NCCS and A*STAR’s Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) have announced their partnership to develop new therapeutic treatments for cancer patients.
- Marks a fresh partnership between the two institutions to research new treatments for cancer patients
- Four Principal Investigators from each institution will hold joint appointments at the respective institutions
An inaugural Joint Oncology Symposium was held on 31 August to set the vision of this collaboration.
Prof Soo Khee Chee, NCCS Director, shared his thoughts on the importance of this alliance at the symposium. He believes that this move will be strategic in an increasingly competitive research landscape. He said,
“A lot of diseases that may be peculiar in Asia have been blind spots for researchers from dominant research countries, such as in Europe or the US. This is an area which we can carve a niche for ourselves.”
Prof Hong Wanjin, Executive Director of IMCB said, “With IMCB’s deep capabilities in human biology and oncology research, and the strong clinical expertise at NCCS, I am confident that we will yield breakthroughs that can be translated into effective therapeutics to address unmet medical need for cancer.”
Four Principal Investigators (PIs) from each institution have been appointed for this partnership, with each of them having expertise in different areas of oncology research, ranging from development biology to cancer genomics.
Prof Soo highlighted that an institution can only remain relevant when it is able to effectively address the issues most pertinent to patients – and this can only be achieved through the joint effort of scientists and clinicians.
“As clinicians deal with patients daily, they are not only able to gain insights into biological behaviour, but also identify actual clinical needs.
"Scientists at the bench and clinician-scientists need to work together to respond to practical clinical challenges,” he explained.
The symposium also saw eight basic and translational PIs presenting on various oncology research topics ranging from signalling, genomics, biomarker discovery, xenograph and other animal models.
One of the collaborations that IMCB and NCCS have already embarked on is the development of the Humanised Mouse Model. This novel model has given them the advantage to conduct drug testing, as well as to study various human cancers, such as lung, kidney or blood cancer.
“This is the beginning of many collaborations to come. We hope to solve many important clinical problems and to contribute to the scientific community in Singapore,” said Prof Hong.
