Asst Prof Andy Tay wins Hisako Terasaki Young Innovator Award

Assistant Professor Dr Andy Tay from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the College of Design and Engineering has been honoured with the Hisako Terasaki Young Innovator Award from the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation, for his research on nanotechnology for gene delivery. The award is presented to early career investigators who have developed biomedical innovations with significant improvements over leading technologies.

Despite several decades of research, it is still challenging to transfect primary immune cells with high efficiency while maintaining high cell viability and functionalities. Recognising that cell therapy is an emerging medicine for the treatment of complex diseases like cancer and diabetes, Asst Prof Tay and his team have invented nanomaterials to facilitate gene editing in immune cells for cancer immunotherapy. They are also exploring applying similar techniques to plant engineering.​