Synaesthesia

biologist in Singapore? Singapore is an extremely attractive place to live and work for both Asians and non-Asians. English is spoken by everyone and it has become a very appealing place for Asian (typically, but not exclusively, Chinese and Indian) and non-Asian (from North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand) researchers trained elsewhere to move to. For the Asians, this is home or close to home, while non-Asians get to experience a different culture, by living and working here. There has also been a tremendous push to raise the profile of life sciences in schools and colleges. Various scholarship and fellowship schemes have been instituted by governmental and private agencies to encourage more Singaporeans to take up higher education in the life sciences. By capitalizing on all these features, Singapore hopes to make life-science-based industry a major focus of its economy. The government, as well as other organizations have invested a great deal into the life sciences. The ‘Agency for Science, Technology and Research’ has been mandated with effecting the biomedical revolution and runs a number of institutes carrying out biomedical research. Then there are the universities, which are also involved in life science research. I work in an exceptional institute — the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory — run by Drosophila cell biologist Bill Chia. We broadly focus on cellular and developmental biology, where our investigators are involved in curiosity-driven-research using a variety of model organisms, covering plant, animal, fungi and bacteria. The majority of activity in all research organizations is in training manpower and in generating intellectual property. The impact of Singapore’s life science investments on biotechnology industry and economy should come soon and this will make it satisfying for everyone involved. I certainly think we are moving in the right direction.