Foreign student found dead in A*Star lab

SINGAPORE — A foreign graduate student with the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School was suspected to have taken her own life early Tuesday (Jan 16) morning at a laboratory under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) .

Those who knew Katarina Chlebikova said the 26-year-old Slovakian had been troubled over work and relationship issues before her death.

The police said they were alerted to the case at 10.44am on Tuesday. “A 26-year-old woman was found motionless and was pronounced dead by paramedics at scene. Police are investigating the unnatural death,” they added.

Chlebikova's body was found on the eighth storey of 61 Biopolis Drive. The address is that of the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), an autonomous research institute under A*Star.

A spokesperson for the agency said Chlebikova was a research collaborator with the IMCB. A*Star did not respond to other queries surrounding the student's death.

Separately, a Duke-NUS spokesperson said the school is in touch with Chlebikova's family and will provide them with support and assistance. "(The school) is deeply saddened by this news, and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the student," the spokesperson added.

TODAY understands that Chlebikova left behind a note suggesting that she killed herself via nitrogen poisoning.

One of her colleagues told TODAY that Chlebikova specialises in neurology and neurobiology research, and was pursuing a post-doctoral position with the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School.

One of her research projects with the school centres on using light to control brain activity. A research paper on this topic, which she co-authored with seven other researchers, was published in research journal Nature Methods in January last year.

An IMCB researcher, who works in a different lab, told TODAY that an email on the incident was sent out to staff members on Tuesday afternoon, though Chlebikova was not identified in the message. The researcher, who has been with IMCB for six years, said that he saw police cars at the institute around noon.

Chlebikova graduated with a degree in biological natural sciences from the University of Cambridge. She worked at the Claridge Chang Laboratory before she went to pursue a master’s degree at Edinburgh University, the lab’s website stated previously. 

She then returned to complete her post-doctoral studies in January 2016. The lab’s website has been removed, but a cached page can still be viewed.

CORRECTION:

In an earlier version of this report, we identified Katarina Chlebikova as an A*Star scholar. This is incorrect. A*Star has clarified that Chlebikova is not one of the agency's scholars. We are sorry for the error.