Executive Director of the Genome Institute, Dr. Edison Liu

Courtesy Genome Institute

“Singapore’s capacity to integrate economic, academic, governmental and regulatory sectors toward ethical bio-discovery is unparalleled,” declares Dr. Edison Liu, the Executive Director of the Genome Institute of Singapore and a recent transplant from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD.

Hard-hit by competition from other Asian countries in its manufacturing sector, Singapore’s government has targeted biomedical sciences as one potential new pillar of its economy, allocating more than $1 billion to develop the nascent industry. According to Economic Development Board (EDB) figures, the government’s investment in biomedicine is already paying dividends. Latest data from the EDB shows biomedical sciences output – including pharmaceuticals and medical technology - up 60.7 percent from January to July compared with the same period last year.

Under Dr. Liu’s leadership, the Genome Institute of Singapore is recruiting a team of experts from all over the world to build up a formidable force “to integrate biology and genomic technology.” The scope of activity includes research in molecular pharmacology, population genetics and stem cell biology. Stem cells are prized for their ability to turn into other cells, thus holding out the hope of cures for ailments like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

When up and running next year, the institute's stem cell group, with about five principal investigators and 20 researchers, will be one of the biggest consolidated teams in Singapore. Drawing from an international pool of experts, the team will add to the excellent stem cell research programs already there.

In the past year, Dr. Liu has succeeded in attracting other researchers from the U.S., such as Dr. Lim Bing, a molecular biologist who left a faculty position at Harvard Medical School to become senior group leader. A specialist in blood and blood diseases, Dr. Lim is himself in the process of recruiting promising scientists from the U.S. to join the team.

Dr. Liu sees a bright future for Singapore as a global center for biomedical research and commercial development of new medical techniques.

Despite the “incredulity” of his colleagues back in the U.S., he says, moving his family to Singapore was for him an “obvious choice.”

Singapore, he says, “is poised to do some great things” in biomedicine.

Besides the government’s significant financial commitment to expanding biomedical research, Dr. Liu cites the country’s excellent research infrastructure aided by the National University of Singapore, strong intellectual property protections, and its compactness as advantages for its future success in this field.

A major factor is the institute’s emphasis on integrative sciences, creating a research environment in which disparate scientific disciplines can work together toward common goals. Dr. Liu believes that the institute’s capacity to integrate several technical platforms under one roof will be a key element to success in the new age of biological discovery and to formation of strategic partnerships with drug companies.

“The Singapore government,” he says, “sees no contradiction between improving healthcare through biomedical research and making money in the process.” The goal is to improve public health for all humanity and the Singaporean economy at the same time.

Dr. Liu does not see Singapore trying to compete with China, the United States or the United Kingdom but rather with particular regional biomedical centers such as those in Washington, D.C., Brussels or San Diego.

Singapore has “the speed of a municipality and the power of a country,” he says, to make discoveries and commercialize them.

In fact, Dr. Liu believes the country’s own small population of about four million presents a unique research opportunity for studies in population genetics. By studying the genetic “architectures” of these population groups, researchers believe they can make important statistical associations that will help to identify and understand the genetic markers which may lead to therapies to combat genetically based diseases.

In Singapore, there are four major population groups coexisting with relatively little intermingling of bloodlines – Chinese, Malay, Indian and European. On the whole, each group exists genetically separate from the others.

“This allows us to explore this genetic architecture with low cost and with speed in [data] collection,” he says.

One of the challenges for Singapore in developing its biomedical center will be in attracting talent from abroad. This means importing not only “domain talent” but also people who bring new ways of thinking, new perspectives, to resolve scientific questions. Foreign-born talent, he points out, has been an essential ingredient of scientific progress in the U.S. In countries like Japan, he argues, restrictive immigration policies have held back progress in the field of biology.

As Dr. Liu has discovered first-hand, Singapore welcomes talented immigrants. He says moving to Singapore from suburban Washington, D.C. was “a piece of cake” and that he and his family appreciate its safe streets, multi-cultural environment and the common values shared by its citizens.

Of course, Singapore’s high standard of living would be another major attraction for anyone. But it is also true that Singapore is unique in all of Asia in that it is the only Asian country that uses English – biology’s universal language – as a first language. He dismisses the charge that “rogue experiments,” such as in stem cell research, could be carried on in Singapore, pointing out that the government, a major investor, actively monitors its science programs to safeguard their ethical integrity and reputation.

Dr. Liu believes that Singapore’s multi-cultural make-up gives it an edge over larger, more inward-looking countries like the United States, because Singapore is already international in its outlook and attuned by its own diverse culture to be sensitive to other religious and cultural views in matters of bio-ethics.

For more information, see www.genomeinstitute.org.