Dr Joachim Loo Say Chye
Associate Professor, Principal Investigator
Associate Chair (Students)

Dr. Joachim Loo is an Associate Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He holds a joint appointment in the Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE). He graduated with a Bachelors (Hons.) degree in Applied Science (Materials Engineering) and received his Ph.D. (as recipient of the A*STAR Graduate Scholarship) from NTU. He further pursued his research as a Visiting Scientist in Mayo Clinic (USA) before joining NTU as a faculty member in 2006. His research interests include particulate delivery systems and nanomaterials for environmental and energy applications. He has published more than 175 international peer-reviewed journal papers, two book chapters and has filed more than ten patents to his name. He is also a member of the Coordinated Research Project (CRP) under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), United Nations (UN). He has been awarded the Outstanding Mentor Award and the Nanyang Award for Excellence in Teaching 2011 and 2015, and the Service Recognition Award 2010. Currently, he is also managing several administrative portfolios such as Associate Chair (Students) of MSE. Dr. Joachim Loo has also served as Secretary of the Materials Research Society of Singapore (MRS-S), is a founding member of NanoSing, and is currently a co-convenor of the ISO/TC 229 Nanotechnology National Working Group 3 (under SPRING Singapore).

Dr Baek Jongsuep, PhD, B.Sc
Research Fellow

Dr Jongsuep BAEK obtained his Bachelor Degree in Korean Pharmacy from Wonkwang University in Korea. He completed his PhD in pharmaceutical science at Chungnam National University in Korea. In 2015, Dr Baek joined the Materials Science & Engineering in Nanyang Technological University. His research interest is focused on the development of novel drug delivery system for a treatment of several diseases such as breast cancer, Parkinson’s disease and bacteria infection. He has so far published over 30 peer-reviewed papers in reputed international journals.

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Dr Tan Chuan Hao, Grant, PhD, B.Sc
Research Fellow

Dr Tan Chuan Hao graduated with a first class honours in Molecular Biology in 2006 from University of New South Wales (UNSW). He subsequently pursued cancer research at Bioprocessing Technology Institute (A*STAR) prior to receiving his Ph.D. (as recipient of the NRF-EWT Scholarship) from Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He joined the Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE) as a post-doctoral fellow before joining A/P Joachim Loo in 2016. Dr Tan’s research interest is spanning across the domains of Microbiology and Materials Engineering. Specially, he is interested to understand the mechanisms and impacts of interspecies interactions on the structure and function of microbial communities. Such knowledge can be used to maintain, enhance or destabilize community behaviours, including biofilm formation and dispersal for various industrial and clinical applications. He is also keen in exploring the possibility of manipulating microbial functions by community editing via the genetic and materials engineering approach. Successful development of the tools will have tremendous impacts on transforming the role of microbes in both industrial and medical fields.

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Ms Kaarunya Sampathkumar, M.Tech
Research Associate

Ms Kaarunya graduated with a master’s degree in medical nanotechnology during which she worked on encapsulation of anti-cancer drugs in dendrimers. She joined the School of Materials Science and Engineering in NTU for her PhD under the supervision of Assoc.Prof. Joachim Loo in 2014. She is currently working on nutraceutical extraction and encapsulation in food grade polymers for targeted delivery in the gastro intestinal tract.

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Dr Sharad Kharel, PhD, B.Eng
Research Fellow

Mr Sharad graduated from Bachelors in Engineering from the College of Biomedical Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nepal, the land of Himalayas. He then joined NTU MSE under the prestigious SINGA scholarship to pursue his PhD in School of Materials Science and Engineering with Associate Professor Joachim Loo as his supervisor. His interests lies in designing microparticulate delivery systems for drug delivery applications. During his PhD, he has filed a patent in a novel method to fabricate hollow PLGA microparticles for various drug delivery application.

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Dr Vidya Chamundeswari Narasimhan, PhD, B.Tech, M.Tech
Research Fellow

Ms Vidya received her Integrated Master of Technology majoring in Medical Nanotechnology from SASTRA University India in 2013. She receive her Doctorate by Research from MSE-NTU in 2018 which she won the best thesis commendation award for her thesis. Her PhD works focuses on developing 3D and bi-layered scaffolds for musculoskeletal tissue regeneration applications. She has interned at reputed universities and institutions such as MIT-Harvard (2013) and National Chemical Laboratory, Pune India (2012).

Over and above her academic activities, Vidya has developed her interpersonal and leadership skills. She is the winner of the Young Persons’ World Lecture Competition 2017 hosted by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3). She held the portfolio of the President of the Materials Science and Engineering Graduate Students' Club during the academic year 2015-16. Apart from playing a vital role as organising committee for various successful academic events hosted by MSE-NTU and interacting with eminent researchers, she has contributed to student welfare through fundraising, mentoring and clean campus initiatives. In addition to her long-term goal to contribute significantly towards mimicking the principles of biological systems, Vidya is fond of travelling and classical music.

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Ms Divya Gunaseelan, B.Tech, M.Tech
PhD student

Ms Divya obtained her Integrated Master of Technology degree in Industrial Biotechnology from SASTRA University, India in 2012. During her master’s degree, she was selected to be a part of the Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD) initiative of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India. Inspired by medical research, she chose to do her M.Tech dissertation in discovery of biomarkers for increased risk of atherosclerosis in patients with Type 2 Diabetes at Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), India. She continued her research as a Project Fellow at RCGB for a year (2012) co-authoring 3 peer-reviewed publications, before joining as a Junior Research Fellow in Anna University, India (2013).

In August 2014, Ms Divya joined the PhD programme (as a recipient of the NTU Research Scholarship) at the Interdisciplinary Graduate School, NTU, under the supervision of Asst. Prof. Yusuf Ali and co-supervision of Assoc. Prof. Joachim Loo. Her research aims at elucidating the role of islet macrophages in early type 2 diabetes and their targeted depletion using nano-delivery systems, in order to prevent the progression of the disease at a very early stage.

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Lee Hiang Wee received his Bachelors in Materials Engineering from the School of Materials Science & Engineering, NTU in 2018. In the same year, he was awarded the Nanyang President Graduate Scholarship and embarked on his Ph.D journey under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Joachim Loo. Hiang Wee’s research interest lies in the development of novel drug delivery systems to combat multi-drug resistant bacteria strains, also known as ‘superbugs’.

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Mr Lim Yi Guang, Jerome, B.Eng
PhD student

Mr Jerome obtained his Bachelors degree in Materials Science and Engineering from NTU in 2015. He began his PhD journey in 2016, under the supervision of AssociateProfessor Joachim Loo. His research interest is primarily in anisotropic drug delivery systems and their use for synergistic codelivery of drugs and theranostic applications. Another focus area of his research includes the development of a responsive nasogastric feeding tube system whichwas awarded the NTU PoC GAP fund in 2017.

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Mr Mahotra Manish, B.Eng
PhD student

Mr. Manish received his Bachelors in Biomedical Engineering from College of Biomedical Engineering and Applied Sciences, Purbanchal University, Nepal. He joined NTU MSE in January 2018 for his PhD under the NTU Research Scholarship and is under the supervision of Associate Professor Joachim Loo. At DCRT, his research focuses on nano and micro delivery systems for applications in food and agriculture.

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Mr Wilson Poh Kwok Choon, B.Eng
PhD student

Mr Wilson received his Bachelors in Materials Science and Engineering from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, in 2014. He is a highly passionate PhD candidate that works on the treatment of Tuberculosis via the pulmonary drug delivery strategic route. He hopes one day to help the world with his drug delivery system and wishes to work with the World Health Organisation (WHO).

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Undergraduates/Interns

Tan Jou Ling, Fong Wai Ting Raquel, Annie Lim, Lim Zhi Eric, Tia Jing Shannon, Tay Lai Foong, Lee Yuan Huar, Reed Bender Soh (Oversea), Jay Min (URECA)

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Alumni

Research Fellow

Dr Alexis Heng Boon Chin (Snr RF), Dr. Zhang Li (Snr RF), Dr. Terry Steele (Snr RF, currently Asst. Prof.), Dr. Natasha Yang, Dr. Zhao Cui-e, Dr. Zhou Yi, Dr. Sampa Saha, Dr. Zhao Xinxin, Dr. Lee Wei Li, Dr. Huang Liwen Charlotte, Dr. Rajini Antony Pattikattukaran, Dr. Zhao Jianfeng, Dr. Peng Hu, Dr. Cao Shaowen, Dr. Wang Bochuan Victor, Dr. Wang Zheng, Dr. Khung Yit-Lung, Dr. Sibnath Kayal, Dr. Lisa Luciana Lao, Dr. Xi Lifei, Dr. Raghavendra C. Mundargi, Dr. Tran Dinh Phong, Dr. Chuah Yon Jin

Research Associate

Ms. Sneha, Mr. Shujayath Mohammad, Ms. Chaw Su Yin, Ms. Divya Venkataraman

Project Officer
Ms. Seah Geok Leng, Mr. Reda Hasballa

Postgraduate Students

2018: Betty Fan Yanliang (PhD-IGS), Vidya Chamundeswari Narasimhan (PhD), Sharad Kharel (PhD),Ho Chin Guan (Masters), 2017: Lu Yinan (Masters), Prior 2017: Han Yu Ling Jamie (PhD), Ng Su Xiu (PhD), Xiong Sijing (PhD), Huang Liwen Charlotte (PhD), Kelsen Bastari (PhD), Ngaw Chee Keong (PhD-IGS), Wee Peixin (Masters), Lim Ming Pin Alan (Masters), Melvin Tan (Masters)

Undergraduates/Interns

2018: Chuah Yong Yew (Tunku Abdul Rahman University College, Malaysia), Reed Bender(Clemson University, USA) 2017: Elizabeth Faustine Rahardjo, Jessalyn Low Hui Ying( EUREKA), Mutiara Dinanti Siregar, Soh Jay Min.

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