By Nur Dianah Suhaimi

If things had gone the way Dr Wei Chia Lin had planned 20 years ago, she would now be a medical doctor in a hospital in Taiwan.

But a change of heart halfway through medical school landed the 42-year-old Taiwanese in the Agency for Science, Technology and Research's (A*Star) Genome Institute, where she is now working as a senior group leader.

Dr Wei studies the genetic blueprint of the human body. Her work involves making sense of genome sequencing and understanding what makes organs, such as the liver and kidneys, the way they are.

Two years ago, she and her team of four scientists won the prestigious National Science Award for devising a simple method of extracting precious information from the genome and interpreting the data in the most cost-efficient way.

The team's findings have so far accelerated genomic research by leaps and bounds. Ultimately, such studies can potentially lead to the creation of new organs.

In 1994, when she was just 28, she won a fellowship from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to study molecular biology at the University of California. But as a child growing up in Taipei, she had wanted to become a medical doctor.

After completing her high school education, she enrolled in the National Yang-Ming University in Taipei to study medicine.

But while studying biochemistry and molecular biology - compulsory modules in her second year - she became very intrigued by the way the human body works.

'I found myself asking 'Who made the human body?' and 'Why is it so complex yet so perfect?' I wondered what is the fundamental mechanism that makes human bodies so perfect.

'After that, the prospect of seeing sick patients every day was no longer interesting to me.'

By the time she was in her third year of studies, she had made up her mind that she was not going to be a medical doctor. Instead, she was going to pursue a doctorate degree and devote her life to biological research.

In her fourth year, while her peers were busy with their hospital internships, she chose to spend six months in her school's biochemistry labs, acquainting herself with scopes and cells.

Upon graduating from medical school, she went to the University of California for her PhD studies on the MIT fellowship.

She came from a well-to-do family. Her father was a pilot with the Taiwanese army who later became a commercial pilot with China Airlines. Her mother was a housewife.

Although she and her two younger siblings rarely saw their father at home during their growing-up years, she remembers the gifts and toys he would bring home from around the world.

One of the perks the family enjoyed was free airline tickets. By the time she was in junior high school, Dr Wei had already visited Hawaii, New York and South-east Asia. But it was California that she loved best.

'It is more Asian than the other US states. And the weather is nice all the time. I like sunny places.'

In all, she spent 13 years studying and working in California. 'I spent entire days in the lab and went home only to sleep.'

It was also in the lab that she met her husband, a senior postgraduate student also from Taiwan. They married in 1993 and had a son three years later.

In 2001, a colleague recommended that she go to work in Singapore at a genome institute.

Although she had never planned to return to Asia, less than a year later - in August 2002 - the family of three packed up and came to start a new life here.

She said: 'Singapore is a nice hybrid of Western efficiency and Eastern culture. Plus, the idea of working in a genomic institute fits very well with my career goals.'

Her husband, formerly a research scientist at the Genome Institute, recently returned to Taiwan to take up a teaching and research position at a university there. Their son, 12, studies at the Singapore American School in Woodlands.

Home is a rented apartment in Bukit Batok, shared with their pet poodle and a talking parrot.

'It's a nice place but I miss having a backyard where I can grow herbs. And I miss having a big dog,' said the dog lover who sleeps with her poodle, Pillow.

At work, the chirpy scientist is clearly popular. Colleagues stop to engage in small talk when they bump into her in the corridors. Students under her charge chat and joke with her when she visits their underground labs.

Said her colleague of almost 10 years, senior team leader Ruan Yijun: 'We've known each other for so long that we've become good friends. Chia Lin is a very nice lady who is capable and determined to get what she wants.'

For Dr Wei, there is no better place for genomic research than in Singapore.

'In the United States, there is the lack of funding or set-up. But Singapore has all the right elements, support and expertise. I always tell my students that if you don't succeed here, you cannot blame it on anyone.'

Another piece of advice that she frequently doles out to her students, especially the female ones, is to start on their doctorate studies early.

'It can be tough for women. They marry and then have kids. I've seen many talented women leave their studies and work because of this.'

While she still plans to further her career here, her heart longs to return to Taiwan where she thinks the community is more closely knit.

'The neighbourhood where I grew up is still the way it was 40 years ago. There's still the shop round the corner, the neighbours are the same ones we had years ago and if you walk on the street, you're bound to know everybody.'

After a pause, she added: 'And I think the food in Taiwan is better.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Aug 31, 2008.