Matthew CHANG
Matthew CHANGDirector
[email protected]

Affiliations

Executive Director, National Centre for Engineering Biology, Singapore (NCEB)
Director, Singapore Consortium for Synthetic Biology (SINERGY)
Director, NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI)
Director, Synthetic Biology Translational Research Program, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
Director, Wilmar and NUS Corporate Laboratory (WIL@NUS)

Biography

Prof Matthew Chang is Executive Director of the National Centre for Engineering Biology and Provost’s Chair Professor at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS). He also leads the Singapore Consortium for Synthetic Biology (SINERGY), a national programme, as well as key NUS research initiatives, including NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI) and the Wilmar–NUS Corporate Laboratory. Internationally, he serves as Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Generative Biology.

He has played a formative role in advancing the global synthetic biology community. Prof Chang helped establish the Asian Synthetic Biology Association and the Global Biofoundry Alliance, and advises international initiatives such as Australia’s CSIRO Synthetic Biology programme, SynBio Africa, and the European Union’s Horizon Programme.

Prof Chang’s research focuses on reprogramming microbial cells for biomedical and biomanufacturing applications. He has published more than 140 scientific papers, and his work has been recognised with honours including the NRF Investigatorship Award, the NUHS–Mochtar Riady Pinnacle Research Excellence Award, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Scientific and Technological Achievement Award.

A dedicated mentor, he has supervised over 100 students and researchers, many of whom now hold leadership roles around the world. He is also active in public and international engagement, having delivered more than 200 invited talks at major global forums.

Professional Appointments

Executive Director, National Centre for Engineering Biology, Singapore (NCEB)
Director, Singapore Consortium for Synthetic Biology (SINERGY)
Director, NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI)
Director, Synthetic Biology Translational Research Program, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
Director, Wilmar and NUS Corporate Laboratory (WIL@NUS)

Education

Ph.D., University of Maryland
B.S. Seoul National University

Research Interest

Synthetic Biology, Metabolic Engineering, Microbiome Engineering, Synthetic Genomics

Selected Publications

  1. Shen H, Aggarwal N, Cui B, Foo GW, He Y, Srivastava SK, Li S, Seah MZX, Wun KS, Ling H, Hwang IY, Ho CL, Lee YS, Chang MW (2025) Engineered Commensals for Targeted Nose-to-Brain Drug Delivery. Cell. 188:1545-1562
  2. YC Heng, Kitano S, Susanto AC, Foo FL, and Chang MW (2024) Tunable cell differentiation via reprogrammed mating-type switching. Nature Communications. 15:8163.
  3. Shen H, Zhang C, Li S, Liang Y, Lee LT, Aggarwal N, Wun KS, Liu J, Nadarajan SP, Weng C, Ling H, Tay JK, Wang DY, Yao SQ, Hwang IY, Lee YS, Chang MW (2024) Prodrug-conjugated tumor-seeking commensals for targeted cancer therapy. Nature Communications. 15:4343.
  4. Aggarwal N, Pham HL, Ranjan B, Saini M, Liang Y, Hossain G, Ling H, Foo JL, Chang MW (2024) Microbial engineering strategies to utilize waste feedstocks for sustainable bioproduction. Nature Reviews Bioengineering. 2:155–174.
  5. Foo JL, Kitano S, Susanto AV, Jin Z, Lin Y, Luo Z, Huang L, Liang Z, Mitchell LA, Yang K, Wong A, Cai Y, Jitong Cai J, Stracquadanio G, Bader JS, Boeke JD, Dai J, Chang MW (2023) Establishing Chromosomal Design-Build-Test-Learn through a Synthetic Chromosome and its Combinatorial Reconfiguration. Cell Genomics. 3:100435.

    6. * Corresponding author; # Co-first author