The winners of the maiden edition of the Genomic Pioneer Awards were announced at the HUGO’s 13th international meeting on the Human Genome on 30 September, 2008.

The Genomic Pioneers Award winners are:

Europe: Dr. Sylvie Chauvaux, Asst Professor, Institut Pasteur, Paris.

Asia-Pacific: Dr. Juergen Pipper, Senior Scientist, Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnolog, Singapore.

India: Dr. Srikanta Kumar Rath, Scientist, Genotoxicity Laboratory, Central Drug Research Institute.

Announcing the winners Anu Acharya, CEO, Ocimum Biosolutions, congratulated all the award winners on their achievement and hoped that this would motivate many others to participate in the upcoming editions of Genomic Pioneer Awards in subsequent years.

Name: Juergen Pipper

My Area of Interest: BioMEMs

My Favourite Quote: “If you can dream it, you can do it!”

I am a: Senior Scientist at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in Singapore

Short Profile:

What are your future goals? Where do you see your research going?:
Sample in and answer out! I dream that it will be possible to automate the entire workflow using a microfluidic package. For realizing this goal, the microfluidic community has to go beyond the proof-of-concept stage and tackle real-world problems. We try to bridge the gap by teaming up with clinicians.

Technologies seem to changing faster than ever, how do you adapt to that? What are the current technologies you are using?:
We embrace the change, because we are the ones developing technology that -hopefully- will have to be adapted by others! However, you need to know the Achilles’ heel of a current technology in order to improve on it. At present, we are looking into alternative concepts for sequencing.

In the broader picture, where do you see the application for your cutting-edge research?:
We are about to license out our technology to several companies that serve the point-of-care market. The focus is on easy-to-use, fast, and low-cost diagnostic hand-helds targeting infectious diseases.

Fast forward to 2020. What’s your vision of Genomics in 2020?:
The technology will be in place, but a lot of content may still be missing. It is not so much about printing a book, but the ability to read it!