Dr Tay's research work focuses on characterising the microbial community and detection of pathogens in swimming pools. He works together with Prof. Michael Givskov and Dr Yang Liang in the Public Health and Medical Biofilms cluster. Martin graduated from Singapore Polytechnic with a diploma in Biotechnology in 2003 and went to University of New South Wales in Australia where he obtained a BSc with first class honours in 2008. Upon return to Singapore, he took up a National Research Foundation PhD scholarship to study at NTU, and he attained his PhD in 2014. During his PhD, Martin studied bacteriophage community shifts and their correlation with various stages of aerobic granulation in activated sludge.