BIOPHOTONICS & BIOIMAGING

Prof. Malini Olivo is presently the Executive Director in charge of the Health and MedTech Horizontal Technology Programmed Office and Deputy Executive Director of Institute of Bioengineering and Bioimaging (IBB). She also assumed the appointment as Director of Biophotonics and Head of the Translational Biophotonics Laboratory (TBL) at the Singapore Bioimaging Consortium in 2012 where she leads TBL in the development and implementation of A*STAR’s R&D strategies, and Co-Programme Executive Director for the Health and MedTech Horizontal Technology Programme Office in 2020.

Particularly, she plays a key role in spearheading the fields of biophotonics solutions to clinical challenges. Her efforts include bridging the gap between cutting edge optical technologies and unmet clinical needs by developing in-house photonics-based devices for various industries. To highlight a few examples, this includes the application of in vivo optoacoustic imaging in oncology, development of a point-of-care device for ovarian cancer diagnosis in the operating theatre, invention of a handheld Raman spectroscopy-based skin scanner for skin diseases such as skin cancer, eczema and acne for applications in the cosmeceutical industry. Her lab is on track towards commercialisation with her being a founder of two spin-offs, Respiree Pte. Ltd. (breath-cardio sensor using Direct-to-Cloud advance A.I. analytics) and Auretek Pte. Ltd. (handheld clinical-grade skin analyser).

She established two joint laboratory partnerships, in which one of them, the SBIC-iThera Medical Imaging Centre, was inaugurated in 2018, as the first such centre in the world to serve the needs of non-invasive clinical optoacoustic imaging of cancer in the Asia Pacific.

Prof. Malini Olivo also holds an adjunct professorship in the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at the Nanyang Technological University. She has published close to 500 papers (including several contributions in high impact journals), 3 books and 8 book chapters, and filed 30 patents on technology platforms and devices. She has initiated 3 first-in-human studies using photoacoustic technology in humans for skin and breast cancer and eczema.

Prior to her current appointments, Prof. Malini Olivo was a Principal Investigator at National Cancer Centre and Singapore General Hospital from 1995 to 2009 where she pioneered biophotonics diagnostics and photodynamic therapies and applications of nano-biophotonics in oncology. She was credited for her contributions to medical science by being awarded the Singapore Great Women of our Times Award in 2005 and Singhealth Research Awards in 2006 She was a tenured Stokes Professor of Biophotonics at the National University Ireland, Galway 2009-2012 and Science Foundation Ireland. For her pioneering work on developing biophotonics and decades of experience in translating biophotonics from bench to the clinic, Prof. Malini Olivo was recently elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows in Washing D.C., U.S.A., in 2019. She is also a fellow member of the Optical Society of America for pioneering and contributing to the field of photomedicine in the seminal area of cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. Prof. Malini Olivo obtained her PhD in Biomedical Physics 1990 from the University of Malaya and University college London UK where she conducted her research in cancer photomedicine and biophotonics at the University College of London, UK, and Lund University, Sweden before doing post-doctoral training in University of Toronto and Princess Margaret Cancer Hospital in Canada after which she came to Singapore in 1995 to pioneer the field of Photomedicine and Biophotonics.

Fellow of American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, 2019
Fellow of the Optical Society of America, 2015
Fellow of the Institute of Physics, United Kingdom and Ireland, 2014

Ph.D. in Biomedical Physics, University of Malaya-University College London, 1990
B.Sc (Hons) in Physics & Mathematics, University of Malaya, 1985
B.Ed (Hons), University of Malaya, 1985

Publication & Patent: 
Malini_OLIVO

Dinish U. S is the Group Leader of Translational Biophotonics Lab at Institute of Bioengineering and Bioimaging (IBB), A*STAR, Singapore. He also holds a joint adjunct faculty position at School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (SPMS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He received his PhD in biophotonics and optical instrumentation from NTU. Dinish has extensive expertise in photoacoustic imaging (PAI), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Raman spectroscopy, surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), fluorescence imaging and multimodal imaging approaches for various preclinical, clinical and industry-funded projects. He played a key role in two clinical studies on skin inflammatory conditions and skin cancer at National Skin Center (NSC, Singapore) using PAI, which was done for the first time in humans. He is the lead PI/Co-PI of many national and international research grants on bioimaging/sensing studies. Dinish is the PI of recently set up prestigious Virtual Lab-International Research Program (IRP) named FiberMed with XLIM research institute (CNRS, France) and Limoges University, France for the development of next generation photonic crystal fiber based biosensors and imaging platforms.

He holds 15 patents/patent applications and has published over 130 international journal papers and conference proceedings. He co-edited a book titled ‘frontiers in biophotonics for translational medicine’ (Springer) in 2015. Currently, Dinish is serving as the editorial board member of ‘Scientific Reports’ (Nature Publishing Group) and also as a consulting editor for ‘International Journal of Nanomedicine’ (Dove press). He is also acting as the editor for Springer’s book series titled, ‘Progress in Optical Science and Photonics’ where he edited and published 5 books so far and many more are in pipeline. Dinish is serving as regular reviewer for more than 20 international journals in Optics, Biophotonics, Optical biosensors and Nanotechnology. He was invited to present in conferences and seminars in Singapore and overseas. In addition, he has played a key role in organizing summer schools, conferences and chaired various sessions.

Publication & Patent: 
Dinish U. S

LEE Kuan Jin graduated in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge in 1986. He received his MSc in Lasers and Optoelectronics from the University of St Andrews in 1987. He then joined the UK National Health Service as a Medical Physicist (Nuclear Medicine). He obtained his PhD in Magnetic Resonance Imaging from the University of Sheffield in 2003. He did postdoctoral research at the Academic Unit of Radiology at the University of Sheffield, and then in Jürgen Hennig’s Magnetic Resonance lab at the University Medical Center Freiburg. In 2011, Dr Lee joined Siemens Healthcare as MR Applications Developer in Erlangen. He has published papers on novel MR pulse sequences, RF pulse design, motion correction and image artefact correction. In 2014, he joined the Singapore Bioimaging Consortium (SBIC) as Clinical Scientist and group leader for MR Methods Development (MRMD). The role of MRMD is to develop and implement advanced sequences and protocols to support the MR imaging needs of collaborators, on both pre-clinical and clinical research projects.

Publication & Patent:
Kuan Jin LEE

Dr Joyce Chan graduated in Medicine from the University of Southampton, UK. She has been a practising clinician in UK and Hong Kong. Following postgraduate surgical training, Joyce obtained a fellowship in vascular surgery from St. Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. As a practising surgeon, she obtained an MSc. in Surgical Science, and a PhD in Molecular Imaging of atherosclerosis at Imperial College London. She was later appointed as Clinical Assistant Professor in Department of Surgery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She also obtained an MBA with a specialisation in entrepreneurship from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Currently she has an adjunct clinical position at the Department of Vascular Surgery at Singapore General Hospital.

Joyce’s research interests lie in developing translational molecular imaging/theranostic strategies aimed at improving selection of high-risk patients for prophylactic intervention strategies, paving the way for personalized management of cardiovascular diseases. Her research interests also include development of clinically relevant atherosclerosis animal models, and methodologies to allow visualization and tracking drug delivery from balloon angioplasty and stent grafts for vascular pathologies. For her research work she was awarded The British Journal of Surgery Prize in UK, The Asian Society for Vascular Surgery First Prize and grants from The Royal College of Surgeons of England, European Society for Vascular Surgery and the Hong Kong Government.

As a trained clinician scientist, Joyce’s long-term goal is to translate the technologies/strategies developed from her research to benefit patients in the clinic. Her group will closely collaborate with clinicians and industry to facilitate this bench to bedside translation.

Publications and Patents:
Joyce CHAN

Bhanu Prakash K.N. obtained Ph.D. degree from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 2002. He was a Senior grade lecturer in Visvesvaraya Technological University before joining Biomedical Imaging Lab in Institute of Infocomm Research (Agency for Science, Technology and Research – A*STAR, Singapore) in 2003 and later moved to Bioinformatics Institute in 2004 as Research Scientist. He then moved to Singapore Bioimaging Consortium (SBIC, A*STAR) in 2005 and was part of the Biomedical Imaging Lab. Later in 2012, he moved to Laboratory of metabolic imaging and was promoted as Group Leader of Signal & Image processing Group in 2006. He has about 40 publications in peer-reviewed journals and 13 patents granted (4 patents have been licensed to a spin-off company and 2 patents to a startup) and about 70 abstracts along with a few media releases.

His main interests are in Biomedical signal & Image analysis, Pattern Recognition, AI, Clinical decision support systems, Differential diagnosis, Radiomics and Population based studies in Neuro and precision medicine. He is actively involved with RadiologyAsia and SGCR-WIRES activities and a member of ISMRM and IEEE. He has delivered many lectures and seminars in Singapore and overseas. In addition to his scientific contributions, he has organized and chair-ed several symposiums and seminars over the years. He serves as a reviewer to Neurotrauma, IJCARS, Scientific Reports, MDPI, Journal of Electronics, MAGMA and many other journals. He is the guest editor for “Novel Technologies on Image and Signal Processing” a special issue by MDPI Electronics.

Publications and Patents:
Bhanu Prakash KN

Dr Goggi heads the Isotopic Molecular Imaging Laboratory, his interests include research in the development of novel radiopharmaceuticals for the detection, stratification and treatment of disease in the fields of immune-oncology, neurology and regenerative medicine. Dr Goggi also holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine NUS where he plays a key role in spearheading imaging associated biomedical projects.

Dr Goggi obtained his PhD in Neurochemistry from Imperial College London, UK in 2002 and completed his postdoctoral training in PET imaging at the Hammersmith Hospital in the Department of Psychiatry conducting research into the role of dopamine in Schizophrenia. Prior to his current appointment, Dr Goggi was a Senior Scientist at GE Healthcare Medical Diagnostics Discovery developing novel PET and SPECT diagnostics and MR contrast agents. Dr Goggi has also worked in pharmaceutical research at the Merck Sharpe and Dohme Neuroscience Research Centre in the UK, working in the Alzheimer’s franchise. Dr Goggi holds numerous patents, has published many research papers in the field of imaging diagnostics and development and has been part of numerous successful grant awards including Theme Lead for Imaging in the prestigious CITI IAF-PP in 2018.

Publications and Patents:
Julian GOGGI

Dr Edward George Robins graduated with a Bachelor of Chemistry (1st Class Honours) from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1994 and obtained his Doctor of Philosophy from the School of Chemistry at Bristol University in 1997. After his postdoctoral studies, Dr Robins joined Imaging Research Solutions Ltd (IRSL) at Hammersmith Hospital, UK as a radiochemist. Between 2007 and 2011, Dr Robins was the Radiochemistry Leader for Medical Diagnostics Discovery, GE Healthcare, during which time the focus of his work was the discovery, development and translation of PET radiopharmaceuticals from basic research to clinical research and ultimately commercialization.

Dr Robins was appointed as Head of Radiochemistry at the Singapore Bioimaging Consortium in July 2011. As Head of Radiochemistry, his research focuses on the development and implementation of new synthetic methods for both radiolabelled and isotopically labelled small molecules and peptides as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) imaging biomarkers to support A*STAR’s R&D strategies. Dr Robins was appointed as Deputy Director of the Institute of Bioengineering and Bioimaging (IBB) in April 2021 and has, since February 2019, held the position of Deputy Director and Head of Radiochemistry for the Clinical Imaging Research Centre (CIRC) at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, where he oversees the GMP manufacture of PET radiopharmaceuticals for human clinical imaging biomedical research programs.

Publications and Patents:
Edward ROBINS

Zhi Wei received his PhD degree in Bioengineering from the University of California Berkeley and BS degree in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University. During his PhD, he worked on the development of a new imaging modality called Magnetic Particle Imaging which works on different principles from MRI. It enables high-contrast, direct quantitation of magnetic labels in vivo without using cryogenic magnets. His interests are in developing new platform tools and nanoparticles for magnetic-based sensing, imaging and theranostics such as image-guided magnetic hyperthermia with applications in cell tracking, immunology and cancer theranostics.

Zhi Wei was a runner-up for the Young Investigator Award at the World Molecular Imaging Conference 2017 in Philadelphia USA for his work on novel Magnetic Particle Imaging methods.

Publications and Patents:
TAY Zhi Wei