SINGAPORE – When Covid-19 hit, it took two years for research on how the disease affected patients with lung diseases here to be published, too late for it to have an impact on how the disease was treated, recalled Associate Professor Sanjay Chotirmall, vice-dean of research at the Nanyang Technological University’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine).
This sparked the idea that Singapore should have a collection of lung tissue that can inform its efforts if the Republic faces the outbreak of another disease, he said.
Such a repository could not only contribute to pandemic preparedness, but could also be used for the development of personalised treatments, research into lung diseases, drug screening and testing of new treatments, said Prof Chotirmall, who is also associate professor in molecular medicine at LKCMedicine and a clinician at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
A national repository of advanced respiratory tissue models is now being developed by The Academic Respiratory Initiative for Pulmonary Health (TARIPH), a centre under LKCMedicine.
It will be developed over three years, during which some 200 samples will be collected from various ethnicities and age groups, including those at greater risk of infection such as children and the elderly.
A computer screen displaying airway basal stem cells in the initial expansion phase, photographed at LKCMedicine’s cell tissue culture lab.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
TARIPH is working in collaboration with the Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness and REsponse (PREPARE), a national research and development initiative under the Communicable Diseases Agency.
LKCMedicine will lead the scientific development of the repository, including the collection, processing and analysis of human lung samples.
Meanwhile PREPARE will ensure quality control and house the repository in the long term, as well as ensure it serves Singapore’s broader pandemic preparedness needs.
The specimens will eventually be available to both local and international researchers for academic purposes.
