The Straits Times, 8 Feb 2002

NEW LIFE SCIENCES UNIT TO BE SET UP

There will soon be a new player on the local research block.

Yesterday, Temasek Holdings, the Government’s investment arm, announced that it would be setting up a new life sciences R&D unit in collaboration with the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

The new unit, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory will have more than 100 researchers working on the molecular and genetic areas, said a Temasek Holdings spokesman.

While she could not say what the exact projects were, she confirmed that an international talent hunt would soon start to find the best scientists for the lab.

NUS and NTU will provide the physical facilities for the lab while professors at the universities may be asked to take on joint appointments at both the university and the new lab.

According to the spokesman, the lab is part of Temasek’s long-term strategy to invest in, and commercialise, discoveries in the life sciences.