Communications

Talks, awards, media coverage, and the mentoring and training that have shaped my work.

Awards

I’ve presented my research at international meetings including NeuroFly 2024 (Birmingham, UK), the 2024 Asia-Pacific Drosophila Neurobiology Conference (Tokyo, Japan), and the 2025 Francis Crick Symposium (Suzhou, China).

Courses & training

Chen Institute–Duke–NUS AI Boot Camp Duke-NUS · June 2026

I attended a selective four-day AI Bootcamp run by Duke-NUS and Duke University’s Department of Computer Science to build a stronger foundation in modern AI, from how large language and foundation models work to designing and evaluating AI workflows, along with their limitations and responsible use. My goal was to build a solid understanding of these tools before applying them to high-throughput behavioral data.

Media

Duke-NUS researchers develop light-controlled “switch” for brain cells to better study the brain The Straits Times · 2024

Media coverage of our Nature Communications paper introducing kalium channelrhodopsins (KCRs), a light-controlled neuronal “off switch” with greater selectivity than existing optogenetic silencers, for which I led the C. elegans behavioral work validating the approach across species.

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DUNES Symposium 2025 Duke-NUS Newshub · 2025

Duke-NUS featured my work following the 17th DUNES Symposium, where my presentation on optogenetic control of valence and locomotion in Drosophila received the Best Oral Presentation award.

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Mentoring

I’ve mentored three undergraduate researchers. In 2024 at Duke-NUS, I supervised a Yale-NUS College undergraduate on the OPN3 optogenetic silencing project, helping with experimental design, data collection, and analysis. Their work contributed to the study, and they later joined the lab as a full-time research assistant. Earlier, from 2016 to 2018, I mentored two undergraduate researchers in the Cabernard lab on their own research projects.