The Straits Times: This Scientist Helps Protect Singapore Against 'Invisible' Threats

About: As part of The Straits Times' 2021 Scholar's Choice supplement, I profiled Ms Chin Zan Xin, a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives (CBRNE) scientist with HTX (Home Team Science and Technology Agency), which is an agency under Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs.

Ms Chin shares how her work is vital in protecting Singapore against threats to Singapore’s national security that can come in many forms – from terror threats to virus outbreaks such as Covid-19.

She was thrown into the thick of the pandemic to help secure our borders when the first wave of imported Covid-19 cases were reported.

She recalled how the team sprang into action to grapple with this “invisible” threat, taking on gruelling 12-hour shifts to handle the surge in laboratory analyses of nasopharyngeal swab samples collected from travellers and returning Singaporeans at the Republic’s land, sea and air borders.

Read the full article here.

Other people-centric stories:

The Straits Times 2021 Scholar's Choice: Healthcare Scholarship Recipient Interviews

• Tan Tock Seng Hospital's Staff Nuse Muhammad Afiq Roslim was initially apprehensive about working on the Covid-19 front lines but he took his new duties in his stride

• Singapore General Hospital's Medical social worker Pamelyn Tan was inspired by the resilience shown by patients and family members she encountered during the Covid-19 pandemic

• Yishun Community Hospital Occupational Therapist is Sustaining the Human Connection During a Pandemic

• Ng Teng Fong General Hospital Radiographer is Keeping Cool Under Pressure