Jointly set up by NTU and Imperial College London, the school has identified four key areas of research: metabolic diseases, neuroscience and mental health, dermatology and skin biology, and infectious diseases such as dengue.

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Here is the press release from NTU in full:

Nanyang Technological University (NTU) today unveiled the integrated research strategy of its Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, aimed at addressing Singapore's key health challenges. Jointly set up by NTU and Imperial College London, the School welcomed its first intake of 54 students in August last year.

The medical school's research strategy, which draws on NTU's and Imperial's excellent track record of reaping synergies between medicine, science and technology, comprises four themes: Infectious Disease, Metabolic Disease, Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Dermatology and Skin Biology. These four research themes are underpinned by the cross-cutting technology platforms in Developmental Biology, Structural Biology, Metabolomics and Sequencing Technologies, and Translational Imaging and Health Services Outcome Research.

NTU President Professor Bertil Andersson today announced the school's integrated research strategy and introduced influential world-class scientist and scientific leader Professor Philip Ingham FRS as the school's Vice-Dean of Research. A Fellow of the Royal Society and the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, Professor Ingham is widely credited for his ground-breaking work in modelling human disease in the zebrafish. His research has provided fundamental insights into cell signalling in the developing embryo, in particular the Hedgehog signalling pathway, and has relevance both to regenerative medicine and cancer.

Professor Bertil Andersson says, "NTU now has a formidable life sciences cluster, with the medical school, the School of Biological Sciences, the Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE) and a new structural biology research centre headed by Professor Daniela Rhodes FRS, formerly from Cambridge University. Promising inter-disciplinary research between our new medical school and other NTU schools has already started. With Professor Philip Ingham FRS leading a team of global experts and a research strategy focused on Singapore needs, we can expect NTU's research in healthcare to serve the population's needs well into the future."

Having a medical school with a world-class research strategy will further boost NTU's known strengths in biomedical engineering that has produced a number of breakthroughs and world's firsts over the years, such as the world's smallest piezoelectric heart pump in 2003 invented by NTU Provost, Professor Freddy Boey. His second invention in 2004 is a fully biodegradable coronary stent, co-developed with Professor Subbu Venkatraman from NTU, which has been successfully implanted in human patients. Another example of a world's first from NTU is a pair of endoscopy robotic arms used for removing stomach tumours without surgery developed by NTU's Associate Professor Louis Phee.

Research with Singaporeans in mind

The medical school has identified four research themes in which it could best achieve research excellence, against a backdrop of Singapore's ageing population and an understanding of the healthcare needs of Singaporeans accustomed to a modern lifestyle.

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NTU medical school to research on healthcare needs of Singapore's ageing population