Tay Jingxin Uma, aspiring scientist among A*STAR Graduate Scholarship recipient

Tay Jingxin Uma, class of 2021 FST graduate and incoming FST Ph. D. student, has been awarded the A*STAR Graduate Scholarship. She will be serving her Ph. D. at Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Institute (SIFBI) in collaboration with NUS Food Science and Technology. From young, Uma’s parents told her about the plight of cooped-up cows and chickens which saddened her. Gradually, she realized conventional farming cannot produce enough food to feed the global population. This has heavy implications on food security in Singapore. However, she did not have a clear direction on how she could reduce humanity’s reliance on farming until Professor Zhou Weibiao offered her an opportunity to do UROPS under his supervision. 

With great patience and humour, Prof Zhou together with his Ph. D. student, Andrea Koo, inculcated in her the skills and mentality required of a researcher. This inspired her to delve into food research to fulfil her ambition of reducing humanity’s reliance on farming. She has since been developing sustainable alternatives of livestock-derived products. In her final year of her undergraduate studies, she developed a 3D-printed plant-based salmon under Associate Professor Huang Dejian. In her upcoming Ph. D., she will be unlocking gelling agents from plants to replace gelatin derived from animal body parts under the guidance of Prof Zhou, A/Prof Huang and her A*STAR Supervisor, Dr Prakash Arumugam.

This has also been featured on The Straits Times and CNA.