins, RNA and DNA that genetically enhance the ability of immune T cells to detect and destroy cancer cells.
A prolific scientist and devoted educator, Asst Prof Tay has garnered more than S$8.5 million in research funding as the sole principal investigator, filed 7 invention disclosures, and published 32 research papers as the corresponding author. Meanwhile, his lab has trained 19 postdoctoral researchers and research assistants, 22 graduate students and 40 undergraduate students.
When asked to give advice to young, aspiring researchers, Asst Prof Tay said: “Ask lots of questions. Students may be scared to ask questions because they may appear insignificant, but honestly, even basic questions like cell density and molecule concentration can make such a big impact on research outcome.” And he emphasised, “No question is too small.”
Asst Prof Wang Xinchao received the YSA for advancing machine learning techniques that train compact Artificial Intelligence (AI) models using limited resources, while achieving the capabilities of larger AI systems.
Asst Prof Wang’s research addresses the complex challenges that advanced AI models face through three interconnected domains: efficient strategies, efficient models and efficient data. In efficient strategies, he built DepGraph, automating time-consuming laborious work with just three lines of code. Torch-pruning, DepGraph’s open-source counterpart, gained widespread popularity, exceeding 290,000 downloads, and has been integrated into NVIDIA’s commercial products. In efficient models, Asst Prof Wang designed MetaFormer, which greatly reduces computational cost and model size while preserving or even improving performance. In efficient data, he conceived approaches to shrink huge datasets into smaller, representative datasets that cut down computational burden yet maintain or boost model performance.
Asst Prof Wang’s innovative outputs have tremendously lowered computational and financial barriers to AI development, enabling smaller laboratories, start-ups and even individuals to train competitive models despite limited hardware as well as computational and memory constraints. The impact of his contributions also been recognised through other prestigious honours such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) AI’s 10 to Watch and the NUS’ Young Researcher Award.
Asst Prof Wang said: “To young researchers in the field, I would like to share a simple yet powerful piece of advice from my postdoctoral supervisor, the late Professor Thomas S. Huang: ‘Just be yourself.’ In a field that moves rapidly and is often filled with noise, staying true to your values, your curiosity and your unique perspective is both grounding and empowering. Trust your instincts, embrace the unknown, and remember that meaningful contributions often come from perseverance, not perfection.”
In total five NUS academics were honoured at the 2025 PSTAs. Read more here.
