Singapore Is One of the Fastest Growing Bioclusters in Asia; Wave of Investments in Drug Discovery and Translationa...(nal and clinical research asit expands i...),Health

It has established key resources in bio-imaging, bioinformatics and clinical units for early-phase trials. In addition to the Investigational Medicine Units that were announced in October last year, Singapore will invest another US$276 million in specialized research facilities to further drive translational and clinical research in strategic disease areas.

The Cancer Research Centre of Excellence, led by Prof. Daniel Tenen, aims to be one of the world's leading centers for translational cancer research by establishing and integrating key capabilities in cancer stem cells, cancer biology, genomic oncology, and experimental therapeutics.

The Centre for Translational Medicine is another key facility. Announced in May this year, the Centre will house clinicians, scientists and educators under one roof at the National University of Singapore (NUS). The Centre is equipped with a biosafety facility for the study of infectious diseases, an Investigational Medicine Unit for early-phase trials and the Clinical Imaging Research Centre.

Besides physical infrastructure, Singapore is also committed to funding important research that addresses strategic disease areas affecting Singapore and Asian populations. In 2007, Singapore announced a US$87 million commitment to Translational and Clinical Research Flagship Programs. These programs bring scientists and clinicians together to work on key diseases such as cancer; cardiovascular / metabolic disorders; neurosciences, infectious diseases and eye diseases(Note 1). In May this year, approximately US$125 million was awarded to more than 20 scientists and doctors for research projects and further studies overseas under the Singapore Translational Research Investigator Award (STaR) and the Clinician Scientist Award (CSA) respectively.

Note 1: Translational and C
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