Two multi-institution and multidisciplinary Singapore teams of clinician-scientists and researchers have been awarded grants of S$25 million each, by the Singapore Ministry of Health (MoH) through the NMRC Office, MOH Holdings, under the NMRC Open Fund-Large Collaborative Grant (OF-LCG) programme.

The S$50 million support for cancer research establishes the SYMPHONY 2.0 and Colo-SCRIPT research programmes to drive precision oncology research in Singapore aimed at improving the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of lymphoma and colorectal cancer. 

Led by the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), in collaboration with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI Singapore) and the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine) at the National University of Singapore (NUS), the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS), the National University Hospital (NUH), Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and other institutions, the SYMPHONY 2.0 (Singapore lYMPHoma translatiONal studY 2.0) research programme will address unmet needs in Asian-centric lymphomas and improve patients’ outcomes by developing cost-effective, accessible, and innovative treatment modalities. 

The Colo-SCRIPT (Colorectal cancer subtype-specific research informs phenotypes, diagnostics & treatments) research programme is co-led by NCCS and A*STAR, in collaboration with institutions in the SingHealth-Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre, the National University Health System (NUHS), NUS, the National Healthcare Group (NHG) and NTU’s LKCMedicine, that will use a subtype-specific approach to improve the understanding of colorectal cancer so that for each subtype, the team can implement prevention and early detection strategies to reduce incidence, and test novel therapies in clinical trials.