Local and International Speakers from Academia and Industry to Speak at Scientific Seminars at A*STAR S&T Festival
1. More than 30 major vendors for life science supplies, such as Bio-Rad, Qiagen and Roche, are participating in the annual A*STAR Science and Technology Festival from 3 to 5 March 2010, at Biopolis, to showcase the latest products and services. Organised by the Biopolis Shared Facilities, a unit under the Biomedical Sciences Institutes (BMSI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), this largest showcase of life science research technologies and methods in Singapore aims to reach out to the burgeoning biomedical sciences research community here. A complete list of vendors is at Annex A.
2. This three-day event will also include a series of scientific seminars, networking sessions and workshops for biomedical researchers in Singapore. The scientific seminars will focus on scientific methods and technology. Topics this year include Nucleic Acid Analysis, Cell Culture, Cell-based Assays, Imaging Techniques as well as Extraction, Purification and Separation Technologies. There are both local and international speakers hailing from academia and industry, including:
· Dr Vikrant Kumar, a postdoctoral fellow at A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), who will be discussing how ‘genomic partitioning’ methods allow us to study the human genome at high resolution, understand the global pattern of human chromosome diversity, and correctly identify corresponding regions in nonhuman primates.
· Dr Choong Meng Ling, a Research Scientist at A*STAR’s Experimental Therapeutics Centre, who will be speaking on using Roche’s xCELLigence system to optimise growth conditions for cell-based assay development for high-throughput screening.
· Dr Gary McMaster, Chief Scientific Officer of Affymetrix, who is describing novel procedures to accurately measure RNA and DNA levels directly from cell lysates and tissue homogenates, using nucleic acid hybridization and ‘branched DNA’ (bDNA) technology.
· Dr Tom Murphy, Chief Scientific Officer of Research Instruments, who will be speaking on recent advances in imaging technologies and their wide-ranging applications in research spanning from basic biochemistry and cell biology to in vivo studies.
3. “BSF’s mission is to work in partnership with our customers, vendors and stake holders to deliver cost-effective research products and professional scientific services to the R&D community in Singapore. This event is just one example of how BSF works with vendors to bring the best and latest products and technologies to our customers. Through such events, we hope to help our customers to get optimum value from their research dollars as well as enhance our relationship with life science vendors in Singapore.” said Dr Manjeet Singh, Deputy Director, BSF.
4. Established by A*STAR in 2004, BSF occupies a 7,000 sqm purpose-built facility within Biopolis, Singapore’s biomedical research hub. It provides centralised research support and scientific services to provide cost savings to the 1000–strong biomedical research community in A*STAR, as well as to users from the rest of Singapore including the universities, hospitals, medical schools and industry.
About the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is the lead agency for fostering world-class scientific research and talent for a vibrant knowledge-based and innovation-driven Singapore. A*STAR oversees 14 biomedical sciences, and physical sciences and engineering research institutes, and seven consortia & centres, which are located in Biopolis and Fusionopolis, as well as their immediate vicinity.
A*STAR supports Singapore's key economic clusters by providing intellectual, human and industrial capital to its partners in industry. It also supports extramural research in the universities, hospitals, research centres, and with other local and international partners.
For more information on A*STAR, please visit www.a-star.edu.sg.
The Biopolis Shared Facilities (BSF) is a strategic business unit established by the Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) to manage a first-class scientific-oriented service hub. BSF offers a wide spectrum of services, ranging from scientific services and research support services to meeting facilities.
Through centralisation of key services, BSF seeks to maximise usage of key scientific equipment as well as support services to bring convenience and savings to its customers. Services include the supply of lab consumable supplies though the Biopolis Supply Centre (BSC), glassware washing, manufacturing of standard and customised media, and a suite of scientific services including, Flow Cytometry, Automated Imaging and Analysis, Microarray, High Content Screening, X-ray crystallography and Histopathology.
For more information on BSF, please visit www.bsf.a-star.edu.sg.