Events

On 20 August 2024 LKCMed OIE in collaboration with the Nucleic Acid Therapeutics Initiative (NATi), hosted the NATi Drugathon focused on Infectious and Respiratory Diseases. Held at the CSB Seminar Room, this clinical roundtable session brought together clinicians and scientists to exchange clinical insights, present problem statements, and explore potential targets and technologies related to RNA drug development and modalities in the field of Infectious and Respiratory Diseases.

On 18 July 2024, LKCMedicine’s OIE in collaboration with Nucleic Acid Therapeutics Initiative (NATi) and Co11ab organized the NATi Drugathon in Skin – clinical roundtable session at Co11ab to bring together clinicians and scientists together to share clinical insights, problem statements as well as discuss potential targets and technologies related to RNA drug development/modalities in the Skin diseases area.

On 19 March 2024, the 3^rd LKCMedicine Early Career Researcher Network (LEARN) symposium took place at the CSB Learning Studio at Novena Campus. LKCMed OIE collaborated with LEARN, NTUitive and NTU I&E to conduct an IP workshop alongside a session to introduce LKCMed postgrads and researchers to the various programs offered by NTU I&E towards translation of research and entrepreneurship.

On 25 July 2023, an introductory seminar on Drug Development Pathway was carried out by Dr Deborah Chen, Director of Cairnhill pharma who has been onboarded as one of the mentors for the Biotech Clinic established by LKCMedicine OIE to support faculty in their efforts towards translational research. Dr Chen is an experienced medicinal chemist and shared her insights on the various stages of the drug development pathway during this hybrid seminar.

For the video recording of the seminar, please contact LKC OIE at LKCMed-OIE@ntu.edu.sg. 

LKCMedicine Office of Innovation and Enterprise (OIE) together with LKCMedicine Early Researchers Network (LEARN) collaborated with SGInnovate to organise an interactive seminar titled "From lab to Launch: Navigating your Biotech Career Post-Graduation” on 04 July 2023. The session was tailored for postgraduates and research fellows at LKCMedicine regarding their career progression in the Biotech industry as well as the differences between working in academia and the industry. More information on the SGInnovate Helix Immersion Program was shared as well as questions regarding the biotech industry, trends, work environment, career progression etc., were answered.

Speakers included Dr Vanessa Ding, Deputy Director, Biomedical (Talent) at SGInnovate, who is an experienced Scientist with demonstrated history of working in the biomedical research industry and provided valuable feedback and guidance to participants regarding the biotech industry and the latest trends. Dr N Erlyani Abd Hamid of Hilleman Laboratories who oversees programme strategy and business operations shared her journey from being a researcher in the academia to becoming a de facto Chief of Staff to CEO of Hilleman Laboratories where she plays a central role in integrating and meeting strategic cross-functional needs, shaping the strategic outlook and implementation of key activities, driving, and managing executive decision-making platforms, as well as maintaining strong channels for internal and external communications.

On 28 June 2023, guest speaker Dr Madhavan Nallani, Founder and CEO of ACM Biolabs shared about his innovation journey as part of the Brown Bag Innovation and Entrepreneurship series. Various participants from LKCMedicine as well as NTU attended this hybrid session.

LKCMedicine OIE jointly organized a Grant Roadshow together with NHG(CMTi), SMART, NHIC and Enterprise Singapore for staff and faculty from NHG institutions and NTU/LKCMedicine on 10 May 2023. It was a hybrid event to provide more information on the Innovation to Startup (I2START) as well as the NHIC Innovation to Adopt (I2Adopt) grants that can be tapped on by the public institutions in Singapore. Several participants from LKCMedicine, NTU and NHG attended this roadshow which outlined the rationale, timeline, process, and eligibility criteria for I2START and I2ADOPT grants.

I2START is a streamlined funding pathway that brings together SMART Innovation Centre, NHIC and Enterprise Singapore, in a manner to support company formation around health and biomedical science innovations. The three phases of this scheme progress seamlessly to move medical technology from lab to venture formation. I2ADOPT scheme by NHIC supports promising and cost-effective Healthtech innovations for clinical adoption across the local public healthcare clusters to enhance healthcare delivery and patient care.

**(Photos courtesy of the Consortium for Clinical Research and Innovation, Singapore (CRIS)

On 18 April, Dr Alexandria Forbes, the CEO and Founder of MeiraGTx, shared her journey in the field of genetic medicine to an audience of 40 people at LKCMedicine. Hosted by Professor Philip Ingham FRS, she spoke about her Zoology degree from University of Cambridge and her research on the Hedgehog gene during her PhD at University of Oxford. She also shared her post-doctoral fellowships in the US and how it allowed her to identify genes important for germ cell migration.

Dr Forbes also talked about her experience working in a New York healthcare hedge fund, which led her to start MeiraGTx, a biotech company focused on genetic medicine. She shared that the company has fully integrated capabilities in gene therapy discovery, development, and GMP manufacturing, as well as a novel technology that regulates mRNA formation through orally administered small molecules.

The audience asked Dr Forbes several questions about her journey, and she provided valuable insights and advice on the challenges she faced along the way. Overall, Dr Forbes' talk was inspiring and offered a glimpse into the journey to success in the field of genetic medicine.

On 22 March 2023, LKC School of Medicine’s Office of Innovation and Enterprise (OIE) organised an information session on the LKCMed-NHIC Exploratory Translational Grant Call 2023, which is an internal seed funding to fund early-stage innovation projects at LKC School of Medicine. This Exploratory Translational Grant will be co-funded by LKC School of Medicine together with the National Health Innovation Centre (NHIC). This grant aims to fund the development of solutions that are commercially viable, addresses unmet healthcare needs and aid the project teams to leverage on the outcomes of this seed funding to seek further competitive funding at the national level to bring these innovative solutions one step closer to implementation.

Faculty members and research staff of LKCMedicine as well as members from the National Healthcare Group attended this information session which provided more information on the grant call as well as an introduction to NHIC and other support services offered by them that can be tapped on by the research community here at LKCMedicine. This collaborative effort between LKCMedicine’s OIE and NHIC is one of the programmes offered to support innovation activities and build a culture of innovation and enterprise here at LKCMedicine.

The Innovation Office of LKCMedicine (Office of Innovation and Enterprise (OIE)) hosted delegates from the Embassy of Sweden, Business Sweden, and Olink Proteomics on Friday, 10 March 2023 at the LKC School of Medicine, Novena Campus. Associate Professor Kevin Pethe (Assistant Dean Research) and Associate Professor Sunny Wong (Assistant Dean Research) hosted this meeting together with Assistant Professor Bernett Lee (Director, Centre for Biomedical Informatics), Dr Ervinna Pang (Director, Co11ab, NTUitive), Dr Tay Puei Nam (Deputy Director, OIE) and Ms Kiruthika (Senior Assistant Manager, OIE). Business Sweden is an entity jointly owned by the Swedish state and the Swedish business sector that helps Swedish companies grow globally as well as help international companies gain access to the Swedish market. Olink Proteomics is a Swedish company providing products and services in the protein biomarker discovery field. Olink provides a unique platform Proximity Extension Assay (PEA) technology which enables high-throughput, multiplex immunoassays of proteins using minimal volumes of serum, plasma or almost any other type of biological sample.

During this introductory meeting between LKCMedicine and Olink Proteomics, potential collaboration models were discussed as well as how Olink’s platform technology could benefit the faculty and researchers at LKCMedicine. The delegates were also given a tour of the research infrastructure and facilities at Clinical Sciences Building.

On 3 October 2022, further strengthening collaboration with industry partners, LKCMedicine and MiRXES, a Singapore-headquartered biotechnology company focused on improving and saving lives with RNA-powered disease early detection tests, have established a joint grant programme to catalyse technology partnership. On 3 October, the LKCMedicine Office of Innovation and Enterprise (OIE) organised the LKCMedicine-MiRXES Service Grant Workshop at the HQ Seminar Room. Vice-Dean (Research).

Professor Lim Kah Leong commenced the workshop with an opening speech to address the participants. Mr Lee Jun Yu of MiRXES then gave an overview on the company. This was followed by an introduction to the LKCMedicine-MiRXES Service Grant Call by Ms Beh Wei Ling from LKCMedicine’s Research Administration & Support Services. The final presentation by Dr Cheong Jit Kong of MiRXES, was an interesting overview on the use cases of microRNA.

On 28 September 2022, The Office of Innovation and Enterprise (OIE) at LKC School of Medicine organised the Intellectual Property Seminar together with colleagues from NTUitive, which is the office that oversees IP management for the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Intellectual Property (IP) arising from research and innovation are valuable assets and it is important to understand how to protect them.

This seminar provided an overview of some of the different types of IP protection (patents, copyrights etc) available and what is considered patentable subject matter. It also provided examples relevant to researchers at LKCMed such as in the field of therapeutics, tissue engineering and digital health. The seminar also briefly introduced NTU's IP policy and NTU's technology disclosure (TD) process.

For the video recording of the seminar, please contact LKC OIE at LKCMed-OIE@ntu.edu.sg. 

The innovation offices of LKCMedicine [Office of Innovation and Enterprise (OIE)], Nanyang Technological University [NTUitive] and National Healthcare Group (NHG) [CMTi] came together to organise the Smart Healthcare Workshop held on the 5 September 2022 at LKCMedicine CSB seminar room. Prof Joseph Sung, Prof Louis Phee and Assoc Prof Tan Cher Heng, gave opening speeches at this workshop, which provided a platform to bring together researchers, data scientists, engineers, and clinicians from these three institutions to share about their research capabilities, technologies and unmet clinical needs. LKCMedicine was represented by Assoc Prof Nagaendran Kandiah, Asst Profs Wilson Goh and Lorainne Tudor Car who gave presentations on-site and Asst Prof Lee Eng Sing and Visiting Assoc Prof Kelvin Tsoi.

The clinicians were excited to hear about the wide range of technologies, ranging from sensors, robotics, optoacoustics, fiberoptics to digital biomarkers, and were quick to share additional areas of clinical applications for exploration. Likewise, participants from LKCMedicine and NTU had the opportunity to learn about the unmet needs in clinical domains such as nursing, wound care, primary care, and rehabilitation, where their disruptive technologies could potentially help solve healthcare needs.

It has indeed been a successful networking opportunity, and we are certainly encouraged to see that there has already been interest to explore potential collaborations between the participants in this area of Smart Healthcare.