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PREPARE

4. Diagnostics

Meet our Diagnostics team

Last updated on 16 October 2026

The Diagnostics Co-operative led by Dr Weng Ruifen aims to enable the rapid adaptation and deployment of fit-for-purpose diagnostics within 100 days of an outbreak. It advances deployment-ready diagnostic solutions while building an early-stage R&D pipeline, with emphasis on point-of-care molecular, antigen and serology solutions.

Lead

Image of Dr Weng Ruifen

Dr Ruifen WENG

Dr Ruifen WENG leads the PREPARE Diagnostics Co-operative. She is also the Chief Executive Officer of Diagnostics Development (DxD) Hub, a national platform hosted by Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). DxD Hub is Singapore’s national platform on diagnostics product development and commercialization. During COVID-19 pandemic, DxD Hub helped to develop and deploy a number of COVID-19 diagnostics products within weeks.

Key personnel

Profile picture of Edmund Lui

Dr Edmund LUI

Dr Edmund LUI is a Principal Scientist at Diagnostics Development (DxD) Hub, A*STAR. He supports the PREPARE Diagnostics Co-operative’s portfolio management and the translation of research and development into deployable diagnostic capabilities, aligned with national preparedness priorities.

Our goals

  1. To establish and sustain an integrated infectious disease diagnostic development co-operative with multidisciplinary R&D capabilities.

  2. To strengthen linkages across the diagnostics development pathway, from research prototypes to deployment ready solutions, in support of priority pandemic diagnostic use cases.

  3. To advance promising diagnostic solutions towards deployment readiness by strengthening translation, ecosystem, supply-chain and implementation readiness.

  4. To enable the rapid adaptation and deployment of fit-for-purpose diagnostics within 100 days of an outbreak.

Our strategy

The Diagnostics Co-operative will advance pandemic diagnostics preparedness through two complementary areas:

  1. Technology and Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Development

    • Support targeted R&D projects to identify and develop, guided by pandemic use case-informed Target Product Profiles (TPPs), promising diagnostic technologies for priority pandemic use cases.

    • Advance selected technologies and MVPs towards deployment readiness, informed by public health needs and implementation considerations.

  2. Core Capability Building

    • Sustain the Microbiology Platform and associated reference-material capabilities to support assay development, validation and laboratory quality control.

    • Strengthen diagnostic evaluation and evidence-generation frameworks to support informed development and deployment decisions.

Our collaborations

The Diagnostics Co-operative works with the other PREPARE Co-operatives, PREPARE Cores as well as the larger research and innovation ecosystem to strengthen complementary capabilities across diagnostics development, validation and preparedness research.