Dr. Xixian Chen was awarded the Singapore-MIT Alliance fellowship for her PhD study on metabolic engineering and synthetic biology. After her PhD, Chen pursued her post doctorate studies under the Singapore-MIT Alliance Research and Technology innovation grant and developed industrial strains and processes to produce nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals and hormonal proteins. Subsequently, she joined the Biotransformation Innovation Platform (BioTrans) in A*STAR. As a pioneering member of the platform, she built up research capabilities in the field of enzyme engineering and metabolic engineering and forged collaborations with local universities and European research institutes. Chen’s main expertise includes enzyme expression and activity optimisation, and the integration of enzyme engineering strategies with metabolic engineering to improve bioproduction. With more than 10 patents and technology disclosures, she has received the competitive Young Investigator Research Grant from A*STAR Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering. Chen also collaborates with various industrial partners to improve sustainable food production and to develop industrially viable bioprocesses.