Our heartiest congratulations to Assoc Prof Yeoh Khay Guan (Vice Dean, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS and Principal Investigator, Cancer Programme) who has led a team of 19 researchers from NUS, NUH and the National Cancer Centre (NCC) to secure the TCR Flagship Grant Award. They developed “The Singapore Gastric Cancer Consortium (SGCC)” Programme which was jointly submitted by NUS-NUH-NCC to the National Medical Research Council (NMRC).

The $25m research grant over 5 years will be the first TCR Flagship Programme to be awarded from NMRC of the Ministry of Health.

This award is also the largest to be awarded to a single research project. The project aims to improve the early detection of gastric cancer by discovering biomarkers at an early stage and developing molecular classifications that can robustly predict disease behaviour and treatment response. Stomach cancer is Singapore ’s fourth most common cancer.

The SGCC proposal was selected out of a total of 17 applications during the NMRC grant call launched in October 2006. The proposal was selected for its significant clinical benefits to patients; its strong potential for establishing a leading centre in Asia for translational clinical research in oncology; and the creation of strong partnerships with both local and international research organizations. It also provided strong platform for future genomic and clinical studies.

It is the first grant award in Singapore that will bring research overheads (20% of $25million) to the respective institutions at NUS, NUH and NCC.

Other researchers from NUS who are involved in the research are Prof Yoshiaki Ito, Director, Oncology Research Institute & Programme Leader, Cancer Programme and Dr Goh Boon Cher, Adjunct Associate Professor, Oncology Research Institute and Senior Consultant, Dept of Haematology-Oncology, NUH.

OLS is organizing a Safety Day on the 17 August 2007 in the CeLS auditorium. On this occasion we will launch our safety policy to highlight our commitment in ensuring the safety and well being of every person working in CeLS.

We will also launch our Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for biological, chemical, radioactive and fire safety. The Chairs of the subcommittees responsible for developing the SOPs will briefly explain the salient features of the SOPs and will be available for answering queries and gathering feedback.

OLS will also be in the process of creating a common site to electronically store the SOPs so that every person working in CeLS can access the information.

OLS has submitted 8 NRF Research Fellowship applications to the Office of Research for consideration. A total of about 120 applications were received by OLS. ORE will be shortlisting the suitable applications by 24 August 2007 for submission to NRF in September 2007. The selection process will be completed by January 2008.

The OLS Cancer Programme and the Tohoku University will be organizing a COE Joint Symposium on the ‘Recent Development of Basic and Clinical Research on Signal Transduction Diseases’ on Wednesday, 5 September 2007, at the CeLS Auditorium. The full-day symposium will see a total of 10 talks by 5 speakers from each University. About 80 participants are expected to attend.

A 2nd Singapore Lipid Symposium will be held next year from 5 to 7 March 2008 at CeLS. Organized by Dr Markus R Wenk from the Department of Biochemistry, the objective of this symposium is to bring together leading scientists and investigators from around the world with diverse backgrounds in lipid research. They will be presenting their latest research advances in a workshop-style forum and in three main sessions:

1. Biology of lipids
2. Novel technology for lipid research
3. Clinical aspects of aberrant lipid metabolism

For more information regarding the symposium, please visit http://www.lipidprofiles.com/symposium2008.

We would like to welcome the following colleagues who have joined the University and OLS:

• Ms Wu Yilian joined the Neurobiology/Ageing Programme on 1 July 2007 as Senior Administrative Officer.

• Miss Thandar Soe Lwin, joined the Office of Life Sciences on 2 July 2007 as Administrative Officer. She is supporting the Finance Section in OLS.

• Dr Jonnathan Libao Peneyra, joined the Laboratory Animals Centre as Veterinarian on 2 July 2007. He will assist in implementation of the LAC Veterinary Care Programme, ensure compliance with national animal research regulations and guidelines, and complement LAC’s efforts towards obtaining AAALAC accreditation.

S*BIO Pte Ltd, a privately held biotech company focused on the research and clinical development of novel targeted small molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer, has entered into a two-year research partnership with NUH-NUS Tissue Repository (NUH-NUS TR).

The objective of this partnership is to conduct biomarker research and evaluate the responsiveness of tumours to S*BIO’s proprietary anti-cancer compounds.