CHAI Li Lin, Christina

Prof Christina Chai is a Professor in the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the National University of Singapore (NUS), affiliated with the Faculty of Science. She holds leadership roles as Head of Department and previously served as Deputy Head and Assistant Dean in the Faculty of Science. Her academic journey includes positions at Victoria University of Wellington (NZ), Australian National University (ANU), and the Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (A*STAR). She has a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry from the University of Canterbury (NZ), a PhD from ANU, and postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford (UK).

• Education:
• BSc (Chemistry) Hons, University of Canterbury, NZ
• PhD, Australian National University, Australia
• Post-Doc, University of Oxford, UK

Her research focuses on drug discovery for anti-inflammatory, infectious, and neurodegenerative diseases, leveraging natural products and mechanism-based design. She explores CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing enhancements and biomimetic materials inspired by catecholamines. Key achievements include the Samuel and Violette Glasstone Research Fellowship (Oxford) and leadership in the NSTA Programme at A*STAR.

Her work spans drug development, synthetic organic chemistry, and interdisciplinary collaborations between academia and industry. Current research emphasizes nature-inspired therapeutics and biomaterials for biomedical applications.