The SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Centre (AMC) has launched a research institute and disease center that will help in the advancement of regenerative medicine and bring together multidisciplinary expertise and efforts in research and its application for diagnostics and therapies to improve patient care. The joint launch of SingHealth Duke-NUS Regenerative Medicine Institute of Singapore (REMEDIS) and the SingHealth Duke-NUS Cell Therapy Centre (SDCT) will help in the transfer of knowledge and results for cellular regeneration with a goal towards disease management.
REMEDIS will harness the potential of regenerating diseased cells, tissue and even organs to develop research, regenerative therapies and tools to tackle age-related diseases and chronic conditions. The focus will be on seven disease areas: musculoskeletal diseases, bone marrow disorders, blood disorders, cardiovascular diseases, acute and chronic wound healing, neuro-sensory diseases and eye diseases. SDCT will bridge the gap by taking these cellular and gene regenerative therapies and tools into clinical trials and translate them into clinical applications that can benefit patients.
With support from Singapore’s National Research Foundation, REMEDIS will start off with a research study led by clinician-scientists from the SingHealth Duke-NUS AMC to develop cellular therapy products for three disease areas – age-related macular degeneration, ischemic cardiomyopathy and blood cancers. Due to the limitations of existing therapies, the research team is working toward safe and effective treatments for patients affected by these conditions.
The establishment of REMEDIS and SDCT is expected to drive impactful translational research that will lead to safe and effective new treatments that can be produced on a large scale.
(Source: Duke-NUS Medical School)
