Our 2024 Highly Cited Researchers

Prof Zhang's research focuses on developing/deploying multiscale modelling and simulation methods in combination with artificial intelligence (AI) to understand the processing-structure-property relationship of materials. Prof Zhang's work is at the forefronts of scientific discovery and Industry 4.0, where he leverages computation, big data and AI to transform materials discovery, design and manufacturing, be faster, more efficient and greener.

He also champions green energy research, which includes exploring ways to convert carbon dioxide into fuels and useful products and collaborating with NUS to develop safer and greener solid-state electrolyte lithium batteries to power EVs, smartphones, and aeroplanes.

Prof Zhang believes that curiosity is the key to success in every scientist.

"My work has always been driven by passion and curiosity. It is important for scientists to stay curious as this keeps us going to learn and uncover new things," Prof Zhang says.

Read more about Prof Zhang's research journey.

Prof Lisa Ng is an infectious diseases expert and Executive Director at A*STAR’s Infectious Diseases Lab (ID Labs) where the institute focuses on three key pillars of diseases: vector-borne diseases; respiratory diseases; antimicrobial resistance.

At her own lab, she leads a team of eight researchers, where she focuses on mosquito-borne diseases, including dengue and Chikungunya.

During the 2003 SARS outbreak in Singapore, Prof Ng was part of a team that partnered Roche Diagnostics to develop the PCR diagnostic kit for the SARS-CoV virus.

When COVID-19 struck, Prof Ng and her team worked around the clock to help clinicians understand the severity of the new disease.

Besides her role in ID Labs, Prof Ng is also the Executive Director of A*STAR’s Biomedical Research Council, where she is responsible for mentoring talent for biomedical research.

Read more about Prof Lisa's research journey

“Currently, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) dominate the portable powers for electronics and electric vehicles (EVs). However, their sustainability is largely limited by the safety issues associated with flammable organic electrolytes, and the supply shortages of Li resources. The Rechargeable aqueous aluminium metal batteries (AAMBs) are expected to show many advantages compared to the Li ion batteries (LIBs) with higher volumetric energy density, lower cost and better safety.

The high abundancy and easy accessibility of aluminium raw materials further make AAMBs appealing for grid-scale energy storage. However, the passivating oxide film formation and hydrogen side reactions at the aluminium anode, as well as limited availability of cathode lead to low discharge voltage and poor cycling stability.

We are working on developing new anode, cathode, and electrolyte for the AAMBs to bring a safe, low-cost and environmentally friendly rechargeable battery, which can meet the rapid increasing demands for energy storage devices”

Professor Alex Yan Qingyu is currently a Professor at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and a Principal Scientist II at A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (A*STAR IMRE). Prof. Yan obtained his BA from the Materials Science and Engineering Department of Nanjing University, China, in 1999. He finished his Ph.D. in the Materials Science and Engineering Department of the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2004. After that, he joined the Materials Science and Engineering Department of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a postdoctoral research associate until joining Nanyang Technological University in 2007. His current research interests are battery development, thermoelectric materials, and electrocatalytic process for energy conversion.

Dr Chen‘s research leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to transform data into meaningful findings to help cancer patients. Her work includes analysing the microenvironment of tumour cells to understand their heterogeneity so scientists can develop therapeutics targeting malignant cells within the tumour.

Dr Chen and her team also developed a database of Deeply Integrated Single-Cell Omics (DISCO) data, an integrated cell atlas with harmonised data, for biologists to analyse, derive and share new findings that benefit the medical community for drug discovery.

Recently, her team developed an AI tool named GraphST that combines graph neural networks with self-supervised contrastive learning to fully exploits spatial transcriptomics data for three key analysis tasks, spatial clustering, multisample integration, and cell-type deconvolution.

She urges young researchers to stay curious, be ambitious about pursuing their passion and expand their knowledge and network through collaboration to develop products that bring greater impact to society.

"I hope to be able to build up a team of competent people across these disciplines to further the development of science."

Read more about Dr Chen's research journey

“Lithium-ion batteries today are reaching their theoretical energy limits. To overcome these limits, my team works on next-generation sodium-, magnesium- and aluminum-ion batteries, which can offer higher energy density and/or lower cost due to the different material chemistries. For example, a magnesium ion carries twice the charge of a lithium ion, which means that a magnesium battery has twice the charge capacity of its lithium counterpart and can last twice as long on a single charge. By combining experiment and theory, we design novel battery materials (cathode, anode, electrolyte), understand structure-property relationships, and construct battery prototypes. These advanced batteries can be used to power both stationary and electromobile applications for a sustainable energy future.”

Dr Seh Zhi Wei is a Senior Scientist at IMRE. Dr Seh’s research interests lie in the design of new materials for energy storage and conversion, and he is widely recognized for designing the first yolk-shell nanostructure in lithium-sulfur batteries, which is currently a licensed technology. Dr Seh has published in many top journals such as Science, Science Advances, Nature Energy, Nature Materials, Nature Reviews Materials, Nature Catalysis, Nature Machine Intelligence, Nature Synthesis, and Nature Communications. For his research achievements, he also received awards including Highly Cited Researchers, World’s Top 2% Scientists, Central Research Fund Award, Vebleo Fellow Award, Ten Outstanding Young Persons, Emerging Investigators, Singapore NRF Fellowship, Innovators under 35 Asia, MRS Graduate Student Award, and National Science Scholarship.

Read more about Dr Seh’s research journey

Prof Laurent Rénia is a man who believes that science is 95% frustration and 5% pleasure. He lives for the moment of discovery, which makes it all worth it. It was fate that got Prof Rénia into tropical diseases research, and it ended up as a lifelong calling for him. A malaria specialist, he was drawn to immunology due to his fascination with infectious diseases and cell biology. He was also a member of Singapore’s COVID-19 task force during the pandemic period, lending his expertise to the nation’s fight against the virus.

As the former Executive Director of Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), and founding Executive Director of the A*STAR ID Labs, Prof Rénia pushes the boundaries of knowledge in infectious disease and immunology, specialising in tropical diseases like malaria, chikungunya, Zika, and dengue, and in recent years, newly emerging viruses like SARS-CoV-2. He remains a Senior Fellow and Principal Investigator at A*STAR ID Labs while holding concurrent Professorship positions at the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, and the University of Malaya.

Read more about Prof Laurent's research journey

Prof Loh Xian Jun is currently the Executive Director of the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (A*STAR IMRE). He also serves as an Adjunct Professor at both the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University.

As a pioneering and globally recognised expert in biodegradable thermogels, his extensive knowledge spans applications in biomedical engineering, cosmetics, personal care, and food industries. Professor Loh has made significant scientific contributions, earning him prestigious fellowships at Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge; the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC); and the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3). He has also been honoured with the Highly Cited Researcher Award by Clarivate Analytics. In addition to his leadership and academic roles, Professor Loh is the President and a member of the Executive Committee of the Singapore National Institute of Chemistry.

In recognition of his public service, he received The Public Administration Medal (Silver) in the National Awards (COVID-19) in 2022. With his extensive experience in authoring >300 journal papers, 38 patents and know-hows, more than 30 book chapters and 7 books, he currently sits on several editorial boards of international journals as an expert in his area. Professor Loh has successfully commercialised eight different products and is passionate about translating scientific discoveries into real-world applications. He is the co-founder of Vitreogel Innovations, a spin-off company dedicated to developing thermogels for the treatment of retinal detachment.

Dr. Li Xiaoli is the Department Head and Principal Scientist at the Machine Intellection department, A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (A*STAR I2R), A*STAR, Singapore, and an adjunct professor at Nanyang Technological University. An IEEE Fellow and Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association, he has served on the ITSC since 2020 and as an advisor for the Ministry of Health. His research in AI, data mining, and bioinformatics includes pioneering work in Positive Unlabeled Learning and time series sensor data analytics. With over 320 publications and 20,000 citations, he ranks among the top scientists in AI globally.

Dr Xi’s research focuses on developing new catalysts for renewable energy production to help combat global warming. His work involves characterising materials at the atomic level, which helps scientists understand how materials work together to produce chemical reactions. These catalysts improve the efficiency of industrial processes and help industries move closer to achieving net zero. More recently, he collaborated with scientists from NUS to extract hydrogen from water more efficiently to provide an affordable source of clean energy.

Dr Xi believes continuous innovation and collaboration is key to achieving improved outcomes for sustainability in Singapore and globally.

“To be a great scientist, you have to be passionate about your field of study. Read widely, network and collaborate.”

Read more about Dr Xi’s research journey