Singapore-based researcher bags top accolade for academic inventors

SINGAPORE — A Singapore-based researcher has, for the first time, earned the highest professional accolade for academic inventors.

Professor Jackie Y Ying, executive director of the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), was named a Fellow of the United States’ National Academy of Inventors for her outstanding contributions to innovative discovery and technology, patent inventions and licensing.

She is among 155 renowned academic inventors who were named Fellows this year.

Prof Ying has over 180 primary patents and patent applications, and 32 of her patents have been licensed to multinational and start-up companies for a diverse range of applications in nanomedicine, drug delivery, cell and tissue engineering and medical implants, among other areas.

Her inventions have led to the founding of 11 spin-offs. One of the companies she co-founded, SmartCells Inc, has developed a technology platform capable of auto-regulating the release of insulin, depending on blood glucose levels. SmartCells was acquired by pharmaceutical giant Merck in 2010, and shareholders have received milestone-based payments of over US$500 million for products resulting from the deal.

Prof Ying, who was born in Taipei and raised in Singapore and New York, founded the IBN in 2003. The institute is part of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research. Over 130 of its patents have been successfully licensed to multinationals and start-ups.

Prof Ying said it has been very fulfilling to create an innovative culture at IBN that promotes internal and external collaborations among engineers, scientists and medical doctors. “My next step is to establish an incubator to facilitate the seeding and growth of spin-off companies in the medtech and biotech sectors,” she said in an IBN press release.

Before coming to Singapore, Prof Ying was with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She joined its chemical engineering faculty in 1992, and became its youngest Full Professor at the age of 35 in 2001.

Her knack for converting inventions into commercial ventures was evident in her MIT days, but “truly flowered” at the IBN, said Professor Kenneth Smith, the chair of IBN’s scientific advisory board. “When she arrived, the Singaporean economy was not particularly entrepreneurial, but 13 new start-up companies have since been successfully spun out of IBN, and this achievement now serves as a role model for other research institutes and for other aspiring inventors.”

Founded in 2010, the National Academy of Inventors is a non-profit member organisation made up of American and international universities, and governmental and non-profit research institutes.

With the latest batch, there are now 912 Fellows, representing over 250 research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutes. The 2017 Fellows are the inventors behind nearly 6,000 issued US patents, bringing the total held by all Fellows to more than 32,000.