Happenings in Asia

Happenings in Asia

Asia continues to push forward as a leader in stem cell research. About 150 researchers met at the Asian Reproductive Biotechnology Conference held from November 2-7 in Bangkok, and approximately 500 scientists have been meeting at the Keystone Symposia in Singapore. A short article in Nature on the Bangkok conference reports that some European and American labs have trouble with the technology that is being used in Asian labs. On the other hand, because some Asian labs lack electricity supplies taken for granted by westerner, the Asian scientists have been forced to improvise creative solutions to problems such as storage of biological materials at room temperature. Asian scientists are eager to collaborate and share with each other.

Meanwhile in Singapore, research on cancer treatment is “in hyperdrive,” according to an article in The Straits Times. The Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) is working on identifying genes that cause cancer, and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) is doing research on killing the stem cells that cause cancer, rather than on the cancer cells which are incapable of proliferating. While things look promising, however, the scientists agreed that there is a lot of research yet to be done. Research dollars are an issue everywhere.