Bioengineering scientists make way for 9-year old 'colleague'

It's a wish come true.

The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) welcomed its youngest ever 'scientist,' Meenakshi Sundaram Losheni, in its laboratories on 11 December. Losheni has had chronic renal disease since she was young, but she endures her dialysis sessions and takes her medications obediently. 

Prof Jackie Y. Ying, IBN Executive Director, shared that Make-A-Wish Foundation Singapore approached IBN through A*STAR Chairman Mr Lim Chuan Poh to help grant Losheni’s wish of becoming a scientist.

IBN was delighted to  provide her with the opportunity to conduct experiments in its lab under close supervision by its researchers, Dr Andrew Wan, IBN Team Leader and Principal Research Scientist and Dr Meng Fatt Leong, IBN Research Scientist.

Ms Noreena AbuBakar, IBN Director and Chair of IBN’s Youth Research Program, said that to complete her research experience, Losheni also presented her findings to Dr Wan and his team, as well as to Prof Ying and herself.

14 IBN staff members participated in this particular activity. "We hope that through this experience Losheni’s interest in science would be further kindled and she would be inspired to pursue scientific research as a career," Ms AbuBakar said.

This event is part of their annual IBN Charity Month, which was established in 2010 as an Institute-wide initiative to give back to society and help the less fortunate.

This year, according to Prof Ying, IBN has also adopted KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital as one of its charities, and all the staff members are involved in fundraising and organizing visits to the hospital’s pediatric ward in December 2012 and January 2013.

Although this is the first time that IBN and A*STAR partnered with Make-A-Wish Foundation Singapore to grant a child’s wish and the first time that it has conducted a research-themed experience for a beneficiary, IBN has been organizing youth outreach activities since 2003 via the Institute's Youth Research Program (YRP).

Through activities such as open houses, talks, workshops and research attachments, they aim to promote scientific research among young people. To date, YRP has reached out to over 59,000 students from 288 schools, including more than 1,650 students and teachers who have completed research attachments at IBN for a minimum period of 4 weeks.