News

Recently, two of the world’s most prestigious medical journals each retracted an article about treatment of patients with COVID-19. In a ScienceTalk contribution to The Straits Times, Associate Professor Mikael Hartman and Professor Lee Chuen Neng elaborated on the process of the publication and dissemination of scientific work, and discussed how critical errors can be missed when journals publish hastily generated reports. The peer review process is a lengthy one that ensures high-quality work is published in the best, most transparent and fairest way. Papers usually go through several iterationsRead more

Tychan, a biotechnology firm based in Singapore, has developed a monoclonal antibody, TY027, as a potential treatment for COVID-19. It will embark on phase one of its human clinical trials next week. Monoclonal antibodies are immune system proteins that are created in the laboratory, and can be specially engineered to target and inactivate a virus before it causes an infection. “Cells are engineered to produce this single antibody in large numbers to be delivered as a therapeutic,” said Assistant Professor October Sessions. “This makes it different from other antibody treatments,Read more

Dengue infections this year surged past the 10,000 mark this week. The National Environment Agency (NEA) said on its website: “This is the highest number of cases for the same period of the year since 2013, the largest outbreak year recorded in Singapore’s recent history.” As we enter the traditional dengue peak season (typically from May to October), NEA warned that weekly dengue case numbers are likely to continue to rise, with the warmer weather facilitating growth of the Aedes mosquito population and transmission of the dengue virus. A combinationRead more

Researchers have developed a model that can estimate regional disease burden and the impact of vaccination, even in the absence of robust surveillance data, a study in eLife reveals. The report highlights areas that would have the greatest benefit from initiating a vaccination programme against the virus, Japanese encephalitis (JE). This will in turn guide rational assessment of the cost and benefit of vaccinations, and support policymaker decisions on allocating vaccines. JE is a viral infection of the brain transmitted by mosquitoes. It is endemic in Asia-Pacific countries, with threeRead more

More than 370,000 people worldwide have succumbed to COVID-19 and the toll continues to rise as the virus spreads globally. While many have compared the current pandemic to SARS, experts now believe that the disease will be around for some time, unlike the latter. “If it (COVID-19) were as severe as SARS, it would be much more controllable, and far fewer people (in absolute numbers) would have died and be yet to die. COVID-19 is possibly at the worst point on the severity spectrum – mild enough that it canRead more

Some may perceive Phase One of Singapore’s three-phase exit of its ‘circuit breaker’ as a mere extension, with many existing restrictions to continue. But these restrictions are needed because we have merely averted a tsunami, wrote Professor Chia Kee Seng and PhD student Ms Ong Suan Ee in a commentary for The Straits Times. They warned that Singaporeans must be mentally prepared not just for a second wave, but for multiple waves that may be the new normal for the foreseeable future. If we are not careful, if we abandonRead more

In the largest non-European diabetes genetics study, an international team of researchers identified 61 new genetic variants associated with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) in East Asians. Findings include discovery of variants near genes involved in skeletal muscle and pancreatic functions, as well as in alcohol metabolism, and also in genes linked to higher levels of fat around the belly in East Asian individuals. These genes had not been linked with T2D before and may help explain why — among people of similar body mass index (BMI) or waist circumference — theRead more

Associate Professor Helena Legido-Quigley was recently appointed Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier’s new Journal of Migration and Health, and was profiled in The Lancet last week, focusing on her work in health systems and passion for global health. “This is incredibly exciting for me, as the health of migrants is my passion, and no other journal has its main focus on this important component of global health,” she said. She commented on Singapore’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year: “It was striking how well Singapore was prepared, a legacy fromRead more

Earlier this week, the multi-ministry taskforce announced a three-phase transition to a ‘new normal’, as the next step in Singapore’s fight against COVID-19. As Singapore exits its ‘circuit breaker’ on 2 June, schools will reopen progressively and a third of the workforce will return to their workplaces. Dean, Professor Teo Yik Ying said that the phased transition “is a very prudent approach” as it allows us to determine which sector is contributing to any resurgence in cases. “We are testing to see what works and what doesn’t, and if weRead more

The School congratulates Dr Margaret Chan, the former Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) and esteemed SSHSPH alumna (Class of ’85, MSc Public Health and Occupational Medicine) on being appointed the inaugural Dean of Vanke School of Public Health at Tsinghua University. Assuming the role and responsibilities as Dean, Dr Chan and the School’s list of distinguished faculty will focus on training the next generation of leaders to shape and strengthen the public health policy in China. The newly established school will also contribute towards China’s public health emergenciesRead more

Over the past week, an average of 700 cases were reported daily that were linked to foreign worker dormitories. Even as the number of dormitory-linked cases continues to rise, Vice Dean (Research), Associate Professor Alex Cook said the situation is better than originally expected and “the number of cases is consistently lower in reality than what the models say it should have been”. He said that this could be interpreted either pessimistically, that not all cases are detected yet due to a lack of capacity, or optimistically, that the curveRead more

Vaccination or immunisation is considered one of the greatest public health interventions in the world, saving millions of lives a year. For World Immunisation Week, which falls on the last week of April every year, Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, Programme Leader (Infectious Diseases), penned a commentary on immunisation, how vaccines work and are developed, and why a COVID-19 vaccine is no magic bullet. In an ideal situation, we are able to develop a COVID-19 vaccine that provides universal lifelong protection. But this may not be the case and theRead more