For Industry

1.      Agilent and National Heart Centre Singapore Sign Agreement to Advance Metabolic Heart Failure Research:

NHCS has entered a five-year collaboration with Agilent Technologies, integrating cutting-edge Seahorse XF Flex Analyzer technology with the centre's established expertise in human cardiac organoids and patient-specific iPSC research to advance innovation in metabolic heart failure research. This partnership enhances NHCS' Preclinical Platform for Development of Therapeutics for Heart Failure (PREVENT-HF) by enabling real-time metabolic analysis in 3D heart tissues, allowing detection of the earliest changes in cardiac cell energy usage before visible damage occurs.

Drawing from NHCS' established success in translating iPSC discoveries into clinical practice, including therapeutic targets now being evaluated in clinical studies— This collaboration strengthens the centre's capacity to support innovative cardiovascular therapeutic development and provides robust platforms for accelerating drug discovery in conditions such as diabetic heart failure and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, exemplifying NHCS' commitment to leverage on advanced technology platforms that support both research excellence and collaborative opportunities with industry partners.

(from right) Asst. Prof Chrishan Ramachandra, Principal Investigator of National Heart Research Institute Singapore (NHRIS) at National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS), Prof. Derek Hausenloy, Director of NHRIS at NHCS, Dr Charmian Cher, Associate Vice President of Field Marketing for APAC at Agilent, and Dr Samir Vyas, Associate Vice President of Sales for APAC at Agilent, during the signing ceremony at Biopolis in Singapore.

2.      ​Bats Reveal Superior Adaptation to Endure Heart Stress: National Heart Centre Singapore Partners Paratus Sciences Singapore To Accelerate Heart Failure Care:

Researchers from National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS) have conducted a groundbreaking pilot study revealing that bat hearts possess superior adaptability to stress compared to other mammals. In collaboration with Duke-NUS Medical School, the team administered dobutamine to both bats and mice to test heart pumping strength under stress, finding that bats demonstrated significantly increased cardiac performance. This enhanced capability is attributed to bats' unique physiology as the only flying mammals, which requires them to maintain prolonged periods of high heart rates during flight, supported by special genes that enable DNA repair and cell renewal for disease protection.

Building on these findings, NHCS has partnered with Paratus Sciences Singapore through the "PREVENT-HF" research platform to advance heart failure prevention research. The collaboration aims to investigate bat heart physiology further and translate these insights into human treatments, particularly for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Using NHCS's expertise in creating patient-specific miniature human heart models and Paratus's proprietary platform that leverages bat biology for drug discovery, the partnership seeks to identify and validate factors that help bat hearts adapt to stress, with the goal of developing new therapies to improve outcomes for heart failure patients. This groundbreaking research presents exciting opportunities for organisations interested in exploring innovative approaches to cardiovascular health and therapeutic development.

3.      Mirxes collaborates with NUHCS and NHCS to launch Southeast Asia’s first Asian-focused multi-center study to advance pulmonary hypertension early detection:

NHCS has partnered with Mirxes and NUHCS to launch SPHERE (Singapore Pulmonary Hypertension Early detection with miRNA biomarkErs), Southeast Asia's first multi-centre study focused on identifying microRNA biomarkers for early detection of pulmonary hypertension in Asian populations. This collaboration addresses a critical research gap, as pulmonary hypertension studies in the region have been significantly lacking compared to Western data, despite the disease affecting 20 to 70 million people globally with devastating mortality rates exceeding 40 per cent due to delayed diagnosis averaging three years. NHCS contributes high-quality patient cohorts and clinical expertise to develop non-invasive blood-based diagnostic tests using advanced miRNA technology, leveraging Singapore's genetically diverse population to validate biomarkers specifically relevant to Southeast Asian populations.

The study demonstrates our capacity to co-lead cutting-edge biomarker discovery programmes that bridge the gap between Western-developed diagnostics and Asian population needs, positioning the centre as a strategic partner for biotechnology companies seeking clinical validation platforms and access to well-characterised patient populations for developing precision medicine technologies with significant commercial potential in the rapidly growing Asian healthcare market.

1. National Heart Centre Singapore and Mayo Clinic to Advance Cardiovascular Care and Research:

NHCS has established a collaborative partnership with Mayo Clinic under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to accelerate cardiovascular innovation and research, combining Mayo Clinic's global expertise with NHCS' deep understanding of Asian cardiovascular health. This collaboration focuses on three key priority areas: Cardio-oncology care for the growing burden of heart and cancer conditions in Asia; Innovative healthcare solutions including AI-enabled digital biomarkers and Cardiac imaging leveraging on NHCS' extensive cardiovascular database from the SingHeart study and aging and frailty research using advanced bio and digital markers.

The partnership positions NHCS to co-develop shared intellectual property, clinical protocols and guidelines that serve both Western and Asian populations. This strategic alliance demonstrates our capacity to engage in high-level international collaborations that accelerate innovation in cardiac care, foster cross-exchange of expertise and develop solutions tailored to specific population needs, making us an attractive partner for organisations seeking to advance cardiovascular research and technology development on a global scale.

(from left) Ng Choon Ta, Derek Hausenloy, Yeo Khung Keong, Paul Friedman, Amir Lerman

2. Duke-NUS and NHCS scientists first in the world to regenerate diseased kidney:

NHCS has collaborated with Duke-NUS Medical School and international partners in Germany to achieve a world-first breakthrough in kidney regeneration therapy, demonstrating the centre's capacity to contribute to cutting-edge biomedical research beyond cardiovascular medicine. This collaboration led to the discovery that blocking interleukin-11 (IL-11), a scar-regulating protein, enables damaged kidney cells to regenerate and restores impaired kidney function in preclinical models of acute and chronic kidney disease. The research (published in Nature Communications) addresses a critical global health challenge, particularly relevant to Singapore which ranks first worldwide for diabetes-induced kidney failure.

NHCS' participation in this multidisciplinary research demonstrates the centre's ability to leverage its clinical expertise and research infrastructure to support innovative therapeutic development across multiple disease areas, positioning the institution as an attractive partner for biotechnology companies and research organisations seeking to develop regenerative medicine technologies. This collaboration showcases NHCS' commitment to translational research that bridges laboratory discoveries with clinical applications, offering potential pathways for companies interested in developing novel therapeutic approaches for chronic diseases with significant unmet medical needs and substantial market potential.

3. Singapore clinician-scientist part of team winning £30m to end early death from killer heart diseases in global British Heart Foundation challenge:

An international research team called CureHeart, including Professor Stuart Cook from Duke-NUS Medical School and the National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS), has been awarded £30 million (approximately S$50 million) by the British Heart Foundation to develop injectable cures for genetic heart conditions. This landmark funding, the largest in the charity's 60-year history, aims to address inherited heart muscle diseases that kill young people, with an estimated one in 250 people worldwide carrying faulty genes that cause these conditions and a 50% risk of passing them to their children. In Singapore, where one in three deaths is due to heart disease or stroke, approximately 1,000 people die from sudden cardiac arrest annually, with half being under 60 years old.

The CureHeart team plans to use revolutionary gene-editing technologies, including ultra-precise CRISPR techniques called base and prime editing, to rewrite single mutations in heart cell DNA. Their multi-pronged approach includes correcting or silencing faulty genes that produce abnormal proteins, increasing production of healthy heart muscle proteins where genes are underactive, and treating fibrosis to improve heart function. Professor Cook's contribution focuses on exploring the role of interleukin 11 (IL11) protein in genetic heart muscle disease, building on his expertise in understanding genetic differences in Asian populations that impact cardiovascular disorders. The team believes these therapies could enter clinical trials within five years and be delivered through simple arm injections to stop disease progression or even cure genetic cardiomyopathies.