He graduated with a B.Sc. in industrial pharmacy from the University of the Philippines in Manila, Philippines, in 1992. He finished his M.Sc. and PhD in analytical chemistry with Professor Shigeru Terabe at the Himeji Institute of Technology, Japan, in 1998-1999. He was then a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Richard Zare’s laboratory at Stanford University until 2001. This was followed by an industrial stint in pharmaceutical companies in California until 2007. He has been awarded an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship and Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowships. He is interested in analytical method development for chemical, pharmaceutical, biological, environmental, and food sciences.