Singapore launches National University Centre for Genomic Medicine (NUGEM)

Photo credit: NUHS

The National University Health System (NUHS) unvieiled the NUHS Scientific and Innovation Summit 2026 on 1-2 April in Singapore. This biennial flagship event serves as a platform to showcase Singapore's scientific and clinical research capabilities while facilitating the exchange of knowledge and best practices in medical science. Over 600 international and local healthcare professionals, scientists, and opinion leaders will convene to shape the future of healthcare. 

The National University Health System (NUHS) showcased how advances in genomics, data science and digital health are accelerating Singapore’s shift towards predictive, personalised and precise healthcare at the  cluster’s biennial Scientific and Innovation Summit.

The Summit brought together clinicians, scientists and healthcare leaders across  various disciplines to demonstrate how health is being reimagined – by detecting health risks earlier, tailoring interventions more precisely, and ensuring safer, more  effective care for patients and the population at large.    Article by :Hithaishi Bhaskar

Launch of the National University Centre for Genomic Medicine (NUGEM)

A key highlight of the Summit was the launch of the National University Centre for Genomic Medicine (NUGEM), marking a major step in NUHS’s effort to embed  genomics into everyday care. This will strengthen early diagnosis, enabling tailored  therapies, and ensuring safer, more precise prescribing across the health system. 

“From public health experts modelling risk trajectories using population data across  the life course, to digital health teams advancing digital‑first preventive care through  wearables and real‑time monitoring, the Summit is highlighting how proactive,  data‑driven insights are closing care gaps between hospital visits and enabling earlier  action,” said Professor Roger Foo, Co-Chair of the NUHS Scientific and Innovation  Summit Organising Committee. 

Clinicians and scientists also showcased breakthroughs in reshaping precision  diagnosis and treatment. Oral frailty studies, for example, are revealing how oral health  signals systemic health and opens the door to personalised care. Pathogen genome  sequencing research by infectious diseases experts also helps to uncover hidden  transmission patterns and cut diagnostic time more than fivefold to just 24 hours,  strengthening infection containment efforts. 

Hope made tangible 

At NUHS, genomics is already making a real difference in the lives of patients by  supporting them through various critical and deeply personal decisions. Each story  reflects how genetic insights can change a patient’s trajectory or offer clarity, certainty  and hope when it matters most.

• Life‑saving diagnosis and treatment in fulminant infection: Immunologic  and genetic testing in the ICU uncovered a new immune defect affecting  pathogen-killing in a young woman who was critically ill with a severe bacterial  infection and had been non-responsive to conventional treatment over five  weeks. The discovery enabled doctors to administer targeted immune augmenting therapy that brought her off life support in days, and she has since  recovered. 

• Supporting patients across their life course: A newly married young woman  diagnosed with neonatal diabetes as a baby underwent updated genetic testing  to confirm the gene variant she carried, enabling her and her husband to  undergo in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) with pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT‑M1). She welcomed a healthy baby girl in 2025. 

• Uncovering a hidden risk: Genetic testing revealed a serious inherited kidney  condition in an otherwise healthy mother after her first child was diagnosed at  birth. With this knowledge, she was able to undergo IVF with PGT-M for her  second pregnancy. She later welcomed a second child who does not carry the  condition. 
• Ending a diagnostic odyssey: After years without answers, new genetic  testing technology may soon help a young man with suspected Alport  syndrome – a hereditary kidney condition that can cause kidney failure and  hearing loss – secure a definitive diagnosis. This will help guide treatment and  clarify prognosis without the need for more unnecessary and painful tests, such  as a kidney biopsy. 

Making medicines safer 

Another focus at NUHS is pharmacogenomics, which uses a patient’s genetic profile  to guide medication choice and dosage, helping doctors to prescribe more safely and  1 PGT-M refers to pre-implantation genetic testing for monogenic / single gene defects. effectively. With over 99 per cent of local patients carrying variants that influence drug  response, early identification of these variants can help doctors avoid adverse drug  reactions and ensure patients receive medications that are most effective for them.  

NUGEM plans to expand pre‑emptive pharmacogenomic panel testing so that genetic  insights can inform prescribing decisions before treatment begins. More than 2,000  patients have undergone pharmacogenomics testing at NUHS, with plans to scale  towards preventive, population‑level use.  

Bringing better insights to the patients 

Within the next two decades, it is estimated that one‑third of clinic encounters across NUHS may involve conversations around genomics or precision medicine. NUGEM is  the bridge that transforms and conveys the genomic or precision medicine insights  from research and Singapore’s National Precision Medicine Programme to the patients  and families.  

Beyond genomics, the Summit also highlighted NUHS’s broader ecosystem of  innovation, spanning population health research, digital preventive care, antimicrobial  stewardship, ageing science and precision diagnostics. 

“Behind every project shared at the Summit is a patient whose life can be changed for  the better. As we scale genomics and other emerging tools across our system, our  goal remains simple: to give every person the right care at the right time, guided by the  best possible insight,” said Associate Professor David Tan, Co-Chair of the NUHS  Scientific and Innovation Summit Organising Committee.

Hithaishi Bhaskar