Philip Yeo’s side of the AcidFlask/Elia Diodati incident
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
If you wish to reproduce any part of this entry, you can only do so according to the conditions set forth by A*Star, which can be accessed here. If you do not accede to the conditions made by A*Star, you may be liable for defamation and I will take no responsibility for that.
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Philip Yeo has kindly commented on my previous article titled “Elia Diodati versus Philip Yeo: a watershed for blogosphere” with the excerpts of the original entry (that was deemed defamatory) by AcidFlask/Elia Diodotai, which I’ve been looking for without success. I’ve amended the original entry accordingly, but I think it’s not fair to Philip Yeo to have his response buried under a whole lot of other comments.
Therefore, in the interest of freedom of speech, I’m extracting Philip Yeo’s comment out to publish as a new entry so that everyone can read the exact writings that were thought of as defamatory by Philip Yeo and have a better understanding of the issue with this new information, instead of discussing/guessing in the dark without knowing the content of the original entry. I leave it up to readers to decide for themselves on who’s right and who’s wrong in the entire incident.
The following was directly copied from the original comment, which can be reached here:
philip yeo // Mar 4, 2007 at 11:45 am
“I originally said AcidFlask made remarks that Philip Yeo felt was defamatory, but that was inaccurate. It was a commenter that posted defamatory remarks, and AcidFlask was held accountable for the comments.†[Aaron's note: the preceding quote was taken from my original entry and was made by me, not Philip Yeo]
For the past 2 years, Chen Jiahao/Acid Flask/Elia Diodati have been pretending that he did not know what defamatory statements that he had made but nevertheless he apologized.
Now claims that “a commenter that posted defamatory remarksâ€.
A born coward. See the naked truth below.
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The Truth about the postings of Chen Jiahao/Acid Flask.
Postings by Chen Jiahao/Acid Flask at http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~chen6/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=318 (now defunct).
caustic.soda by AcidFlask
liminal musings of a graduate studentthis is “a*star in parliament†by AcidFlask at 03 03 05 – 13:03. please leave a comment.
a*star in parliament
-03 03 05 – 13:03
Science, Singaporewhich is perhaps why a*star feels justified in bribing universities for taking in PhD students. staggeringly enough, the cost quoted is very likely to be grossly understated, since I have been told that a*star gives out generous funding grants to specific faculty members (to the tune of us$150k/yr or so) for accepting up to three a*star scholars into their lab, as well as giving out gobs of honey to universities who will sign back-door agreements for taking in scholars without going through the formal application procedure. to the cash-strapped universities in America, the unbelievable godsend that visiting a*star contingents herald is something they can’t get enough of/f. after all, who else would be so incredibly naive and stupid as to throw money at other people instead of investing money to fund their own local research and developing their own r&d communities?
to quote a certain high-up in a*star: “if you don’t like it, then leave!†which perhaps explains the quiet turnover of more than one a*star scholar within the last twelve months. but at last, perhaps quiet no longer.
I would gladly do so, except that my sources are very likely to suffer the kind of spiteful retributive backlash that characterizes the public service. Therefore they can only remain hearsay and rumour under the current circumstances.
[AcidFlask] (email) (link) – 03 03 05 – 17:39
Lest I set myself up for libel, let me state what I know about this.
I do not recall the exact sums involved but this is the gist of what I had been told.A fellow alumna of UIUC once attended a Chemical Engineering class in this university sometime in 2003. The subject of the lecture somehow went on to funding crunches faced by researchers in the US due to post-9/11 budget cuts when suddenly the professor remarked: Oh, by the way, if any of you are in need of money, you should consider applying to this agency called A*STAR in Singapore. They offered me $150,000 for my research with no strings attached, plus an extra $35,000 for every one of their students that I accepted into my group. Singapore seems to be a very rich country; they have money to throw at you, all you have to do is ask for it!
[AcidFlask] (email) (link) – 03 03 05 – 20:30
going further down the list.. a*star scholars seem to know that “a certain high-up†in a*star has a tendency to recommend scholars to go to some institutions, like UIUC, U of Wisconsin, and UCSD.. perhaps it is those very schools that a*star has those connections with? and perhaps the reason for asking scholars not to go to the top universities is that they tend to be awfully expensive when it comes to tuition fees too (like Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Princeton).
[AcidFlask] ( email) (link) – 04 03 05 – 11:30
==============================Mon 9th May 2005
http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~chen6/blog/
APOLOGY
I recognize and accept that a number of statements that I made on my on-line journal “Caustic Sodaâ€, in particular the blog post of 3 March 2005, were defamatory of A*STAR, its Chairman, Mr. Philip Yeo and its executive officers.
I admit and acknowledge that these statements are false and completely without any foundation.
I unreservedly apologize to A*STAR, its Chairman Mr. Philip Yeo, and its executive officers for the distress and embarrassment caused to them by these statements.
I undertake not to repeat the statements, or make further statements of the same or similar effect in this or any other forum or media. I further undertake to remove any such posting anywhere that has not been deleted.
Addendum:
Philip Yeo has provided more evidence to refute AcidFlask’s claim that A*star only sends its scholars to certain institutions.
32 out of 78 A*STAR PhD USbased scholars are at Stanford, MIT, Harvard and JHU.
By his wicked blog, all 78 should be at UIUC, UWisc, UCSD.
In fact, only 2 at UIUC (EEE and Physics, ex-PSC chaps), 1 at UWisc (biology) and 3 at UCSD (2 biology, 1 EEE).
Not a single Chem Engg scholar at UIUC as his blog claims.
Great insult to A*STAR scholars that they are in rich Stanford etc etc by bribery.
Star-let
Move on .. there are unknown challenges ahead … make sure u got good mentors ahead who can stand by you. Otherwise, just look out for yrself.
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Starlet UNITED STATES // Apr 1, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Thanks for ur compliment.
But on an unrelated note, sometimes I wonder if it is too late for me to apply for the Astar scholarship…:p
but well…I guess since I have made my choice, it is kinda late to look back…
James is right.
Always look ahead.
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but well…I guess since I have made my choice, it is kinda late to look back…
I know…I am happy with my current position….kinda just looking at options of whether to go back or not…especially when my interest is in drug discovery but there don’t seem much of it in singapore anyways…but will see…:p
Yesterday, psychiatric-drug giant Eli Lilly announced that it would expand its research unit in Singapore and pump US$150 million ($227 million) into the project over the next five years.
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The centre, which now performs systems biology research, will develop drugs for cancer and diabetes. It will be renamed the Lilly-Singapore Centre for Drug Discovery to reflect its new focus.
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The announcement comes hot on the heels of the opening of a new GlaxoSmithKline lab last week. Later this week, biologics firm Lonza will be breaking ground at its new plant in Tuas.
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Eli Lilly’s expansion will see it tripling its Singapore-unit manpower to 150 research scientists, making it the largest pharmaceutical corporate research and development centre here.
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Since the first Eli Lilly facility  a systems biology unit  opened in Singapore in 2002, it has identified 11 biomarkers, which are features in the body that help scientists track disease progression and effects of treatment.
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“We have the vision that by 2012, we will lead the industry in discovering affordable and innovative drugs to fight important diseases,” said Dr William Chin, vice-president of discovery and clinical investigation in the Indianapolis-based company.
I have definitely heard about some of that…but my interest is slightly more chemistry-oriented…but will see, things might change along the way…besides, i am in a place where there r plenty of biotech firms and pharmaceutical companies around…
Good for you.
http://www.ices.a-star.edu.sg/ices/research_and_development/research_programme/chemical_synthesis.do
Thanks a lot for the heads up and all the information. Definitely has been helpful in allowing me to evaluate my options…:)
In fact, I am really grateful for the fruitful discussion because it makes me feel motivated about my phd work.
A big thank you.
Dear Mr Yeo,
Why don’t you file defamation charges against ST? By seeing your correspondence, I can very well say that you’ve a strong case.
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philip yeo SINGAPORE // Apr 1, 2007 at 1:54 pm
The local press will print any rubbish from anyone who writes against me ~ helps to sell more ST papers.
I think I should ask ST for profit sharing.
Good. And then come home to help.
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Starlet UNITED STATES // Apr 1, 2007 at 11:38 pm
In fact, I am really grateful for the fruitful discussion because it makes me feel motivated about my phd work.
A big thank you.
I wonder how much can I get from ST to support SJI (International) for poor regional kids education? Ha!
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Perhaps I could bring the discussion back to where it all started; I happen to be someone who has been exchanging friendly emails with both Philip Yeo and Chen Jiahao in the last few days. To quote from my last mail to Elia Diodati:
“a. I believe Philip Yeo was sincere in wanting a
personal discussion with you; I consider your
response to him as wrongly premised, though
understandable, and his response to that as bad PR, though again understandable; things then went steadily worse from there, also understandable, and it is now meaningless to attribute fault or devise remedy …”
until 30 March when Straits Times published details of the 2005 controversy, I felt neutral; I did not know that the content was already available here on 10 March; having seen the actual item ASTAR objected too, I thought facts and logc were on its side, though it may not have handled the PR well (an opinion, it seems, shared by both parties); I also feel ASTAR was overdoing the “scholars are treated like everyone else” part – they do enjoy advantages others do not have; for my reasoning please see yeophilip.com
Dear Starlet:
Was woken by a bunch of rowdy youths shouting outside my house. Couldn’t go back to sleep. So decided to post.
Do you happen to be interested in the computational methods of drug discovery? I put up some suggestions in my blog. Look out for this phrase “PharmaBlast”. Met someone from Merlion Pharma. That fellow asked me why I didn’t want to find a Ph.D. supervisor. My reply was ……………. Actually because I wanted to do an M.D. hehehe.
You can click on my Name to access my blog.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Dee
Hmm…I couldn’t find it for some reason…
By the way, I tend to be somewhat skeptical of rational drug design although I know that thought is always so appealing to scientists in general…Because rational drug design tends to imply that u know everything about the system when u actually don’t…But on the other hand, screening is time and effort consuming so…
“Good. And then come home to help.”
If my help is still needed/wanted then, that is…
Why SJI(international) for poor kids education?
Hi Dee,
oh yeah, i did find the pharmaBlast concept on ur blog. The problem with P450s though is that everyone has different compositions and diffent combinations of it that how a drug will behave in a person’s body is really a case by case basis. The computation method seems like sth that is already being done here except that few positive results have come up from it so pple still prefer to screen compounds…Besides, compound diversity is also a major issue with current xenobiotics possessing very different properties from natural products. But natural products are hard to synthesize and hence hard to modify,etc. There is a lot of work going on in academia to improve diversity but yeah, it is not a straightforward problem at all…though ur method can be promising for testing off-target effects rapidly…saying so, the targeting hydrophobic grove is limiting since that only makes up 20% of the proteome at most…
Dear Crane,
Have a nice first day of work in ur new appointment. :p
Lab is my life…
http://www.sji-international.com.sg/
Poor smart and HUNGRY kids from our region.
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Starlet UNITED STATES // Apr 2, 2007 at 5:58 am
Why SJI(international) for poor kids education?
Thank you.
My son is also a fellow lab rat. You have my sympathy.
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Starlet UNITED STATES // Apr 2, 2007 at 8:07 am
Dear Crane,
Have a nice first day of work in ur new appointment. :p
Lab is my life…
Thanks.
But I actually really do not mind being in lab honestly. It can be addictive at times actually…:p
“http://www.sji-international.com.sg/
Poor smart and HUNGRY kids from our region.
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Starlet UNITED STATES // Apr 2, 2007 at 5:58 am
Why SJI(international) for poor kids education?”
The website does look inspiring…
Dear Starlet:
Yes, you are right about the different composition of CYP enzymes, it affects the pharmacokinetics. That being said, it will be good for scientists to know which CYP enzymes the drug interacts with. The method I suggested is meant to find BOTH on-target and off-target effects. I mean, if the other pocket isn’t a catalytic site, then what is it meant for? Interaction with other proteins? Another catalytic site with a different function? I was suggesting that it would be good for scientists to know in silico whether the drug can bind to the protein at other sites, which may have important physiological functions. That’s why I also suggested it would be good to be integrated with a signaling pathway like STKE or Biocarta. However, this is just in silico work.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Dee
I suppose….except also that u have to work with something that has an existing crystal structure…
Dear Crane,
Enjoyed ur first day of work?
Starlet
Still at Biopolis. Backlog of A* work.
Spring will ’see” me later this week.
Planning to move to Fusionopolis instead of Bukit Merah “kampong”.
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Starlet UNITED STATES // Apr 2, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Dear Crane,
Enjoyed ur first day of work?
Starlet
http://www.a-star.edu.sg/astar/fusionopolis/index.do
The MRT Circle Line will run by 2009 under the 6 levels of basement at Fusionopolis.
Challenge to Raffles City.
That sounds pretty exciting.
Any plans to get SPRING to help realize some of the patents that Astar generated? :p
Just wondering…
That is why I want Spring to cozy up to A*STAR at Fusionopolis.
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Starlet UNITED STATES // Apr 3, 2007 at 1:42 am
Any plans to get SPRING to help realize some of the patents that Astar generated? :p
Just wondering…
INSEAD Singapore, of which I was the founding chairman, is also next to Fusionopolis.
Will “torture” A*STAR scientists with common sense part time business education.
Like how to read financial statements and understand profit/loss.
no walls, hopefully real collaboration – give n take
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philip yeo SINGAPORE // Apr 3, 2007 at 4:13 pm
That is why I want Spring to cozy up to A*STAR at Fusionopolis.
Spring will provide funding.
Money talks and can break walls.
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James SINGAPORE // Apr 3, 2007 at 4:26 pm
no walls, hopefully real collaboration – give n take
“Spring will provide funding.
Money talks and can break walls. ”
If it is so straightforward….but wow…that is alot of education for Astar scholars…:p
Come to think of it, I think my boss did make one of the students in the lab take a business class at the business school…
Chaps in financial sector earn more for less learning. Not fair, right?
So better catch up with “bean counters”.
Scientists should know how to “count (and sell) beans”.
And be rich. Why not?
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Come to think of it, I think my boss did make one of the students in the lab take a business class at the business school…
Dear Starlet:
Yeah of course. Crystalized structures at PDB especially.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Dee
Dear Sir:
Actually chaps in the financial sector spend a huge portion of time studying meticulously the target of their investments. They try to find out every ostensible information about their investment targets . They also have to manage a portfolio that includes bonds, equities, futures, options, etc. They do study too, but for a different certification, the most popular one would be the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Yours sincerely,
Dr Dee
True. They have to slog too to earn their daily “Breadtalk”.
An engineer I know took the CFA.
A better CFO in an industrial company.
Trying to get our researchers who read gene arrays to also read balance sheets.
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Actually chaps in the financial sector spend a huge portion of time studying meticulously the target of their investments. They try to find out every ostensible information about their investment targets . They also have to manage a portfolio that includes bonds, equities, futures, options, etc. They do study too, but for a different certification, the most popular one would be the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).