Tze Jing Sum

Previously, I was working as a post-doctoral research fellow at the National University of Singapore (NUS) under the mentorship of Assistant Professor Zhu Ye. Most recently, I have conducted water quality checks on raw water quality at the Public Utilities Board (PUB) as a Senior Chemist. Subsequently, I was working as laboratory operations lead at Forte Biotech in the development of PCR test kits that enable prawn farmers in Vietnam to detect diseases early in their livestock. Currently, I am working as an Analytical Chemist at GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (GSK).

Most recently, I was working at Forte Biotech as a laboratory operations lead to develop and produce PCR test kits (RAPID) that enable prawn farmers in Vietnam to detect diseases early in their livestock which allows them to take mitigative actions. Prior to that, I was working as a senior chemist at the Public Utilities Board (PUB) where I conduct Johor River and catchment raw water quality monitoring and management. Earlier, I was working as a post-doctoral research fellow at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

2012 – 2016

University of Cambridge (UK) (Fitzwilliam College) – Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

• PhD in organic chemistry supervised by Professor David Spring
• Thesis title: Divergent Synthetic Approach towards the Synthesis of Novel Flavonoids and Biflavonoids
• Concise Total Syntheses of new flavonoid natural products
• Design and synthesize combinatorial libraries of novel flavonoid derived compounds for biological screening and testing such as anti-amyloidogenic activity against β-amyloid aggregation in Alzheimer’s disease and anti-bacterial activity towards Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium.

2008 – 2010

University of Sydney (AU) – Master of Science (MSc)

• MSc in organic chemistry supervised by Professor Maxwell Crossley and co-supervised by Associate Professor Peter Rutledge
• Thesis title: Cost Effective Synthesis of a Selective Gingivitis Inhibitor
• Design and synthesis of novel porphyrin-based antibiotic conjugates as therapeutic growth inhibitors that will specifically and selectively target the anaerobic bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis, a main etiological agent implicated in periodontal diseases such as gingivitis and destructive periodontitis.

2007-2008

University of Sydney (AU) – Bachelor of Science (1st Class Hons)

• Awarded First Class Honours, supervised by Professor Maxwell Crossley and co-supervised by Dr. Gregory Giles
• Thesis title: Novel Lipophilic Porphyrins For Self-Assembly
• Synthesize novel lipophilic porphyrins for self-assembly studies utilizing scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) in collaboration with Professor Jeffrey Reimers

2003-2006     University of Sydney (AU) – Bachelor of Science (BSc)