Press statement by Prof Soo Khee Chee, Director, NCCS on the occasion of Prof Teh Bin Tean, Director of NCCS-Van Andel Research Institute receiving The Singapore Translational Research (STaR) Investigator Award
Tuesday, 3 Nov 2009
Singapore, 3 Nov 2009 – The National Cancer Centre Singapore congratulates Prof Teh Bin Tean and his team for receiving the prestigious STaR Award. It underscores the twin objectives of NCCS’ collaboration with the Van Andel Research Institute Translational Research Laboratory in the US.
NCCS focus has always been to source and bring to Singapore world renowned clinician scientists as well as to establish working relations with the best medical institutions in cancer research and treatment, said Prof Soo Khee Chee, NCCS Director.
It is NCCS’ mission to bring talent to our country and provide opportunities for our own scientists and doctors to interact and work with these international experts so that we can become a global centre for the research and treatment of cancer. It is in this vein also that NCCS has been regularly inviting other award winning world class scientists, including Nobel Prize winners, to the Humphrey Oei Distinguished Lecture Series. NCCS has also been sending its team of researchers, clinicians and surgeons for training and working exposure with the best cancer institutes in the US and Europe. Several of them have since returned to put their additional expertise to good use at NCCS.
For NCCS, Prof Teh’s research work will spin off into setting up working relationships with regional cancer centres. He will be establishing key regional and international collaborations in translational cancer research. This will enhance the status of Singapore as the regional hub for translational cancer research.
Prof Teh, who is one of the world’s leading kidney cancer research scientists and a pioneer in molecular profiling of kidney cancer, will delve on decoding the mechanism of drug resistance and the host factors of the patients to improve management of the cancer by physicians. The ultimate aim is to create customised treatments based on their impact on gene cells to benefit patients effectively.
“We are fortunate to have Prof Teh with NCCS since 2007, where he has actively trained his team and brought the VARI translational research culture to our laboratories. An added significance is that Prof Teh hails from South East Asia and is thus a good example to give encouragement and hope to our local researchers and clinician scientists. They need to work relentlessly on their projects and the highest pedestal in medical research is within their reach as demonstrated by Prof Teh’s achievements,” said Prof Soo.
Currently, the NCCS has active collaborations in training and research with other institutions in neighbouring countries such as India (the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology and Regional Cancer Centre both based in Thiruvananthapuram), the UK (Manchester Cancer Research Centre, University of Manchester and the Cancer Research, University of Bristol, University of College London), among others. NCCS is 3 the Secretariat for the Asian National Cancer Centre Alliance, a collaborative effort of 13 national cancer centres in the region. The member-nations are China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Pakistan, Singapore Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Indonesia, Nepal and Turkey.
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