AsianScientist (Oct. 23, 2013) – The National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have launched a S$148 million R&D center called the Singapore Center for Nutritional Sciences, Metabolic Diseases, and Human Development (SiNMeD).
This collaboration between the NUS’s Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (YLLSoM) and A*STAR’s Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS) focuses on fundamental, clinical and translational research to understand the role of nutrition in the onset and progression of obesity and metabolic diseases like diabetes.
Key research programs will target mother and infant nutrition, growth and developmental epigenetics and metabolic diseases in Asians. The programs will address the rising incidence of obesity and diabetes in Singapore, seeing that close to 25 percent of the Singapore adult population is projected to have type II diabetes by 2025.
“SiNMeD’s research will help us to understand how the food we eat can lead to epigenetic changes in our DNA, which will in turn, either protect or predispose us to diseases like obesity and diabetes. This opens up new approaches to prevent and treat these diseases,” said Dr. Benjamin Seet, executive director of A*STAR’s Biomedical Research Council.
“This area of research represents a strategic research thrust for A*STAR and Singapore. If we do this well, it will provide a unique and very competitive platform that will conduct cutting-edge research, as well as serve to strengthen our partnerships with some of the world’s largest nutrition companies,” he said.
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Source: A*STAR.
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