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Student Achievers

Few enjoy the honour of being lauded as one of the top female inventors around the globe, but Ms Fong has managed to add that to her enviable list of glowing achievements.

The remarkable student was one of four women from Singapore to be named among the world's top 10 female inventors last year by the Britain-based Global Women Inventor & Innovators Network (GWIIN). The GWIIN Awards had attracted 31 nominations from 12 countries.

This is not the only outstanding accolade she has to her name. She also emerged as a finalist at the 4th Young Inventors Awards organised by Far Eastern Economic Review.

Ms Fong's work on “Biomimetic Processing of Nano-Structures”, supervised by MSE's Assoc Prof Ma Jan, establishes a mechanistic understanding of biomimicry – the art of using technology to mimic biological systems - and she extends the theory to the forming of nanostructures.

Tough and lightweight titanium is used as a bone replacement. However, two problems hinder its use: Bone does not bond to titanium without adhesive coating and constant movement between bone and metal can wear down the bone.

Hence, Ms Fong has developed a new, inexpensive coating for titanium that provides a friendly surface on which bone does bond.

Unlike existing coatings, her invention of this biomaterial with minuscule holes called hydroxyapatite, promotes a good and strong bond. This breakthrough material, as a result, helps the body’s natural healing process.

Mr Hengky credits MSE with providing him a rock-solid foundation in knowledge and skills, an excellent grounding that has been a boost in his work and further studies.
The outstanding student had graduated from MSE in 2002 with flying colours, achieving first-class honours for his bachelor’s degree.

He said of how MSE has helped him: “MSE has provided a very good insight into what materials engineering is and what a scientist is supposed to do for the society. It not only offers a wide range of facilities and technology, but its intensive training has also provided me very strong fundamentals in my work and studies.”

With his glowing achievements, he suitably won a place to study under the extremely prestigious Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA). There, he pursued his master of science in advanced materials for micro- and nano-systems.

The SMA is an engineering and life-science educational and research collaboration involving the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The inventor in Mr Hengky also shone at the Young Inventors Award, where he fought against strong international contenders to emerge as a finalist in 2003.

For the competition, he had entered his undergraduate final year project, which touched on producing orthopaedic implants using rapid prototyping technology. This technology can provide patients with the final implants in the shortest time possible, and in the exact shape and size.

Highly supportive lecturers and state-of-the-art laboratory facilities have no doubt proven to be a great help for Ms Lao during her time at MSE pursuing her undergraduate and post-graduate studies.

It was this nurturing environment that gave her the confidence to take part in the prestigious 5th Young Inventors Awards 2004, where this bright, young innovator competed against international contestants to clinch a much-coveted finalist position. She had submitted her research on an area that involved improving cancer treatment.

Ms Lao, a first-class honours graduate, said: “My supervisor encouraged me to take part in the competition. I was actually not aware of the competition and he had encouraged me to submit my project.”

A fast learner, she had entered the Accelerated Honours stream as an undergraduate, completing her bachelor studies in a swift three-and-a-half years instead of the usual four. The high achiever also won an impressive six awards for academic excellence during her undergraduate years.

Previously studying part-time for her PhD at MSE, she switched to the full-time programme after receiving the Singapore Millennium Foundation scholarship. Her PhD studies currently look into drug release from heart stents.

Besides providing an exciting and stimulating environment for research work, MSE also cares very much for its students, she feels.

She said: “The lecturers are very approachable. When I have any questions, I can always ask them. The school management is also very helpful. They always ask for feedback from the students and research staff.”

Frank graduated with Ph.D. from the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), NTU in 2005. He completed his Ph.D. thesis in the area of degradation and drug release from polymer for drug eluting stent applications under the supervision of Prof. Subbu Venkatraman and Prof. Freddy Boey. As a result of his outstanding work, many of his research finding was published in prestigious journals such as Biomaterials and Journal of Controlled Release.

Soon after completing his Ph.D., Frank embarked on his postdoctoral fellowships at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (Singapore), Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His postdoctoral work at MIT was conducted in the world-renowned laboratories of Prof. Robert Langer and Dr. Omid Farokhzad (Brigham and Women’s Hospital) which focus on the study and development of drug delivery nanoparticle platforms for cancer therapy, oral drug delivery and vaccines.

Frank is currently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Bioengineering, Clemson University - making him the first MSE graduate to land an academic position in a US University. He is attracted to Clemson University to pursue multidisciplinary research with clinical applications. The Department of Bioengineering possesses a rich tradition in the biomaterials field and pioneering biomaterials has led to the development of medical devices that have revolutionized healthcare. He is very excited to continue to interact and develop collaborations with clinicians and scientists from multiple programs built through Clemson University and the Department of Bioengineering led by Prof. Martine Laberge. While being a new faculty, he hopes to recruit strong Ph.D. candidates and postdocs in his laboratory of Nanomedicine.

Says Frank: "I would like to encourage all students to believe in their dreams and work towards the best position to succeed. It is important to know your goals and use your knowledge, skills and environment to accomplish them. This is often initiated with the strong support of mentors or supervisors providing the right tools to succeed.”



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