Lim Sierin

Biography

"Sierin Lim is an associate professor of bioengineering and the Assistant Chair (Research) at the School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore. She earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and did a postdoc at University of California Irvine Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. Her Bioengineered and Applied Nanomaterials Laboratory (BeANs Lab) at NTU focuses on the design and engineering of hybrid nano/microscale devices from biological parts by utilizing protein engineering as a tool for applications in medicine (therapeutics, diagnostics, and vaccine), energy, cosmetics, and food. She is the founding chair and advisor to the Biomedical Engineering Society (Singapore) Student Chapter and is one of the STEM ambassadors at Singapore Committee for UN Women. She is also serving on the editorial board of Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology and advisory board of biotechin.asia. In 2012 she received the Asia Pacific Research Networking Fellowship from the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) and in 2013 the L’Oréal-UNESCO Singapore for Women in Science National Fellowship"

Research Interest

"The rapid advancement of nanotechnology in the past decades results in developments of individual units that can be assembled to form hyrarchical systems with varying complexity. Our lab focuses on the design, engineering, and development of hybrid nano/microscale devices from biological parts by utilizing protein engineering as assembly tool towards future healthcare and sustainable earth. Our primary foci are the applications of protein-based nanocapsules as molecular carriers in medicine (i.e. therapeutics, diagnostics, vaccines). Novel applications for these nanocapsules in food and cosmetics are being explored. Three protein nanocapsules with unique properties under investigation are E2, Ferritin, and Vault. The projects range from basic understanding the self-assembly mechanisms of these protein nanocapsules to their engineering to achieve desirable behaviors in vivo. Leveraging on our expertise in biological engineering, we are expanding our research protfolio to include elucidation of the water desalination process in mangrove and bacterial cellulose production for the development of biomimetic membrane and wound dressings. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of our projects, we are working closely with scientists from the School of Biological Sciences (SBS), School of Materials Science (MSE), Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute (NEWRI), A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), Singapore Bioimaging Consortium (SBIC), and Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS)."