Our Team
Dr Su Xinyi
Executive Director, IMCB
Contact information:
xinyi_su@nuhs.edu.sg
xysu@imcb.a-star.edu.sg
A/Prof. Su Xinyi (PhD, MMed, FAMS, MBChir) is Executive Director, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). She also serves as the Research Director overseeing the Translational Retinal Research Laboratory at IMCB. She is passionate about building bridges between science and medicine. Her research interests are in translational research for retinal surgery and therapeutics.
Concurrently, Xinyi is also Senior Consultant Ophthalmologist at the National University Hospital, where she also serve as the Co-Director of the Centre for Innovation and Precision Eye Health. She is also an Associate Professor at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. She also holds an Adjunct Assistant Professor appointment at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS, and a joint appointment of Clinician Scientist at the Singapore Eye Research Institute.
A recipient of the prestigious National Science Scholarship from A*STAR, Dr. Su Xinyi graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2009 with a MBChir degree in medicine as well as a PhD degree in molecular biology, supervised by Ashok Venkitaraman (presently Director of the Cancer Science Institute, Singapore, and Distinguished Professor, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine) at the Hutchinson MRC Cancer Cell Unit, where she developed a novel method to conditionally inactivate RAD51, an essential protein in homologous DNA recombination (HDR).
Xinyi has published several book chapters and numerous journal articles in, inter alia, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nature Structural Molecular Biology, Nature Communications, PNAS, and Lancet Global Health. She has been awarded more than SGD30 million of competitive research funding. She is the recipient of multiple global and national awards, including, the Young Ophthalmologist Award from the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (2019), Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Singapore Award (for Medical Innovation, 2021), the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine Young Researcher of the Year Award (2022), and the Asia Pacific Eye 100 (top 100 most influential ophthalmologists/visual scientists from the Asia-Pacific region, 2024). She was also accepted into the prestigious membership of The Macular Society.
The holder of several patents and technical disclosures, she is also a non-executive director of Vitreogel Innovations Pte Ltd, which she co-founded to commercialise the research from Translational Retinal Research Laboratory. She is also a scientific advisor to Eyestem (a cell therapy company), and an Executive Committee Member of the Stem Cell Society, Singapore.
Clinician Scientist
Associate Professor Lingam Gopal
Clinician Scientist
Senior Consultant (Vitreoretinal Surgery) at the National University Hospital
Senior Consultant (Vitreoretinal Surgery) at the National University Hospital
Contact information:
gopal_lingam@nuhs.edu.sg
ophlg@nus.edu.sg
Dr. Lingam Gopal completed his Ophthalmology clinical training in 1982 and subsequently underwent a fellowship in vitreoretinal surgery in 1983. He then did a MSc in Epidemiology in 2016 from the University of London.
Between the years of 1983 till 2011, he was practicing as a clinician and research at medical and vision research foundations in Chennai, India. He is currently a senior consultant at the National University Hospital (NUH) and honorary senior investigator at the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI).
Dr. Mayuri Bhargava
Contact information:
e0157515@u.nus.edu
mayuribhargava@gmail.com
mayuri_bhargava@nuhs.edu.sg
Dr. Mayuri Bhargava is a medical retina specialist practicing at the Department of Ophthalmology, National University Hospital.
She has a keen interest in translational research and is currently pursuing a PhD at the National University of Singapore. She is currently working on developing retinal pigment epithelium from stem cells for transplantation.
Co-Investigator
Associate Professor Walter Hunziker
Co-Investigator
Deputy Director of Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB)
Deputy Director of Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB)
Contact information:
hunziker@imcb.a-star.edu.sg
Dr. Walter Hunziker obtained his PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Zurich) in 1986 where he worked on the cloning of the cDNA of small intestinal brush border enzyme sucrase-isomaltase. He did his post-doctoral work at Yale University before moving to the Biochemistry Institute of the University of Lausanne as a group leader to continue studying membrane traffic in epithelial cells. He joined IMCB in January 2000 as an Associate Professor and is currently serving as the Deputy Director of IMCB.
Dr. Walter Hunziker’s experience has provided the lab with valuable insights on retinal cellular biology, which have been crucial to the development of novel hydrogel materials and retinal therapeutics.
Post-doctoral Fellows
Dr. Liu Zengping
Senior Research Fellow
Contact information:
ophlz@nus.edu.sg
Dr. Liu Zengping spent the past decade working on retinal pigment epithelial cell transplantation for retinal degenerative diseases. As a trained ophthalmologist, he utilises a multi-disciplinary approach including cellular biology, tissue engineer, in-vivo disease model creation and clinical research to solve the hurdles of treating retinal degenerative diseases.
He is currently focused on establishing a surgical non-human primate model for cellular delivery and developing novel hydrogels as vitreous tamponade materials.
Dr. Zhao Xin Xin
Senior Research Fellow
Contact information:
zhaoxx@imcb.a-star.edu.sg
Dr. Zhao Xinxin finished her PhD from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). She then worked as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at NTU before joining Arkray Pte. Ltd as a Senior Research Scientist.
Her research interests are in developing new materials, surface modification and the biological applications of these new materials.
Dr. Regha Kakkad
Senior Research Fellow
Contact information:
reghak@imcb.a-star.edu.sg
Dr. Regha Kakkad’s prior research experience include working on projects involving epigenetics and transcriptional regulation of haematopoiesis.
Her current research interest is in developing transplantable retinal pigment epithelial cells for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration.
Dr. Animesh Banerjee
Research Fellow
Contact information:
banerjeea@imcb.a-star.edu.sg
Dr. Animesh Banerjee finished his PhD at Banaras Hindu University, India, where he studied the role of miRNA and its regulators in the maintenance of neural stem cells in fruit fly (Drosophila). Following this, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in the RNA in Disease and Translational Tchnologies Lab, IMCB, A-star. His projects were focused on exploring the neural circuitry and mechanisms of movement disorders related to age-related neurodegenerative diseases as well as in miRNA mutants using fruit fly.
Due to his passion for the translational and clinical application of stem cells, he is working forward to optimize the differentiation of retinal progenitor cells derived from pluripotent stem cells. With collaborations across various disciplines within A-Star, he is establishing a retinal coculture disease model to understand better the role of specific gene mutations in disease dynamics.
Dr. Bhav Harshad Parikh
Senior Research Fellow
Contact information:
bhavhp@imcb.a-star.edu.sg
Dr. Bhav Harshad Parikh obtained his BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He then pursued a PhD at National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine where he explored biomaterial-based therapeutic strategies for retinal scarring at the Translational Retinal Research Laboratory lead by Dr Su Xinyi. After obtaining his PhD in 2022, he continued at Dr Su’s lab as a Research Fellow.
His research interest includes a broad range of translational science encompassing next generation cell- and biomaterial-based retinal therapeutics, with expertise in stem cells, retinal cell biology, tissue engineering and transcriptomics technologies.
Dr Munirah Santosa
Research Fellow
Contact information:
munirahs@imcb.a-star.edu.sg
Munirah Santosa obtained her BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), where she first explored working with patient-derived stem cells in the context of neonatal diabetes with Dr. Adrian Teo. She then pursued a PhD at National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in Dr. Ng Shi Yan’s lab with a focus on using pluripotent stem cells to develop a neuronal aging model and identifying its contributing mechanisms to neuronal aging.
Continuing her pursuits in stem cell translational research, she is now in Dr. Su Xinyi’s lab as a Research Fellow working on stem cell differentiation of retinal cells. Her current research interests include developing retinal co-culture systems with incorporation of biomaterials for retinal disease modelling and therapeutic applications.
Dr. Liu Hang
Research Fellow
Contact information:
liuhang@nus.edu.sg
Dr. Liu Hang is a Research Fellow at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS). His research has been focused on engineering bio-scaffolds for 3D cell culture to build disease models and transplants for possible treatments. He is an enthusiastic and highly motivated biomaterial researcher with multi-disciplinary research experience, skilled laboratory techniques, and teaching experience.
Before this, Liu Hang earned his Ph.D. degree from NUS, M.Sc. degree from the Nanyang Technological University, and B.Eng. degrees (First Class Hons) from the Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and the University of Liverpool.
Hazel Xiaohui Ang
Research Fellow
Contact information:
angxh@imcb.a-star.edu.sg
Hazel Ang (pronouns: they/them) is passionate about exploring the intricacies of aging biology and pharmacology. They specialize in leveraging high-throughput pharmacological screening methodologies to discover potential aging-preventive interventions. Currently, in Su Xinyi’s lab, Hazel is developing advanced drug screening technologies to combat age-related macular degeneration. Additionally, they contribute to the Business Development Team at IMCB, scoping out scientific innovations for biotech and pharma collaborations.
Hazel earned a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy with First Class Honours from the National University of Singapore in 2012 and gained experience as a clinical pharmacist at Singapore General Hospital. In 2015, they were awarded the A*STAR National Science Scholarship (PhD). They completed their PhD in Pharmacology at Duke University (Durham, North Carolina, USA), at Kris Wood’s lab, focusing on primary drug resistance in precision cancer therapies through genome-wide genetic and pharmacological screening. Transitioning from cancer research to the aging field, Hazel joined Christian Riedel’s lab at Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden) as a postdoctoral researcher. There, they collaborated with AstraZeneca AB and Federico Pietrocola’s lab to develop a transcriptomics-based biological age prediction method, along with a multi-parametric high-throughput screening strategy for geroprotector drug discovery.
Research Assistants
Queenie Tan Shu Woon
Senior Research Officer
Contact information:
swtan@imcb.a-star.edu.sg
As a research officer, Queenie supports the in-vivo mice retinal imaging and molecular biology techniques for the projects in the lab. She has a research interest in the mechanisms of retinal degenerative diseases.
Daniel Wong Soo Lin
Research Officer
Contact information:
ophwsl@nus.edu.sg
As a research officer, Daniel supports the in-vivo work on rabbits and non-human primates for the projects in the lab. His research interests surround stem cell transplantation, drug release models and retinal disease models.
Rajvinder Singh Khare
Research Officer
Contact information:
rajvinder_khare@imcb.a-star.edu.sg
Raj graduated from King’s College London with a Masters in Neuroscience, specializing in neural stem cells and nervous system repair. He has previous research experience in neurodegenerative diseases, including Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. As a research officer, Raj supports the lab’s effort in optimization and generation of retinal organoids as a disease model. He also hopes to further elucidate polymer and retinal pigmentation epithelial cell interaction to prevent disease scarring.
Dr Ivan Seah Yu Jun
Research Officer
Contact information:
ivanseah22031991@gmail.com
Dr. Ivan Seah graduated with his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 2018 from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (Singapore). He worked as a medical doctor in Ophthalmology before transiting to a full-time career in science. He is currently pursuing a Masters of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Apart from his clinical duties, Dr. Ivan Seah has participated in various biomedical entrepreneurship programs such as the Singapore-Stanford Biodesign Innovation Class. He is also actively involved in the development of an angel investment network, Future Health, which focuses on building capital networks for the development of health technologies in Asia.
Dr. Ivan Seah started his first laboratory experience at the Institute of Medical Biology, A*STAR. He then worked at the Molecular Neurotherapy and Imaging Laboratory, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, where he focused on oncolytic virotherapy.
His current research interests lie in the genetic aspect of retinal diseases. Through his research, he hopes to eventually develop new platforms for gene therapeutic discovery.
Karishma Mehta
Research Officer
Contact information:
k-mehta@nus.edu.sg
Karishma graduated from Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) with a Bachelor with Honors in Pharmaceutical Engineering. She worked as an intern with Retina Lab prior to joining full-time as a research officer.
Karishma mainly supports Dr. Zhao Xin Xin in the study of drug delivery through the use of synthetic polymers as well as its bioactivity on retinal diseases such as age-macular degeneration (AMD). Her current research interests include the study of various drug delivery platforms of retinal diseases. Thus, her career aspiration in this field of specialization would be to develop a novel drug delivery method in targeting these diseases.
Vinod S/O Panneer Selvan
Research Officer
Contact information:
vinodselvan@nus.edu.sg
Vinod obtained his BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology from the University of Sheffield. He was previously working for a drug discovery start-up, focusing on transcriptomics before joining Dr Su Xinyi’s lab as a research officer.
Vinod supports the lab by investigating host retinal tissue response to sub-retinal transplantation of iPSC derived RPE and RPPs in-vivo, within the human immune system. His current research interest lies in developing translational therapeutics to treat retinal degenerative diseases.
Banff Tan
Research Officer
Contact information:
Having obtained their BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences from Northumbria University in 2022, Banff joined the lab in 2023 first as an intern assisting with the development of an RPE aging model. Since then, they have converted to a research officer and has shifted their focus to stem cell work, supporting the differentiation of hypo-immunogenic stem cells into retinal cells.
Myra Goh
Research Officer
Contact information:
myra_goh@imcb.a-star.edu.sg
I graduated from Murdoch University in Australia with a Bachelors in Science majoring in Forensic Biology & Toxicology, Genetics and Molecular Biology. I worked as a Forensic Technical Officer before joining as a Research Officer in the Humanized Mouse Unit, focusing in animal work. Currently, as a Research Officer, i support the lab in animal related work and retinal imaging.
PhD Students
Yeo Yan Zhuang
PhD Student
Contact information:
e1101908@u.nus.edu
Yanzhuang graduated from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) with a Bachelor with Honors in Biological Sciences in January 2022. Her keen interest in translational research led her to pursue a PhD.
She joined the Translational Retinal Research Laboratory as a PhD student in January 2023. Her current research interest is to investigate the role of dysfunctional mitochondria in RPE cells, with regards to Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). Her goal is to develop potential therapies targeting this defect in AMD.
