New $15M biomarker lab planned for Singapore

Los Angeles-based ImaginAb is slated to collaborate with Duke-NUS Graduate School of Medicine and National Research Foundation Corp Lab on a $15 million imaging biomarker lab, ImaginAb announced Feb. 10.

ImaginAb focuses on antibody-based biomarkers for oncologic and immuno-imaging, which will be researched and developed at the new lab.

The project entails new facilities at the Singapore General Hospital biomedical sciences campus for protein engineering and the development of molecular imaging technology. The lab will be integrated into Duke-NUS's existing research programs with initiatives in neurobiology and immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases and cancer and stem cell biology.

"The IBDL is a significant addition to ImaginAb's translational research capabilities in cancer and immunology,” said Anna M. Wu, PhD, co-founder and Chief Scientist of ImaginAb. "Through the IBDL collaboration, we can develop and validate new molecular imaging probes in a pathogen-free environment. This should support significant research in cancer immunology – including cell therapies – and inflammatory diseases, all of which require very sophisticated models and a highly controlled research setting."

The facilities are expected to be made available for industry partners and members of academia with common goals of developing therapies for cancer and immuno-disease.

“We have high expectations that molecular imaging will become a key facet of precision medicine and has the potential to significantly advance our existing disease biology and biomarker platforms," noted Patrick J. Casey, PhD, senior vice dean of research at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. "Joint industry-academic partnerships can add tremendous value to research programs, infrastructure and create new learning opportunities. Both ImaginAb and Duke-NUS have many international biopharma collaborators that are also keen to access these new capabilities.”