Singapore-based young innovators shine in Asia-Pac list

Dr Ling Ka Yi of Shiok Meats, which harnesses stem cells for lab-grown crustacean meat, is another Singapore-based awardee on the MIT Technology Review's list. Singaporean Carine Lim and her team developed a tool to diagnose Alzheimer's disease throu
Singaporean Carine Lim and her team developed a tool to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease through a simple and cost-effective blood test.
Dr Ling Ka Yi of Shiok Meats, which harnesses stem cells for lab-grown crustacean meat, is another Singapore-based awardee on the MIT Technology Review's list. Singaporean Carine Lim and her team developed a tool to diagnose Alzheimer's disease throu
Dr Ling Ka Yi of Shiok Meats, which harnesses stem cells for lab-grown crustacean meat, is another Singapore-based awardee on the MIT Technology Review’s list.

Ms Carine Lim shook the medical science field when she and her research team developed a tool to diagnose Alzheimer's disease through a simple and cost-effective blood test.

Considered the first of its kind in the world, the test can be used to detect the illness even before clinical symptoms appear, which is helpful, given how Alzheimer's disease is often diagnosed only at a late stage.

At $30 per blood test, the cost is also less than 1 per cent of the price of a positron emission tomography scan, which is the current "gold standard" for detecting the disease.

For her ground-breaking research, the 31-year-old Singaporean scientist was named one of 20 people in the MIT Technology Review's 2020 Innovators Under 35 list for the Asia-Pacific. She said: "I'm really happy that our research made an impact in the medical field. Making the list is big encouragement, and I'm hoping to further our research for a larger cohort of patients."

The list, a regional version of the renowned global Innovators Under 35 list, honours young innovators under the age of 35 for their work in shaping the future of technology in various fields such as biotechnology, transportation and energy.

The Asia-Pacific list covers South-east Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Innovators from China and the Middle East are featured in separate regional lists.

The 2020 Asia-Pacific list, unveiled at an event last Tuesday night, had 10 Singapore-based awardees out of the 20 honourees. This is the highest proportion of Singapore-based honourees since the list was first out in 2014. Other Singapore-based recipients include Dr Ling Ka Yi, chief science officer and co-founder of Shiok Meats, which harnesses stem cells for lab-grown crustacean meat such as shrimp; and Dr Sadaf Monajemi, who developed software that can more accurately predict and prevent a stroke.

The list also honours Mr Connor Talbot in New Zealand, who developed affordable and more comfortable prosthetic solutions for amputees using 3D-printing technology; and Ms Wong Wei Ru of Malaysia, who developed a novel technique using light to detect the dengue virus and its antibodies in clinical blood samples.

Mr Steve Leonard, founding chief executive of SGInnovate, which sponsored last Tuesday's event, said: "The 20 Innovators Under 35 are a group of exceptional young scientists pursuing research that, in many cases, relates to substantial challenges facing humanity."

All 20 honourees will be recognised for their work at EmTech Asia, a leading regional conference on emerging technologies, in Singapore next February.


10 of the best

Ten Singapore-based innovators have been named in the MIT Technology Review's 2020 Innovators Under 35 list for the Asia-Pacific region:

• Ms Carine Lim, 31, who developed a tool to diagnose Alzheimer's disease from a cost-effective blood test.

• Dr Wan Chunfeng, 30, who developed a method to utilise osmotic pressure to generate energy.

• Dr Ling Ka Yi, 32, chief science officer and co-founder of Shiok Meats, which harnesses stem cells for laboratory-grown crustacean meat.

• Mr Lukasz Orlowski, 33, co-founder and chief technology officer of Archanan, which developed a cloud-based supercomputing system emulation engine.

• Dr Mohammad Hossein Davood Abadi Farahani, 30, co-founder and chief executive of Seppure who invented a nanofiltration membrane that separates industrial chemical mixtures at a molecular level with minimal energy.

• Dr Nazanin Saeidi, 33, who upcycles organic waste to create composite material for the construction industry.

• Dr Chen Po-yen, 31, who is developing mechanically patterned 2D materials for stretchable electronics.

• Dr Sadaf Monajemi, 29, co-founder and chief technology officer of See-Mode Technologies, which developed software that can more accurately predict and prevent strokes.

• Ms Stephanie Hui Kit Yap, 30, who invented an advanced handheld sensor to monitor water quality.

• Dr Yvonne Gao, 31, who built modular hardware for quantum computers and constructed the critical building blocks to demonstrate their viability.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 09, 2019, with the headline Singapore-based young innovators shine in Asia-Pac list. Subscribe