David pursued his chemistry studies at the National University of Singapore and received his B.Sc. degree with first class honours in 2009. In 2010, he accepted a scholarship offered by the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPIP) and moved to Ulm under the supervision of Prof. Tanja Weil. David graduated with summa cum laude in 2014 and worked as a junior group leader in the Institute of Organic Chemistry III at Ulm University. He subsequently moved to the MPIP and leads the synthetic life-like systems group focusing on precision (bio)macromolecules and assembly in living cells. He is featured in 2019 and 2022 in international peer-reviewed journals as an emerging key figure for material science at the chemistry/biology interface.