With co-funding from the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF), SingaScope is one of the four National Shared Platforms supported by A*STAR’s Research Support Centre that aims to provide open access to essential technological resources, enabling researchers in their work.
From developing homegrown COVID-19 diagnostic kits like Fortitude to identifying novel SARS-CoV-2 mutations, Singapore’s steady investments into its biomedical sector clearly paid off during the pandemic. By the time COVID-19 hit the Republic’s shores, local and international players in the country’s buzzing biomedical scene were ready to rise to the occasion—enabling Singapore’s robust pandemic response.
This article introduces the four national platforms. True to their name, these platforms are available to researchers nationwide—in hope of collectively advancing Singapore’s scientific contributions for the benefit of mankind.
Through SingaScope, scientists across Singapore can leverage on sophisticated equipment and microscopy expertise to advance groundbreaking biomedical research.
Photo credit: A*STAR Microscopy Platform
SingaScope: Pushing the boundaries of microscopy
Now an indispensable research tool in laboratories worldwide, microscopes have revolutionized the sciences by rendering visible what was once hidden in plain sight. SingaScope is a microscopy infrastructure network brings the benefits of microscopy to researchers across the country—combining the A*STAR Microscopy Platform with resources like SingHealth’s Advanced Bioimaging as well as the Centre for Bioimaging Sciences and Singapore Microscopy and Bioimage Analysis at the National University of Singapore (NUS). The network also includes the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU) Optical Bio-imaging Centre consisting of the Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE) and the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine.
With over 60 high-end microscopes housed across four research organizations, SingaScope offers instrumentation and expertise to support and enable live-cell imaging, 3D imaging, molecular imaging, ultrastructural microscopy, superresolution microscopy and more.
“To see a researcher from any other institution coming to use the instruments within A*STAR is a real pleasure,” commented Dr. Graham Wright, RSC Acting Director and founding member of SingaScope. “Particularly if they couldn’t have done their experiment otherwise.”
From clockwise, the Immunomonitoring Service platform, the largest flow facility in Southeast Asia with eleven analyzers and eight sorters; SingMass offers scientists in Singapore and Southeast Asian a one-stop solution for mass spectrometry applications; scientists at the Translational Pathology Consortium bridge the gap between Singapore’s scientific and biomedical ecosystem by providing extensive pathology expertise.
Immunomonitoring Service Platform, SingMass and Translational Pathology Consortium
The other three national platforms include 1) the Immunomonitoring Service Platform, the largest flow cytometry platform in Southeast Asia, providing a full spectrum of research services including multiplex analysis of proteins (MAP), immunogenomics, mass cytometry and computational immunology, 2) the Singapore National Laboratory for Mass Spectrometry (SingMass) offering mass spectrometry applications, as well as 3) the Translational Pathology Consortium (TPC) that provides pathology and veterinary diagnostic services.
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