Our 2024 Highly Cited Researchers

Dr Wu Gang is a Principal Scientist at the A*STAR Institute of High Performance Computing (A*STAR IHPC), specialising in computational modelling and simulation of mass, charge, and energy transport phenomena. Leveraging high-performance computing, he addresses complex challenges in materials science, studying how materials respond to external stimuli such as electric fields, thermal gradients, and contaminant infiltration through advanced numerical simulations.

Dr Wu's expertise lies in bridging atomistic-level insights with experimental applications using multiscale simulation techniques. His work significantly advances the understanding of thermoelectric materials and lithium batteries, empowering experimental scientists to optimise material properties and develop innovative strategies for enhancing functionality.

Currently, Dr Wu is leading efforts to integrate high-throughput calculations, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence into materials discovery and design. His dedication to scientific inquiry and collaboration is accelerating the development of next-generation materials and inspiring the next wave of researchers in the field.

"Scientific curiosity and an unwavering commitment to discovery are the true catalysts of transformative advancements in science. They are essential for pushing boundaries and achieving excellence in research."

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

“A trailblazer in sustainable energy solutions, Prof Alex Yan is advancing aqueous aluminum metal batteries (AAMBs) – a safer, more eco-friendly alternative to lithium-ion batteries that could transform energy storage across industries. As an adjunct Principal Scientist at A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (A*STAR IMRE), his research also extends to thermoelectric materials, exploring how waste heat can be converted into electricity.

Beyond energy, Prof Yan is making strides in sustainable agriculture, developing greener ways to produce urea – a fertiliser - with lower energy consumption. Passionate about mentorship, he continues to guide the next generation of scientists in their research journey, shaping a future of sustainable innovation.

Read more about Prof Yan's research journey

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 the Executive Director at A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (A*STAR IMRE), where he leads a team of more than 500 researchers and students driving materials research in AI for materials development, quantum technologies, sustainability, and medtech.

A visionary innovator, Prof Loh co-founded Vitreogel Innovations, an A*STAR spinoff, and is working on bringing its biodegradable thermogel to market. Designed as a vitreous substitute for patients who have undergone retina surgery, this innovation promises to transform post-surgery recovery and improve patient outcomes.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he collaborated with Nanyang Technological University’s Prof Chen Xiaodong to develop a smart mask that enabled healthcare workers to track patients' vital signs remotely via an integrated monitoring system.

Prof Loh's scientific contributions have earned him numerous accolades, including being consistently named a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics. In 2021, he received the prestigious 7th NRF Investigatorship for his research on “Thermogels for Therapeutic Applications”. In 2024, he was elected a Fellow of the Singapore National Academy of Science, honouring his leadership and lifelong contribution to science.

Read more about Prof Loh's research journey

A pioneer in computing science research, Dr Li Xiaoli is well-known for his work in artificial intelligence (AI), data mining, machine learning and bioinformatics. He leads a team of more than 90 AI and data scientists as Department Head and Senior Principal Scientist of Machine Intellection at A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (A*STAR I²R).

A Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher, Dr Li has published over 350 peer-reviewed papers across various disciplines, with over 20,000 citations to his name. He also helped to develop Singapore’s National AI strategy as an AI advisor for the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO).

Read more about Dr Li's research journey

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

Dr Fu joined A*STAR Institute of High Performance Computing (A*STAR IHPC) in 2021 as a Principal Scientist. His work focuses on computer vision, Artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, and trustworthy AI. With over 300 publications and 28,000 citations to his name, Dr Fu is particularly adept at enhancing the reliability of AI models in healthcare, where he specialises in medical image analysis, medical multimodality learning and medical foundation model.

Read more about Dr Fu’s research journey