Ready To Launch

Stem cell researcher and Celligenics COO Pauline Erica Tay is building the ecosystem that propels Singapore’s biomedical industry onto the international stage

- Zara Zhuang

Dr. Pauline Erica Tay hadn’t originally dreamed of a career in science: At first, she wanted to become a doctor, but then she realized that the medical profession was not suitable for her. And though she has always been passionate about biology and understanding nature, “I didn’t really want to be a scientist — actually, I wanted to be what we call a biotech consultant,” she says. “I realized that in order to give advice on biotech commercialization, you need to understand the science; doing an MBA doesn’t necessarily enable you to commercialize a scientific or medical product.”

Dr. Tay went on to earn a Ph.D. in stem cell biology and spent eight years conducting research, a decision some peers couldn’t fathom, but she was convinced it was crucial for her to build that foundation. “If, for example, a scientist explains to us what he is doing, a person who didn’t go through that process wouldn’t understand it and wouldn’t be able to use that knowledge for commercialization — that’s where a huge gap between the business world and the scientific world exists.”

And that’s where she stands today, at the confluence of science, business, government, and the public. As chief operating officer of Celligenics, an Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR) spinoff specializing in stem cell technology and applications, Dr. Tay spearheads the three-year-old company’s efforts to create treatments with enhanced therapeutic capabilities. The company’s USP rests on a technique to extract a specific subpopulation of stem cells from the umbilical cords of mothers who have just delivered. It then sustainably produces a cell-free extract from these cells that can give rise to self-regeneration and wound healing and, potentially, even anti-cancer effects.