Governing Board

The Mechanobiology Institute’s mission is to understand the mechanical aspects of cells and tissues that create organism form and function, define a fundamental set of mechanobiological operations from which these complex biological functions are built, establish this as a world-wide standard to unify the description and understanding of normal and diseased functions, and develop a robust multidisciplinary approach to mechanobiology, embracing an open research platform to achieve synergism and to train a new generation of researchers and students.

The Governing Board oversees the mission of the Institute by providing strategic direction and good stewardship. The Governing Board  serves to ensure the alignment of research carried out in MBI through regular appraisals and reviews of the performance of the institute. It also oversees the implementation of all governance policies, financial accountability and ethical conduct in research.

Mechanobiology Institute’s Governing Board

Mr James Koh Cher Siang

Chairman of the Governing Board, MBI
Chairman, Housing and Development Board

Mr Koh was appointed as Chairman of Housing & Development Board since 1 October 2007. He holds directorships in CapitaLand Limited, CapitaMall Trust Management Ltd, CapitaLand Hope Foundation, Pan Pacific Hotels Group Limited and Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities Ltd. He is currently Chairman of the Mechanobiology Institute and the Singapore Island Country Club.

From 1997 to 2005, Mr Koh served as Chief Executive Officer of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore. In that capacity, he was both Commissioner of Inland Revenue and Commissioner of Charities. Prior to these appointments, Mr Koh was the Permanent Secretary of National Development, the then Ministry of Community Development, and Ministry of Education. Mr Koh has substantial experience in public administration having served in the Ministries of Finance, National Development, Community Development, Education and the Prime Minister’s Office. He was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 1983 and the Meritorious Service Medal in 2002.

Mr Koh is a graduate of Oxford University, UK with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Philosophy, Political Science and Economics.  He also holds a Master of Arts from Oxford University, UK, and a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University, USA.

Mr John Lim

Member, Governing Board, MBI
Director, Higher Education, Ministry of Education

John Lim is the Director of Higher Education at the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Singapore. He leads the Division in steering and supporting the development and provision of quality post-secondary education in support of national economic and social objectives, through four autonomous universities, five polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education. The Division also oversees the provision of publicly-subsidised places in SIM University, the Singapore Institute of Technology, LASALLE College of the Arts and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and facilitates the development of educational initiatives carried out through the Singapore Science Centre and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. The Division also works closely with the Council for Private Education on regulatory and developmental issues pertaining to the private education sector, and has responsibility for the registration of private schools in Singapore.

John is a member of the Board of Governors at the Singapore Polytechnic and Republic Polytechnic. He is also a Board Member of the Council for Private Education. He is a Governing Board member of several research institutes in the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU): the Centre for Quantum Technologies (NUS), Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (NUS), the Mechanobiology Institute (NUS), the Earth Observatory of Singapore (NTU) and the Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (NTU).

John has been a member of the Board of Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA), which is responsible for shaping a safe, high quality, sustainable and friendly built environment in Singapore, since 2009. He is Deputy Chair of BCA’s Universal Awards Assessment Committee and a member of the BCA Board’s Finance and Audit Committee.

John graduated from Cornell University in 1999 with Bachelor’s degrees in Economics (magna cum laude) and Operations Research & Industrial Engineering (magna cum laude with honours). In 2005, he earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was designated Arjay Miller Scholar.

Dr Lawrence Koe

Member, Governing Board, MBI
Director of Projects, National Research Foundation, Singapore

Dr Lawrence Koe is the Director of Projects at Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF). He oversees the implementation of NRF’s four Strategic Research Programmes covering the Biomedical Science-Translational Clinical Research field, the Environmental and Water Technologies area, the Interactive Digital Media Programme, and Marine and Offshore Programme. In addition, Dr Koe is responsible for NRF’s National Framework for Innovation and Enterprise (NFIE) within which various initiatives such as the Early Stage Venture Funds (ESVF), the Technology Incubator Schemes and the University Innovation Funds are carried out. Dr Koe also looks after the implementation of NRF Fellowship Award and Competitive Research Programmes and is appointed by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to be on the Governing Boards of all the NRF/MOE Research Centres of Excellence in Singapore.

Dr Koe is a practicing Chartered Civil Engineer and has work as a professional engineer for both government and private organizations. Prior to joining NRF in Dec 2009, he was an associate professor at both the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University. He is also an entrepreneur, having spun off an environmental engineering company based on his research at the universities. As a professional engineer with more than 35 years of background experiences in academia and industry, Dr Koe continues to provide specialist advisory services to government and private companies around the world.

Prof Barry Halliwell

Member, Governing Board, MBI
Deputy President, National University of Singapore

Professor Barry Halliwell is Deputy President (Research and Technology) at the National University of Singapore and is responsible for driving the University’s research agenda. He is involved in planning and establishing research institutes, centers and programs as well as in helping to formulate policies and agreements relating to intellectual property rights. He oversees the NUS research institutes and Centres, the NUS Institutional Review Board (IRB) and NUS Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee (IACUC) and enforcement of the NUS Research Integrity Code. His responsibilities also include overseeing the expansion and allocation of research funding and liaison with granting bodies.

An internationally-acclaimed biochemist, Professor Halliwell is known especially for his seminal work on the role of free radicals and antioxidants in biological systems. The Thomson Reuters lists Professor Halliwell as one of the world’s most highly-cited researchers in Neurobiology & Behaviour, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Biology and Biochemistry and his Hirsch Index is 136.

His book Free Radicals in Biology and Medicine published by Oxford University Press, and now in its fourth edition, is regarded worldwide as an authoritative text in the field. He was awarded the “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Society for Free Radical Biology and Medicine in the USA for overall sustained excellence in the field. He was recently awarded the Ken Bowman Research Award for outstanding achievements in the field of cardiovascular research from the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences (Canada) and NUS University Award – Outstanding Researcher Award. His laboratory is also ranked number one worldwide by highest citation score in Free Radical Research.

His research focuses on the role of free radicals and antioxidants in human disease, particularly Alzheimer’s disease and other brain disorders, such as strokes, and in the ageing process. His interest in identifying the most important antioxidants in the human diet and in developing novel antioxidants has critical bearing on treating human diseases and understanding how diet might cause or prevent them. Learn more about Prof Halliwell.

Prof Chong Tow Chong

Member, Governing Board, MBI
Provost, Singapore University of Technology and Design

Professor Chong Tow Chong is the founding Provost of the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) established in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As SUTD’s founding Provost, Prof Chong plays an instrumental role in steering the strategic development and operationalisation of SUTD, including the varsity’s educational curriculum, pedagogy, faculty recruitment, research progammes, industry collaboration, international visibility and campus development.

Prior to his current appointment, Prof Chong was the Executive Director of Science & Engineering Research Council (SERC) of A*STAR and Executive Director of the Data Storage Institute (DSI). Concurrent to his appointment in A*STAR, Prof Chong held a dual appointment as a Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in NUS. He authored and co-authored more than 400 publications in international refereed journals, presented more than 30 invited talks and registered 25 patents.

Prof Chong received his Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering (B.Eng) from the Tokyo Institute of Technology and his Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering (M.Eng) from the National University of Singapore. He also graduated with a Doctor of Science (ScD) in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was awarded the President’s Scholarship and the Japanese Government Scholarship for his undergraduate studies and the NUS Overseas graduate scholarship for his graduate studies.  He also attended the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School in 2003. Prof Chong has spent much of his professional career teaching and doing research in semiconductor materials and devices, processing technologies and optoelectronics.

Prof Sir George Radda

Member, Governing Board, MBI
Chairman, Biomedical Research Council of A*-STAR

Professor Sir George Karoly Radda went to Oxford in 1956 from Hungary. He obtained his MA in Chemistry and D.Phil. in Physical Organic Chemistry at Merton College Oxford. Following a year of post-doctoral work with Melvin Calvin in Berkeley, California (1962-63) he returned to Oxford.

As Director of the MRC Biochemical and Clinical Magnetic Resonance Unit he has been involved in the development of techniques for biochemical and Clinical investigations. The current research programme in Singapore is aimed at understanding the biological basis of the metabolic syndrome and the mechanisms of interaction between the endocrine system (in particular insulin release and response) with the Central Nervous system. He leads a new programme on cancer metabolism and the development of hyperpolarized Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.

Prof Radda has served on numerous committees of the MRC including Council , Royal Society Council , ICRF Council and  Chairman Scientific Advisory Committee, President Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Scientific Advisory Board, Biozentrum, Basel, Member Scientific Committee, Max Delbruck Centre, Berlin, Member International Advisory Council to the Biomedical Research Council Singapore;  Trustee Cancer Research UK, Deputy Chairman; Non-executive Director BTG plc; Member Board of Biomedical Research Council, Singapore ; Member of the Academic Research Council, Singapore; Member of A*-STAR Board.

Prof Casey Chan

Member, Governing Board, MBI
Partner, Venture MD and Professor, School of Medicine and Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore

Dr Chan has over 25 years of experience as an orthopedic surgeon, inventor, researcher and entrepreneur. He has brought a number of innovations from concept to the standard of surgical care, including a vacuum mixing system for total joint replacements and a suture passer for arthroscopic surgery. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS), with appointments at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and the Division of Bioengineering, a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine.

Dr Chan’s previous experience as the Director of Technology Transfer Office and as the Senior Director of NUS Enterprise at the National University of Singapore provide Dr Chan with unique executive and management skills. He is currently on the governing board of the Mechanobiology Research Center of Excellence, Singapore. He teaches a course on Bioengineering Design for the third-year Bioengineering students at NUS. He holds a Master’s Degree of Applied Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Toronto, a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Toronto, completed orthopedic surgery training at the University of Toronto Residency Program and completed a spine fellowship under Dr Ian MacNab.

Dr Chan’s research interests lie in the area of tissue engineering and the effects of nanotexture on stem cell differentiations. He has been published in over 50 peer-reviewed publications and he currently holds over 40 issued U.S. patents, with more patents pending. Learn more.

Prof Michael Sheetz

Member, Governing Board, MBI
Director, Mechanobiology Institute

Hailing from Columbia University, Prof Michael Sheetz has more than 30 years’ experience in the biomedical field. Introduced to Singapore by Prof Hew Choy Leong of the National University of Singapore’s Department of Biological Sciences, Prof Sheetz was sought to lead an RCE project. This resulted in a two-year effort to organise and submit a proposal on Mechanobiology where Prof Sheetz set the theme and direction of the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI). Learn more about Prof Sheetz’s research.

The Mechanobiology Institute, as lead by Director Michael Sheetz, is committed to developing better ways to bring together the multi-disciplinary expertise that is needed to understand the systems biology of mechanical functions. In approaching integrated functions such as biomechanics, a single lab often does not have the resources to study all of the relevant parameters; however, innovation and insights will continue to be driven most rapidly by single investigators in a collaborative environment. —excerpt from Director Sheetz’s message.

Read more about MBI’s mission.