Associate Professor Khoon Lim, on the right, receiving acknowledgment for his research.
Associate Professor Khoon Lim from the University of Otago, Christchurch's, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Musculoskeletal Medicine, has been awarded the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERM-IS)– Asia Pacific Region Young Investigator Award for 2022.
The Young Investigator Award recognises a young researcher (less than 10 years post-PhD) in the Asia-Pacific region who has made significant and consistent achievements in the tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TERM) field, showing clear evidence of their potential to excel. The selection criteria was based on a researcher's significant achievements and publications within a specific research area.
Associate Professor Lim, who currently directs the department's internationally-recognised Light Activated Biomaterials (LAB) group says he's honoured to receive the award, especially from a society of this calibre.
“The core value of this award resonates with my overall leadership vision – To Provide & Create Opportunity for A Better Tomorrow. I am thankful to Professor Jason Burdick who nominated me, my career mentors and past and present members of my group. I'd like to make a special thanks too to Professor Tim Woodfield, current Director of the Centre of Bioengineering and Nanomedicine for his ongoing mentoring and support.”
Associate Professor Lim feels extremely fortunate to be working in the exciting TERM field, where he says he's witnessed evolution, breakthroughs, successes but also challenges first hand.
“I am motivated to help further the convergence of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine with other fields such as biomaterials and biofabrication, through enduring partnership and collaboration. It's through these collaborative efforts with other disciplines that advances in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine can be translated into human patients to treat specific diseases and improve quality of life," says Associate Professor Lim.
This latest accolade follows Associate Professor Lim's success in being awarded the Royal Society Te Apārangi Rutherford Discovery Fellowship late last year – one of three University of Otago researchers to receive a fellowship worth $800,000 over five years.
TERM-IS covered Associate Professor Lim's registration and accommodation costs for attending their recent annual conference in Jeju, South Korea. He was presented with the Young Investigator award plaque, followed by an award presentation where he highlighted the outstanding research he's led in the past 8 years of his career at the University of Otago.
Associate Professor Lim is departing UOC at the end of the year to take up a new research position at the University of Sydney.