Editorial Features

  The women pushing frontiers in precision medicine: (left to right) top row: Claire Bellis, Foo Jia Nee, Li Jingmei; second row: Marie Loh, Neerja Karnani, Sonia Davila, Yasmin Bylstra. In celebration of International Women’s Month, meet seven women who are advancing precision medicine in Singapore.   Across social, economic and political spheres, diversity and […]

Precision medicine is elevating preventative healthcare by offering a nuanced understanding of individual disease risk and opening the door to novel methods of screening.   In 2018, a person diagnosed with breast cancer in Singapore had a 60% greater likelihood of surviving than a person diagnosed 40 years earlier. Despite the number of breast cancer […]

  Diseases with a unique genetic basis in Asian populations reveal opportunities for precision public health approaches in the region.   Our genetic makeup, environmental conditions and lifestyle habits are responsible for the myriad of differences that make us individuals. These differences include even our susceptibility to disease: some illnesses, for example, are more likely […]

  From early insights into regional variations in drug response to an ambitious transnational project to consolidate genomic data, 2021 saw advances in precision medicine across the board.    Nearly twenty years after the human genome was first sequenced, advances in genomics research have grown by leaps and bounds. Aided in part by the shrinking […]

  A quick guide on Asia’s renowned large-scale population genomics studies that push frontiers for precision medicine approaches to improve population health.    

  A discovery revealing the association between a common genetic variation and allergic responses could facilitate precision treatments and better outcomes for asthma.   As the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to stretch into its third year, most of us have grown acutely aware of our breathing, with even slight difficulties in respiration raising alarm bells. But […]

  By analysing vast amounts of biomedical data, bioinformaticians play a crucial role in translating insights to clinical impact in precision medicine, says Assistant Professor Lim Weng Khong, Director of Bioinformatics at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Genomic Medicine Centre.   When it comes to data, our genetic codes are a veritable treasure trove. According to the […]

  Patient-empowering approaches like genetic counselling could help usher in the era of precision oncogenomics, say experts at the inaugural Hereditary Cancer Symposium organised by Tan Tock Seng Hospital.   Prevention is better than cure. That may be a commonly heard refrain and one that seems to embody the very concept of genetic counselling: using […]

  The largest meta-analysis of people of East Asian origin to date is adding to a growing genetics resource on type 2 diabetes and bolstering precision medicine efforts in the region.   In the early 20th century, diabetes was a death sentence, leaving sufferers an average of just one year to live. But in 1921, […]

  A genetics-based approach for tailoring patients’ initial dose of the blood thinner warfarin could make the dosing process more efficient—even in Asia’s genetically diverse population.   Despite its humble beginnings as a rat poison, warfarin has risen to become a widely used drug for preventing blood clots in patients at risk of strokes or […]