Email jdpilapil@nus.edu.sg

David aims to advance our understanding of how viruses spread, evolve, and can be controlled by combining molecular and biochemical insights with environmental and social data. Trained as a bioengineer, he tackles a critical question: why does an outbreak devastate one neighbourhood while sparing another just a few miles away? His PhD research answered part of that through the integration of data that are typically siloed: clinical biomarkers, environmental measurements, socioeconomic profiles, and geospatial layers, to reveal how biology and circumstance together determine who becomes infected and who recovers. His work sits at the intersection of multiple disciplines and fosters collaboration among clinicians, modellers, and policy experts who depend on one another yet rarely share a common language. Outside of research, he enjoys staying active and volunteering.

• NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health

• Genomic surveillance
• Host-pathogen interactions
• Wastewater-based epidemiology
• Infectious disease modelling
• Environmental health

• Molecular Biology
• Genomics

• PhD in Bioengineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR

• Cunanan DJ, Carandang THDC, Pilapil JD, Cunanan D, Mollasgo AG, Manalo GN, Co GS, Garcia JI, Rosch J, Carroll K, Notarte KI. 2025. Nanopore sequencing for microbiological diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-025-05387-z
• Pasciolco MJ, Coca-Lopez N, Pilapil JD, Wu Q, Portela R, Han W, Zhang X, Bañares MA, Kwan JKC, Yeung KL. 2025. In Situ micro-Raman Spectroscopy of Curing Dynamics of Antibacterial, Antibiofouling, and Anticorrosion Ceramic Epoxy with an Ionic Liquid Additive. Chemical Engineering Journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2025.165868
• Carandang THDC, Cunanan DJ, Co GS, Pilapil JD, Garcia JI, Restrepo BI, Yotebieng M, Torelles JB, Notarte KI. 2025. Diagnostic Accuracy of Nanopore Sequencing for Detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Drug-Resistant Strains: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-90089-x
• Pilapil JD, Notarte KIR, Yeung KL. 2023. The dominance of co-circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants in wastewater. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 253, 114224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2023.114224