Affiliations
Dean’s Chair Associate Professor, Synthetic Biology Translational Research Programme and Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
Director, Singapore Consortium for Synthetic Biology (SINERGY)
Director, Wilmar-NUS Corporate Laboratory (WIL@NUS)
Director, NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI)
Director, NUS Medicine Synthetic Biology Translational Research Programme (Syn Bio TRP)
Biodata
Matthew Chang is the Dean’s Chair Associate Professor in Biochemistry and Synthetic Biology in the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore (NUS). His research focuses on studying the engineering of biology to develop autonomous, programmable cells for biomedical and biomanufacturing applications across various industries.
At NUS, Matthew is the Director of Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI), the university’s focal research programme for synthetic biology, as well as the Synthetic Biology Translational Research Programme (Syn Bio TRP). Concurrently, he is also the Director of the Wilmar-NUS Corporate Laboratory (WIL@NUS), a research partnership between NUS and the agribusiness company Wilmar International Limited, and the Singapore Consortium for Synthetic Biology (SINERGY), an initiative that promotes research discussions across academia, industry, and government.
Having authored over 100 scientific publications, Matthew’s contributions have been recognised with numerous international honours and awards, including the National Research Foundation of Singapore Investigatorship Award, NUHS-Mochtar Riady Pinnacle Research Excellence Award, the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies Presidential Award, and the Scientific and Technological Achievement Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Matthew also serves as an editor and editorial board member for over 15 biotechnology journals and is the Editor-in-Chief of Biotechnology Notes. Moreover, he co-led the establishment of the Asian Synthetic Biology Association (ASBA) and the Global Biofoundry Alliance (GBA) and is part of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Synthetic Biology.
Over the course of his career, Matthew has trained over 50 undergraduate and high school students, 20 Ph.D. students, and 40 research scientists, many of whom have taken up leadership roles in academia, government, and industry. Given the multifaceted nature of synthetic biology, he is a strong advocate of promoting interdisciplinary science marrying engineering, biological, medical, and social sciences through education and public science outreach.
Research Interest
Reprogramming biological functionalities for energy, healthcare and environmental applications
Selected Publications
- Foo JL, Chang MW* (2018) Synthetic yeast genome reveals its versatility. Nature 557:647-648.
- Ho CL, Tan HQ, Chua KJ, Kang A, Lim KH, Ling LK, Yew WS, Lee YS, Thiery JP, Chang MW* (2018) Engineered commensal microbes for diet-mediated colorectal-cancer chemoprevention. Nature Biomedical Engineering. 2.27-37.
- Lubkowicz D; Ho CL; Hwang IY; Yew WS; Lee YS; Chang MW* (2018) Reprogramming probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri as a biosensor for Staphylococcus aureus derived AIP-I detection. ACS Synthetic Biology. 7:1229-1237
- Pham HL, Wong A, Chua N, Teo WS, Yew WS, Chang MW* (2017) Engineering a riboswitch-based genetic platform for the self-directed evolution of acid-tolerant phenotypes. Nature Communications. 8:411.
- Hwang IY, Koh E, Wong A, March JC, Bentley WE, Lee YS, Chang MW* (2017) Engineered probiotic Escherichia coli can eliminate and prevent Pseudomonas aeruginosa gut infection in animal models. Nature Communications. 8:15028.