Opportunities in Agri-and Aquaculture Microbiome

Speakers

Speaker's Profile:

Professor Staffan is the Director of Singapore National Biofilm Consortium. He is an Emeritus Distinguished University Professor at the Nanyang Technological University, Professor at School of Biological Sciences, NTU and is also the Advisor and Research Director (Microbial Biofilms) of SCELSE. Professor Staffan’s research interests include bacterial biofilm biology, chemically mediated interactions used by bacteria and higher organisms, and harnessing/controlling biofilms for engineering and public health applications. Professor Staffan employs a multidisciplinary approach for advancements in microbial ecology, as well as for the merger of the previously disparate fields of environmental microbiology, eukaryote ecology and environmental engineering. His work on bacterial adaptive responses and biofilm biology has provided insights into the predominant modes of life of bacteria in the environment.

Speaker's Profile:

Dr Lee has more than 25 years' experience in environmental research, teaching and consulting in North America, and Asia-Pacific countries. His experience encompasses consulting at one of the top environmental consulting firms in the USA, R&D at the Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR, Singapore), and academic teaching and research at the University of Newcastle (Australia). He is an Associate Professor, Director for the Centre for Sustainable Development and Program Convenor for the Bachelor of Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (BEnvOHS) program. His research areas include environmental sustainability, environmental waste management, environmental health, and biotechnology solutions to industrial waste treatment.

Speaker's Profile:

Ethan Siew focuses on uncovering technologies and business opportunities in the water, environment, aquaculture and agritech sector. Ethan specialises in water treatment and environmental technologies. He has published a white paper on 'Difficult to Treat Industrial Wastewater' focusing on advanced oxidation processes. He is also interested in aquaculture and agritech with a particular focus on technologies that can achieve Singapore’s ‘30 by 30’ food security vision.

Moderator's Profile:

Anton Wibowo has more than fourteen years of diverse business, management, and investment experience in the Singaporean biotechnology and agribusiness communities. He is currently the CEO of Trendlines Agrifood Innovation Centre (AFIC), a startup-incubator and venture capital investor in the sector of agrifood technologies. AFIC is a subsidiary of The Trendlines Group, a leading VC in Israel and listed in SGX.

Speaker's Profile:

A/Prof. Sanjay Swarup is an agriculture and environmental biologist. He graduated from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India with BSc and MSc degrees in Genetics and subsequently received his PhD degrees in Plant Pathology from the University of Florida, USA and in Genetics & Plant Breeding from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India, respectively. His group studies the ecology of mixed microbial communities or microbiomes in the environment and agriculture from genes to ecosystems level scales. Prof. Swarup’s team has been working extensively in understanding the land-water-air (emissions)-plants in urban greening, water and food security contexts, both in Singapore and in other continents with extensive collaborations. His focus is to determine mechanistic basis of ecosystem functioning to provide translational tools for sustainable solutions.

Speaker's Profile:

C S Liew graduated in Agronomy and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) from Iowa State University(ISU) in 1979. He is one of the first graduates in IPM as it was first offered as a degree course in 1977 in 8 universities in USA and ISU was one of them. He has about 46 years of global experience in crop protection, having worked for American Cyanamid, Ciba-Geigy, Uniroyal, Nufarm and over the past 25 years, operating his own company, Pacific Agriscience based in Singapore. He has contributed many insightful articles on our crop protection industry to both Agropages in China and Agribusiness Global in USA, both are magazines that are read worldwide. He is also an Advisory Board Member of Agribusiness Global.

Speaker's Profile:

A developmental biologist by training, Haihan Tan’s research career spanned the domains of genomics, genetics and biomedical application of cell and animal models. Pursuing broader scientific interests, he stepped into public sector science governance, rotating between policy, planning, strategy and business development roles in various sectors including biomedical, food tech, circular bioeconomy and agritech. Now leading innovation at Singapore Agrotechnologies, a locally headquartered developer of modern crop nutrition solutions, Haihan looks to transform the cropcare sector in a sustainable way for growers, industry and the environment.

Speaker's Profile:

Dr. Ritu possesses over 15 years of expertise in plant metabolite pathways, gene interactions, and sustainable agriculture. Her research focuses on enhancing crop quality and yield through environment modulations, bio-based solutions, preharvest treatments, and hydroponics for urban farming. Collaborating with local farms, her team at AGRI Centre, implements technology to foster sustainable food production in urban settings. Dr. Ritu investigates environmental influences on plant metabolism to optimize production of leafy greens, herbs, and microgreens. Her prolific publications, patents, and role as a peer reviewer attest to her stature in the field. Committed to reducing post-harvest loss, she is currently working on a project to extend shelf-life of crops, contributing to food security and waste reduction. Dr. Ritu's work embodies a holistic approach to modern agriculture, aiming to address global challenges while promoting healthier, more sustainable food systems.

Moderator's Profile:

Dr Patricia Conway, BSc & MSc (Uni of Qld, Australia), PhD (UNSW Australia), is Visiting Prof at SCELSE at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Adjunct Prof at UNSW Australia and Chief Scientist/CEO and Founder of PC Biome Pte Ltd, Singapore. She is also Founder/Director and Research Director of two Biotech companies in Australia. She has successfully combined basic research and translational applications for over 30 years by being affiliated with university for supervision of doctoral students (>20 to date) and the basic research while being industry employed, or by working closely with industry while being university employed. She has over 100 publications in international peer reviewed journal. Several globally marketed products for gut microbiome modulation have been commercialised from her work, and are supported by the IP platform including over 20 primary patents.

Speaker's Profile:

Prof Lam is an Emeritus Professor at National University of Singapore. He has more than 200 publications and interested in fish breeding, its nutrition, feed development & endocrinology, aquaponics, bioflocs, sludge recycling and in Integrated multitrophic recirculating aquaculture systems. He was the Head, Department of Zoology (1981- 1996), and Department of Biological Sciences (1996-2000). He was also Head, aquaculture research and later, Research Associate, Tropical Marine Science Institute, NUS. He is on editorial boards of international aquaculture journals and recipient of several awards.

Speaker's Profile:

Dr Chia Tet Fatt is a Singaporean and a trained molecular geneticist. His career can be divided into 3 parts; an active research scientist at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) when young, later becoming an academic university professor and the final part, combining his research ideas, expertise and knowledge into commercial business so that the world can benefit from his ideas, applications, knowledge and expertise. He always puts the people first in whatever he does and corral others to join him in using science to make a better world for everyone. Some of his highlights and achievements: 1. World’s first glowing orchid 2. World’s first commercial mass-farming of antibiotics-free meat chicken 3. Miiiome Technology creation – the usage of microbiome to sustain health, food and nutrition for the world

Speaker's Profile:

Dr Voigtmann has 26 years of experience in Asia Pacific defining and implementing technology, process and strategy in production orientated industries. 14 Years of planning and executing scalable production units for Micro Algae & tropical marine Aquaculture. He has a PhD in Chemistry from Macquarie University, Sydney Australia. He has experience building digitized floating fish farms that incorporated a high degree of automation, self regulated control cycles and AI elements with data analytics. He works on advanced farm upgrading and food resilience programs using Recirculation Aquaculture Systems (RAS) and instrumental in setting-up of a RAS Hatchery & Nursery for Asian Seabass supporting a 750 MT production capacity in Singapore.

Speaker's Profile:

Rachelle graduated from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) with a Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She co-founded Indigo V Expeditions, a non-profit organization dedicated to ocean health, where she led the collection and sequencing of ocean microbiome samples collected by world cruisers. As founder and CEO of Luminis Water Technologies, Rachelle and her team seeks to take the aquaculture industry to a new level of efficiency by offering a range of Next Gen microbiome solutions for early disease detection and management that will underpin sustainability and ease pressure on the ocean, particularly and wild fisheries.