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Building science inclusivity in Asia 👐🏻
People with disabilities are breaking physical and social barriers to STEM fields, opening the way for others.
Feature of the month
Making science accessible to all
In 2023, the World Health Organization reported that about 1.3 billion people globally live with some form of disability. Yet in Asia, there remains a lack of data on their access to science education and participation in STEM-related careers.
Vidhya Y, born blind in a small village in Karnataka, India, was often told to stay away from science. Defying those expectations, she went on to earn a master’s in programming and co-founded an edtech nonprofit that brings STEM education to visually impaired children across India.
Her story—and those of many others across Asia—proves that disability is not a limitation. People with disabilities are breaking physical and social barriers in STEM, forging new paths and creating opportunities for others to follow.
🔭 Tech in Focus: An immune cell atlas that can decode disease risk in Asians
Scientists from Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, and India have created the world’s first immune cell atlas to decode disease risk in Asian populations.
The atlas was developed based on information from over 1.2 million immune cells from healthy donors across Asia, including Singaporean, Chinese, Malay, and Indian ethnicities.
With most existing cell atlases primarily focused on European populations, the Asian Immune Diversity Atlas—or AIDA—is a step towards characterizing the healthy immune cell baseline in Asian populations, addressing a critical gap in global genomic research.
Editorial highlights
 | ENVIRONMENT As climate stressors disrupt global food systems and access to nutritious diets, the resilience of gut microbes is being undermined. |
 | GENERAL A set of nutrition-focused digital assists on an online grocery site encouraged customers to make healthier food choices. |
 | HEALTH This discovery could lead to targeted cancer treatments that improve survival rates and reduce side effects. |
 | The underrepresentation of women in heart research and treatment has perpetuated the widespread misconception that cardiovascular diseases are more common in men. Some women researchers in Asia have come forward to challenge that. |
 | Researchers and policymakers in Asia are trying to make medical research more inclusive to better serve the region’s diverse communities. |
Meet the Asian Scientist 100 Community
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai | India 🇮🇳 | Chemistry Mohanty was one of the recipients of IUPAC 2023 Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering. Given by the International Union Of Pure And Applied Chemistry, the award recognises outstanding contributions by women in the field of chemistry and chemical engineering. Mohanty is the first woman scientist from India to receive this award. |  |
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia | Malaysia 🇲🇾 | Engineering Ismail was a recipient of the Mustafa (pbuh) Prize Laureates 2023 in the basic and engineering sciences category. He was recognized for his contributions to membrane technology research and its diverse applications. |  |