Matthew Chang is the Executive Director of the Singapore National Centre for Engineering Biology and concurrently serves as the Director of the Singapore Consortium for Synthetic Biology, the Wilmar-NUS Corporate Laboratory, and the NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation. He holds the Dean’s Chair in Medicine and is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. Dr. Chang has made significant contributions to synthetic biology, authoring over 130 scholarly publications. His scientific achievements have been recognised with many accolades, including the National Research Foundation of Singapore's Investigatorship Award, the NUHS-Mochtar Riady Pinnacle Research Excellence Award, the Presidential Award from the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Scientific and Technological Achievement Award.

Beyond his research, Dr. Chang is a committed educator and advocate for synthetic biology. He has mentored over 100 students and researchers, many of whom now hold leadership positions in academia, government, and industry. He has delivered over 200 invited presentations at key scientific forums worldwide and serves in editorial roles for more than 15 leading scientific journals. He has held advisory roles in significant international research initiatives, including Australia’s CSIRO Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform, SynBio Africa, and the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme. Dr. Chang co-founded the Global Biofoundry Alliance and the Asian Synthetic Biology Association and currently serves as Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Synthetic Biology.