| Lim Chwee Teck | |
| Birth Name: | Singapore |
| Nationality: | Singaporean |
| Workplaces: | National University of Singapore |
| Alma Mater: | National University of Singapore (BEng) University of Cambridge (PhD) |
Lim Chwee Teck is a Singaporean researcher and entrepreneur. He is a specialist in human disease mechanobiology and in developing medical and wearable technologies for disease diagnosis and precision therapy and bringing them from the laboratory to the bedside.[1] [2] [3]
Lim was educated at the University of Cambridge where he was awarded a PhD.[4]
He is currently the inaugural National University of Singapore Society (NUSS) Chair Professor[5] [6] at the Department of Biomedical Engineering,[7] Director of the Institute for Health Innovation & Technology (iHealthtech) (2018–present) at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and Founding Director of the Singapore Health Technologies Consortium (HealthTEC). He is also an elected Fellow of the Royal Society (UK), International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine,[8] the US National Academy of Inventors, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering,[9] the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering,[10] ASEAN Academy of Engineering and Technology, the Academy of Engineering (Singapore),[11] the Singapore National Academy of Science,[12] Institution of Engineers (Singapore) and an elected Council Member of the World Council of Biomechanics (2010–2022).[13]
Lim's research interests include human disease mechanobiology, microfluidic technologies for disease diagnosis and precision therapy, and soft wearable technologies for biomedical applications. He currently heads the MechanoBioEngineering Laboratory at NUS. He co-authored more than 500 peer-reviewed journal publications including in high impact journals, for example Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Physics among others.
Lim is internationally known for his interdisciplinary approach in combining mechanics with biology and medicine to obtain fundamental insights into how adverse changes in the mechanical properties of cells and tissues can lead to the pathology of diseases (mechanopathology) such as malaria and cancer.
From the outset of his career, Lim understood that for research to make an impact, it needs to be translated from the laboratory to the bedside. This is where he makes the greatest contribution by leveraging on his basic research outcomes and his expertise in engineering to develop a new generation of biomedical technologies for better disease diagnosis, prognosis and precision therapy. In fact, some of his biomedical microfluidic technologies has been commercialised by startups that he has cofounded.[14] [15]
One example involves a biochips to better detect and diagnose cancer. These microfluidic chips are among the world's first in being able to isolate circulating tumor cells from patient's blood. This patented technology is simple and easy to use, providing a next generation of non-invasive 'liquid biopsy' devices for cancer diagnosis.[16] The key innovation involved cancer cells being captured and analysed from a routine blood draw rather than through the painful route of needle aspiration tumour biopsy. This technology has since been commercialized by Biolidics Limited which he co-founded in 2009 and which IPO in 2018. The technology has also obtained CE (IVD) certification as well as FDA listing in both China and the USA.
He and his team have also received numerous awards and accolades including the Nature Award for Mentoring in Science (Lifetime Achievement) 2022, Highly Cited Researcher 2022, IES Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award 2022, Asia's Most Influential Scientist Award, Fortune Times 2021, IP Champion, WIPO-IPOS IP Awards 2019, TIE50 Award (world's top 50 startups) 2014,[17] Credit Suisse Technopreneur of the Year Award 2012, Wall Street Journal Asian Innovation Awards 2012 (Gold Award), Asian Entrepreneurship Award 2012 (First Prize),[18] President's Technology Award] 2011[19] among others.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Lim and his team developed two portable point-of-care rapid diagnostic tests – a portable micro-PCR system called EPIDAX[20] [21] [22] and a rapid antigen test kit called abSense.
Lim is Director of the Institute for Health Innovation and Technology (iHealhtech) at the National University of Singapore.
Lim was the Founding Director of the Singapore Health Technologies Consortium (HealthTEC.SG) which comprises a network of over 70 health and medical technology companies[23] with the aim of promoting closer research collaboration and quicker transfer of knowledge and research outcomes from academia to industry. HealthTEC.SG is supported by the National Research Foundation.[24]
Lim has currently co-founded six spin-off companies such as Biolidics, Microtube Technologies and Flexosense that are commercialising technologies developed in his laboratory.[25]