MIT's Research Enterprise in Singapore, SMART, launches a new research group, Critical Analytics for Manufacturing Personalized-Medicine (CAMP), as part of Singapore’s National Cell Manufacturing Initiative to overcome scientific and technical challenges in life-changing cell therapies

• S$10 million a year to be investedin SMART CAMP in a multi-year effort
• New interdisciplinary research group, SMART CAMP, will bring together 35 MITand Singapore investigators
• Complementary and integrated programme with Singapore's Agency forScience Technology and Research (A*STAR) cell manufacturing effort, supportedby the National Research Foundation (NRF)
• SMART CAMP deploys MIT'sinnovation methodologies in Singapore's thriving biopharmaceutical industry,tapping market potential of billions a year

SINGAPORE - MediaOutReach - 15 July2019 - Cell therapies, wherecellular material is injected, grafted or implanted into a patient to treat arange of illnesses and medical conditions, are a vital and integral componentof medicine today - promising treatment of tissue degenerative diseases,cancer, and autoimmune disorders.

However, significant challenges currently exist to prevent itswidespread adoption including problems such as safety, potency, efficacy, andcosts. To overcome these challenges, the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Researchand Technology (SMART), together with A*STAR Institutes and supported by theNational Research Foundation (NRF), has launched a new national initiative inSingapore that deploys MIT's globally renowned applied innovation methodologycombined with Singapore's dynamic and growing biopharmaceutical manufacturingindustry.

As part of the national initiative in cell manufacturing, CAMP is a newinterdisciplinary research group within SMART that will focus on ways to produce living cells as medicine delivered to humans, leading toimproved health outcomes. The National Research Foundation will support thismulti-million, multi-year project that will bring together 35 MIT and Singaporeinvestigators. They will berecruited from researchers working in SMART and Singapore institutes includingA*STAR, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, the National University Hospitaland local universities. Investigators from MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts willalso be recruited to support the programme.

"This is a field that is ripe for innovation, and one which we believewill benefit from both MIT's and Singapore's strengths," said EugeneFitzgerald, CEO and Director of SMART. "By applying our problem-solvingresearch methodology, coupled with Singapore's well-established biopharmaceuticalmanufacturing ecosystem, we are confident that we will be able to achievemarket-ready breakthroughs."

Since its inception in Singapore in 2007, SMART has pioneeredinnovations that have transformed and are transforming fields such asautonomous driving, agriculture, microelectronics, mechanics and microfluidicsplatforms for biology and medical diagnostics, and antimicrobial resistance.

SMART CAMP will be helmed byProfessor Krystyn Van Vliet of MIT and Professor Hanry Yu of NUS and A*STAR. Professor Van Vliet is an engineerwith expertise at the interface of materials, mechanics, and biological systemsand is an experienced leader, currently serving as the Associate Provost andthe Director of Manufacturing Innovation at MIT. Her current research stemmingfrom earlier SMART collaborations is in clinical trials at the SingaporeGeneral Hospital, and the prior SMART team that she led has spun off severalMedTech companies in Singapore.      

Professor Van Vliet explained, "Byaddressing critical technology bottlenecks in how the next generation ofpersonalised medicines is made, SMART CAMP researchers will help set thestandards for innovating on quality by design. Imagine providing just the rightliving cells -- the most sophisticated drug factories we know -- to each patient,as quickly and safely as possible. Delivering on that promise requires excitingchanges in the way we understand, engineer, measure, and select cells thatoffer a safe and effective medicine for that person's ailment. And that goal,in turn, benefits from this investment in the research and researchers that cantransform the manufacturing and analytics of biopharma products."      

Professor Yu is a physiologist with expertise interface betweenmechanobiology, biomaterials, imaging and AI-based data analytics. He is also aserial entrepreneur, recently forming six companies, and the founding member ofthe Mechanobiology Institute Research Centre of Excellence in Singapore.

"This programme integrates expertsfrom various disciplines, training staff and students who can think through thetranslational pipelines from basic knowledge and technology into commerciallyviable and clinically relevant solutions", said Professor Yu.

"There is a global need for safe and cost-effective cell therapies,"said Dr. Khiang Wee Lim, Executive Director of CREATE, NRF. "We believe that itis an area in which Singapore can provide innovation space and bring thesetransformational technologies to millions around the world. Advances in thisarea will also boost Singapore's biopharmaceutical industry, bringinginnovations and helping gain a lead in this promising market that is estimatedto be worth billions."

About Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART)

Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) is MIT's Research Enterprise in Singapore, established by theMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in partnership with the NationalResearch Foundation of Singapore (NRF) since 2007.  SMART is the first entity in the Campus forResearch Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) developed by NRF.  SMART servesas an intellectual and innovation hub for research interactionsbetween MIT and Singapore. Cutting-edge research projects in areas of interestto both Singapore and MIT are undertaken at SMART. SMART currently comprises anInnovation Centre and six Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs):Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), BioSystems and Micromechanics (BioSyM), Critical Analytics forManufacturing Personalized-Medicine (CAMP), Disruptive & SustainableTechnologies for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP), Future Urban Mobility (FM)and Low Energy Electronic Systems (LEES).

SMART research is funded by the National Research Foundation Singapore underthe CREATE programme.  For moreinformation, please visit - https://smart.mit.edu