Position Title
Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, UC Davis.
Dr. Cheemeng Tan is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Davis. His group integrates synthetic and systems biology to engineer nanovesicles and “cyborg” cells for disease therapy and diagnostics. Dr. Tan earned a Bachelor of Engineering (First-Class Honors) from the National University of Singapore, an Master of Science in High-Performance Computing from the Singapore-MIT Alliance, and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University (2010). He completed a Lane Postdoctoral Fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University before joining UC Davis in 2013. His work has been recognized with several awards, including the Medtronic Fellowship, Young Investigator Grant from the Human Frontier Science Program, Scialog Fellow, Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering New Innovator, UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellow award, UC Davis Lab Safety Award, Branco Weiss Fellowship - Society in Science, NIBIB Trailblazer, and NIGMS MIRA. He serves on multiple editorial boards and scientific panels, notably as a standing member in the NIH Cellular and Molecular Technologies study section. He has published extensively on cell-free systems and cell engineering, helping to shape the emerging discipline of translational synthetic biology.
Professional Preparation
Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering , 2010, Duke University
Master of Science in High Performance Computation for Engineered Systems, 2002, Singapore-MIT Alliance
Bachelor of Engineering (First Class Honor), 2001, National University of Singapore
Appointments
Full Professor, July 2025-now, University of California – Davis, USA
Standing member, June 2024-2028, NIH CMT (Cellular and Molecular Technologies) study section
Editorial Board, 2024-now, Biomimetics
Editorial Board, Jan 2023-now, Academia Biology
Editorial Board, Oct 2022-now, Synthetic Biology and Engineering
Associate Editor, July 2022-now, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
Associate Professor, July 2019-June 2025, University of California – Davis, USA
Assistant Professor, Aug 2013-July 2019, University of California – Davis, USA
Society in Science – Branco Weiss Fellow, 2012-now, USA
Lane Postdoctoral Fellow, 2010-2013, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Awards
UC Davis Lab Safety Award, 2024
NIGMS MIRA, 2021
UC Davis Chancellor Fellow, 2021
NIBIB Trailblazer Award, 2019
Young Innovator, Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering, 2018
Scialog Fellow, 2018
Society in Science – Branco Weiss Fellowship, 2012-2017
Lane Fellowship, Nov 2010 – Jul 2013
Medtronic Fellowship, Jan 2009 – June 2009
q-bio Conference Travel Award, 2009 & 2011
BioBricks Foundation SB 4.0 Travel Award, 2008
Singapore-MIT Alliance Graduate Fellowship, 2001-2002
Kuok Foundation Awards, 1997-2001