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Lucas Low VL received his bachelor’ degree in Biodiversity Management with first-class honours from the Universiti Malaysia Terengganu in 2010. He then earned his PhD with ‘distinction thesis’ from the University of Malaya (UM) in 2013, for his studies on the molecular and biochemical basis of insecticide resistance in medically important group of mosquitoes. Following the completion of his PhD study, he was enrolled as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow for three years at Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, UM. Currently, he is a senior lecturer at Tropical Infectious Diseases Research and Education Centre (TIDREC), a Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE) in Malaysia.

His current research interests include insect vectors of medical-veterinary importance such as mosquitoes, flies, ticks, fleas, lice and mites; and their associated infectious disease agents. In his scientific career, he has been fortunate to work under the mentorship of the world-renowned black fly taxonomist, Prof. Emeritus Dr. Hiroyuki Takaoka for the discovery of new species and taxonomic classification of black flies in the Oriental region. At present, he owned taxonomic authorities for 10 new species of black flies discovered in Southeast Asia. In recognition of his research excellence in vector-borne diseases, and significant advancement in molecular phylogenetics and systematics of black flies, two new species of black flies Simulium vanluni from Malaysia, and Simulium lowi from Vietnam were named after him in 2017. In March 2020, he organized and chaired the 3rd Asian Simuliidae Symposium which was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

He has strong research networks in both local and international institutions and has authored more than 100 articles in ISI-indexed journals. He has been a reviewer of several world-leading scientific journals. He is also an Associate Editor of Tropical Biomedicine, an ISI-indexed journal for parasitology, entomology, tropical medicine and other aspects of biomedical research.

He is an active member of the Malaysian Society of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine (MSPTM). He was the Honorary Assistant Treasurer in 2018/2019, and Honorary Assistant Secretary for 2019/2020. He was the organizing committee member for the 54th, 55th and 56th Annual Scientific Conference of the MSPTM, and the chairperson for the pre-conference rodent database workshop.

He was a recipient for Certificate of Excellent Service in 2018, and Excellence Service Award in 2019, UM. He was also a Nadchatram Medal 2020 recipient for his outstanding research in the field of parasitology and tropical medicine.

Lucas is committed to giving back to the community by raising awareness on vectors and vector-borne diseases among the general public, including community talk in disease outbreak (i.e., Chikungunya) areas.