SINGAPORE: Research-Friendly S'pore Luring The Best And Brightest
By Chang Ai-Lien

NEWS ANALYSIS

FEB 17, 2004 TUE

THE very public disgrace and sacking of foreign 'star' Simon Shorvon last year has not dimmed Singapore's lustre as a
research centre.

The science-friendly environment here is still proving to be a lure to some of the world's best and brightest, who have
headed here in the quest for a breakthrough in the cut-throat biotech world.

One of the latest arrivals is Dr Philippe Taupin, who has attracted world attention with his groundbreaking work on
adult stem cells at the famous Salk Institute for Biological Studies in the United States.

'I came here because I want to jump-start my career... There are fewer ethical and political minefields than in the
West, and Singapore has pledged a strong commitment to stem cell biology,' said the scientist who moved here three
months ago.

About one in four of the 27,000 researchers here are foreigners. Of the 3,600-plus PhD holders among them, nearly one-
third are foreigners.

Many are drawn by Singapore's reputation as one of the world's most open-minded, research-friendly countries for
biomedical work - particularly with regard to embryonic stem cells.

Laws here will allow, for instance, human embryos to be cloned for research under specified circumstances, placing
Singapore in a minority camp supporting limited human cloning, including Britain, Japan and China.

In fact, a group here has declared that it hopes to emulate the recent South Korean coup in creating the world's first
cloned human embryos and extracting stem cells from them.

Such research would be almost impossible in the US. Restrictions on stem cell research for those who want federal
funding are severe, so much so that its scientists are complaining that they are lagging behind such countries as
Singapore.

To compound their problems, the funding pie is shrinking, said Dr Taupin, as competition for such funds stiffen.
Analysts say that in the US, government funding of basic research has eroded as more funds go into military-oriented
programmes.

Working 14-hour days, even on weekends, has been the norm these past three months, as Dr Taupin hurries to get his lab
up and running. The competition is global. The pace is scorching.

Dr Taupin notes the irony of his lab's location. It is at the National Neuroscience Institute, where Dr Shorvon was
thrown out last April after an independent panel found him guilty of serious ethical breaches of patients' rights - in
effect, treating them like lab rats.

But to Dr Taupin, Singapore represents 'a real opportunity.'

The buzz from helping to build a sizzling research community from scratch has also proven to be an irresistible draw
for researchers like Oxford don Alex Law and eminent cancer researcher Edison Liu.

Professor Law left the prestigious British university to come here to help build from scratch Nanyang Technological
University's biosciences research centre, while continuing his own research on protein chemistry.

Dr Liu, who was at the US National Institutes of Health, said he wanted to seize the chance to make an impact in a
country that had chosen the biomedical sciences as its lifeline.

What has also proven dazzling are the facilities. Singapore's $500 million Biopolis is home to top research institutes
here.

It features top-notch scientific equipment, resources and specialised research facilities and services. On top of this,
universities are providing millions of dollars to establish facilities for life sciences research.

The generosity and flexibility of these institutions are striking. Japan's famed cancer researcher Yoshiaki Ito was
lured to the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology partly because he could do something virtually unheard of - bring
with him his entire research team of nine people.

The sky's the limit, it seems, in Singapore's determination to become a science hub. And therein lies the success. As
long as the support is unstinting, researchers will flock here.

The challenge is to resist the temptation to pull back, especially with grants, when the breakthroughs are slow in
coming. Or when the country's economic fortunes are hit hard.

SOURCE: Straits Times, Singapore
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/techscience/story/0,4386,235650,00.html?

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