NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The Singapore Agency for Science and Technology Research today announced it has launched a new Diagnostics Development Hub to help develop and commercialize diagnostic tests.
Led by the agency's technology transfer division, ETPL, the DxD Hub will bring together researchers, clinicians, and businesses to share expertise and accelerate the process of validating, testing, marketing and commercializing medical diagnostic products. As part of the launch, the DxD Hub announced partnerships with organizations in both the public and private sectors, including healthcare and research institutions such as SingHealth, the National University Health System, the Singapore Clinical Research Institute, and Beijing Genomics Institute, as well as businesses such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, AITbiotech, and Gencurix, which all make products or offer services for molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine.
"The collaboration with the DxD Hub will look to offer expanded product development capabilities and resources, including access to assay content, clinical samples, and regulatory assistance," Joydeep Goswami, Asia Pacific and Japan president for the Life Sciences Solutions of Thermo Fisher, said in a statement. "Combined with Thermo Fisher Scientific's molecular biology, genetic analysis technologies, and its diverse R&D capacity, the collaboration is expected to lead to novel assays targeting diseases prevalent that leverage the latest developments in Thermo Fisher Scientific's platforms such as the Quant Studio Family of real-time PCR instruments and the Ion Torrent next-generation sequencing systems."
The agency said that the hub already has diagnostics in the project pipeline, including breast and gastric cancer early-detection tests.
The DxD Hub is one of four innovation clusters to be funded under Singapore's $200 million Innovation Cluster Programme.
Financial details for the partnerships and other funding for the hub were not disclosed.