UK & Singapore Partner on S$6m fund to tackle infectious disease
17 June 2008
A S$6m joint collaborative research fund between Singapore’s A*STAR and the UK’s Medical Research Council (MRC) will be announced by the UK Minister of State for Science and Innovation, Mr Ian Pearson MP on 17th June at the Biopolis research centre in Singapore. The fund will be used to develop vital armoury in the fight to keep one step ahead of infectious diseases.
The S$6 million fund, to which MRC and A*STAR will contribute equal shares of S$3 million each, will directly fund collaborative research projects between the two countries. It is the result of productive workshops and travel grants under the “UK-Singapore Partners in Science” programme. This is the first such joint call for proposals directly funding Singapore-UK collaborative research projects, with more topics and projects in the pipeline.
The fund has been agreed as a key outcome from a Roundtable being co-hosted by Mr Ian Pearson MP and A*STAR Chairman Mr Lim Chuan Poh. The Roundtable will discuss and agree actions to advance infectious disease research through strategic international cooperation between the UK, Singapore and SE Asia. Proceedings will be chaired by Professor Sir Roy Anderson FRS FmedSci, a leading infectious disease expert and incoming Rector of Imperial College, London. Participants will include scientists and policymakers from the UK, Singapore and SE Asia.
Mr Ian Pearson MP, Minister of State for Science & Innovation, commented:
"This significant new collaborative fund brings the best of Singapore and UK science together to fight infectious diseases, which are a leading cause of death worldwide. I would like to see similar partnerships tackling problems in other scientific fields”.
MRC Chief Executive Sir Leszek Borysiewicz said:
‘‘By jointly funding a research programme with A*STAR the Medical Research Council is enabling scientists in Singapore and the UK to share their expertise and tackle research questions in partnership. Infection is an important field of research which requires the development of novel technologies and determining impact in populations. We look forward to funding the first of the projects and fostering these exciting new relationships.’’
Mr Lim Chuan Poh, Chairman of A*STAR said:
“This joint collaborative research fund bears testimony to the success of the “UK-Singapore Partners in Science” programme, and builds on the excellent exchange and interactions between the scientists from both sides. The collaboration will also lead to more opportunities for our A*STAR scholars to pursue research attachments and training respectively at MRC units in the UK as well as develop new PhD projects between the supervisors in Singapore and their partners supervisors in the UK universities.
“Of special significance is the multi-disciplinary nature of the MRC-A*STAR collaborative research fund which will bring together the strengths of MRC and A*STAR’s Biomedical Research Council as well as A*STAR’s Science and Engineering Research Council, allowing for the integration of capabilities in biomedical sciences, physical sciences and engineering.”
The partnership in this vital area of research combines the strengths of the UK’s MRC and A*STAR’s Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) in infectious disease programmes, as well as A*STAR’s Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) expertise in physical sciences and engineering. This inter-disciplinary approach, which makes way for SERC researchers to collaborate with UK and the MRC, will further boost A*STAR and MRC’s aims of fostering greater convergence of research between engineering, biology and medicine. Such multi-disciplinary research, which draws upon the knowledge and skills of a variety of scientific disciplines, is widely predicted to produce some of the more innovative and exciting of tomorrow’s technologies.
The details of the fund will be decided in light of the Roundtable discussion, but it is likely to include joint calls for novel discovery science including identifying biomarkers (biological indicators of disease), development of diagnostic tests and detection devices, and vaccine development. This is key for the fight against killers such as malaria, dengue, SARS and emerging infections such as H5N1 or “avian flu”. Identifying infected individuals early on in tackling outbreaks and developing vaccines to nip potential pandemics in the bud are vital and necessary solutions to many of these threats.
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