Nikkei Asia Prizes 2000

Singapore's Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology

Singapore scores with researchers World-class facility attracts top scientists to tackle region's problems

BY KAZUKI YOSHIKAWA
staff writer

The common view about the rest of Asia is that despite its recent remarkable economic and industrial growth, it is still a region that lags hopelessly far behind the U.S., Europe and Japan in scientific research and the development of cutting-edge technology. But that view is likely to start changing with the establishment of a number of world-class research facilities.

The Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, affiliated with the National University of Singapore, is one such facility. Focusing on life phenomena at the genetic level and the development of drugs and new treatments for diseases, the institute specializes in fields of biotechnology such as human genome analyses now at the forefront of scientific examination.

The reputation of the institute has been growing as more and more of its research appears in print in international science magazines such as Science and Cell, as well as in the classic in the genre, Nature. Few Asia-based research organizations have been able to keep up such a steady stream of groundbreaking research results.

The institute was set up in 1987. Its founding director, Dr. Y.H. Tan, recalled that at first, starting from nothing, the project seemed as promising as planting trees in a desert. Singapore officials had decided to set up a biotech lab after designating life science as a strategic field of research. They entrusted the start-up of the project to Tan, a leading medical researcher who was then a professor at the University of Calgary in Canada.

Tan and fellow Singapore-native Professor Louis Lim from the University of London, sought out researchers who were willing to resettle in Singapore. The institute opened its doors with a staff that included 12 ambitious scientists.

They adopted a strategy of entering into extensive cooperation with overseas individuals and organizations. The institute extended invitations to leading international researchers to serve as visiting advisers. One such adviser was Dr. David Baltimore, a Nobel laureate in molecular biology, who provided critical guidance on research themes.

The institute also drew talent and research experience through contacts with foreign private-sector entities. It entered into a long-term agreement with British pharmaceuticals producer Glaxo Wellcome Plc shortly after opening its doors.

More than 10 years later, the institute is now in what could be called harvest season as its long-term planning begins to bear fruit. In 1996, clinical tests began on an interferon drug produced at the institute. Agrochemical, biotechnology and cancer-research arms have recently been set up at the institute.

Tan said the institute's greatest strength is the diversity of the researchers. Of a current research staff of about 220, about 160 are foreign nationals from 17 countries and regions, including about 50 from China, 30 from Malaysia and 10 each from Germany, the U.K., India and the U.S. The majority of the roughly 60 Singaporean nationals are themselves naturalized foreign-born citizens.

There are great hopes for the field of biotechnology in Asia. Curing diseases peculiar to the region and solving food shortages are among the field's main targets. But Asia needs more such powerful research bases, Tan said. He now hopes to further strengthen ties with researchers in Japan, China and the rest of Asia.

Japan has raised its biotech research budget in the past two years to try to catch up to the U.S. and European levels of research. But the country still needs to create an overall research environment that can attract some of the best researchers from around the globe.

The vibrant growth of the Singapore institute is combining substantial results in an environment of the kind of diversity that characterizes Asia. It serves as an important example for those in charge of promoting scientific and technological activities in Japan.