Passion, pluck and perseverance pay off

Last minute changes to the project idea proved to be no deterrent for Life Sciences student Wesley Leong, who led a multidisciplinary team to clinch the Competition (Merit) honour at the NUS Achievement Awards (2024) which recognise the exceptional achievements of students beyond academics.

At the Bio Farma x MIT Hacking Medicine, Wesley’s team embraced the power of collaboration and diverse expertise in developing a groundbreaking Computer Vision-Powered Automated Bacteria Imaging system towards the vaccine manufacturing process. Following a first place award at the hackathon, the team was further supported by Google Cloud, Bio Farma (Indonesia’s largest pharmaceutical company) and NUS Enterprise for future development.

The six-member team, formed during the competition itself, comprised Wesley, two members from a data science background, a designer, an engineer and a doctor. Their victory, Wesley says, is a true testament of the “impact of interdisciplinarity, combining biology, technology and medicine to tackle complex problems.”

For Wesley, nothing beats the sense of camaraderie and collective achievement from this experience.

He says, “The intense, sleepless sessions of brainstorming, coding and debugging forged strong bonds among team members. This shared experience highlighted the power of teamwork and reinforced the idea that collaboration can lead to extraordinary outcomes.”

Coordinating among team members with varied backgrounds required clear and consistent communication to ensure everyone was on the same page. Tasks were divided up based on individual strengths and the team worked tirelessly, often through the night, to troubleshoot issues and find viable solutions. 

There were technical challenges aplenty, but so were the learnings gained. For instance, the team engaged with potential end-users, such as microbiologists and healthcare professionals, to gather feedback on their prototype. The iterative process of testing and improvement taught them the significance of designing solutions that are not only technically sound but also user-friendly and practical.  

“The input was invaluable in refining our system to ensure it met real-world needs and expectations,” Wesley says. The group’s perseverance eventually led to a successful design prototype.

While Wesley missed a connecting flight to attend the Grand Hack at the MIT Main Campus in Boston in April 2024 (“a nerve-wrecking experience”), being able to view the hackathon process from a third-person perspective and the inspiring final projects showcased the power of design thinking and how empathy in society can help in the biodesign process.

The overall experience was “one to remember for a long time”, Wesley says, especially the moments of innovating under pressure, networking opportunities and the teamwork fostered. 

Meet Wesley, one of our Student Ambassadors, at Open House on 17 May!