What lead to your studies at ANU’s JCSMR?

I was originally sent by the Singapore Government to do Psychology at ANU. Half way through, I became fascinated by Neuroscience (thanks to Dr Rosemary Martin's excellent teaching), and did a double honors in both Neuroscience (at JCSMR) and Psychology. I did well and won 2 University medals.

What was the title of your Thesis?

The title of my PhD thesis was "An examination of Gz Signalling through multiple phenotypes observed in the G-alpha-z mutant mouse".

What were the conclusions/results?

The data I obtained indicated that Gz is a important signalling protein, which play major roles in morphine tolerance, as well as dopaminergic and serotonergic neurotransmission in the brain. Dopaminergic neurotransmission is implicated in reward behaviours while serotonergic neurotransmission is known to be important for mood and sleep regulation.

How did your research lead to your current position in Curiox Biosystems?

I have always been fascinated to learn new things. Starting from psychology, I moved into learning about Neuroscience and cell signalling. From cell signalling, I learned stem cell biology, then I had the opportunity to learn about nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is really an inter-disciplinary field and working with colleagues from chemistry and engineering, I had the opportunity to apply my biology knowledge to develop a new and exciting miniaturized platform for biological assays, that we hope will revolutionized biological discovery by enabling cheaper and faster biological experiments, and allow experiments that previously cannot be performed due to sample scarcity to be carried out easily. We attracted venture capital funding from the renowned nanotechnology investment company, Nanostart AG, and founded Curiox Biosystems.

Did you imagine you would end up working with Curiox when you began your degree?

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are gonna get". You cannot prepare for everything in life, but have a prepared mind, so that when opportunities knock, you are prepared to seize the opportunities.

What did you do at ANU that gave you the most fun?

I love sports. I run, hike, play table tennis and participated in the inter-hall games. ANU is probably one of the most beautiful places to jog, with fresh unpolluted air and a very nice lake and mountain close by. One of the events that I participated and left a strong impression on me is inward bound- this is an overnight orienteering competition where each team of 4 participants were blind-folded, driven round in circles in a car during the night, then left in some forest in the middle of nowhere. The blindfolds were taken down after the cars have left, and the team was given a map, a compass and told how far they are from the end point (which can be any distance from 20-100km) but not told where they were (so they had to guess where there were by looking at the surroundings and geographical landmarks). The winning team was the team to get to the end point in the shortest time. This sports is a test of team work, perseverance, fitness and orienteering skills in the wilderness of Australia. I highly recommend it to anyone who is fit, has the mental toughness and who really wants to experience Australian wilderness.

How do you see your area of work advancing in the future?

I would love to continue making new discoveries and inventing new technologies, and seeing these discoveries and technologies translated to improve humanity, the quality of life and the Earth a better place for everyone.

What advice do you have for others who will follow in your footsteps?

Know yourself well and be prepared for opportunities at all times. Always be humble and be willing to learn from anyone. Be diligent, for only real knowledge can stand the test of time. Be daring when the time calls for it. Be compassionate for this is the basis of humanity and true leadership.

In terms of study, venture into inter-disciplinary fields and learn to work with specialists from other disciplines - this is the most fertile ground for breakthroughs today.