A passion for research

20 Feb 2017

The Straits Times, Scholars' Choice II, 13 Feb 2017 - Article on scholarship holders featured SP’s Diploma in Applied Chemistry with Pharmaceutical Science [renamed to Diploma in Applied Chemistry (DAPC)] alumnus Teo Wei Kiat. He is the holder of the Singapore-Industry Scholarship (SgIS), a multi-industry scholarship in partnership with the Singapore Government, and is currently in the first year of his chemistry degree at the National University of Singapore. The SgIS offers scholarships from various companies across industries such as the arts, healthcare, engineering, tourism and infocomm technology. Wei Kiat eventually chose the scholarship offered by pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) as it not only covers tuition fees, but also secures him a job after graduation. The full-term scholarship covers tuition fees, and allowances ranging from summer programmes to CCAs. Wei Keat’s interest in the research discipline of medicinal chemistry was sparked after he went through an internship as a SP student and was involved in research experiments for his final-year project. Wei Keat worked with his mentor, Dr Kelvin Ng from the Singapore MIT-Alliance in Research & Technology (SMART) on a tri-optical water quality sensor. This internship was instrumental in igniting his passion to pursue science-related research as a career. He also had another internship at A*STAR where he was involved in a youth research programme. There, he assisted his mentor to understand the synthesis and characterisation of gold nanoclusters species, still a relatively new field of research. The experience made him want to contribute further to this field as he realised that there is so much more to be discovered in chemistry, which could lead to the invention of new drugs. Wei Keat will be interning with GSK after completing his first year in university.