18 December 2019 | News
Three projects have been awarded in a grant call on cell therapy
image credit- healtheuropa.au
Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) and Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have jointly selected three outstanding R&D projects in the field of “Cell Therapy – a focus on quality, efficacy and safety”. This is the second joint grant call launched under the MoC signed by AMED and A*STAR in March 2016.
This program is conducted as part of the Strategic International Collaborative Research Program (SICORP) of AMED.
Overview
The SICORP program provides support for international joint research projects on the basis of equal partnership in countries, regions, and fields of cooperation that have been designated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), in collaboration with funding agencies in the countries concerned. The program aims to contribute solutions to challenges facing the world today and to bolster Japan’s scientific and technological capabilities through collaboration with a broad range of countries.
A*STAR has established numerous links with many Japan public organisations, including AMED, as well as high-technology R&D companies. With this joint grant call, A*STAR continues to extend and deepen partnerships with key Japanese organisations in the area of cell therapy. Early-stage investigators from Japan and Singapore will have the opportunity to leverage the expertise of both nations to tackle shared problem statements in cell therapy.
AMED and A*STAR jointly launched the grant call on May 7th, 2019. 12 proposals were received by the close of applications on July 2nd, 2019. The evaluation committee identified three highly meritorious projects (See “List of Awardees” below).
List of Awardees
Project | Country | Affiliation | Principal Investigator |
Developing a safe and potentially efficacious piggyBac-based CAR-T cell strategy for virus-related cancers |
Japan | Shinshu University, School of Medicine | Assistant Professor, Shoji Saito |
Singapore | National Cancer Center Singapore | Research Fellow, Timothy Wai Ho Shuen | |
Large-scale Preparation of Hair Follicle Germs using Hydrogel Bioprinting |
Japan | Kanagawa Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (KISTEC) | Researcher, Tatsuto Kageyama |
Singapore | Singapore University of Technology and Design | Assistant Professor, Michinao Hashimoto | |
Human stem cell-derived pancreatic beta cells for the treatment of diabetes |
Japan | Yokohama City University, Graduate School of Medicine | Assistant Professor, Jun Shirakawa |
Singapore | Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) | Principal Investigator, Adrian Kee Keong Teo |