7. Laboratory Research

The Laboratory Research Core led by Dr Conrad Chan functions to support PREPARE's five research co-operatives and aims to establish a biorepository for clinical samples and pathogen isolates along with their associated data that can be utilised for research.

Lead

Dr Conrad Chan is the Lead of the Laboratory Research Core. He is also the Deputy Lead of the Vaccines & Therapeutics Co-operative, and a Senior Principal Scientific Officer (PREPARE Laboratory) in CDA with a background in virology and immunology. He did his PhD in Immunology at National University of Singapore on the development of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies against viral pathogens. His research interests are in high containment laboratories, humoral immunity and serology, vaccine and therapeutic testing/evaluation and viral characterization and biobanking.

Key personnel

Dr Ng Yan Ling is a Senior Scientific Officer in the PREPARE Laboratory Research Core, Singapore.  She leads the in vitro team to develop protocols for and conduct viral isolation, culture, inactivation and antiviral testing in a high containment (BSL-3) environment. She also coordinates multiple research projects across PREPARE’s network of local and international collaborators to ensure that her team’s work can support Singapore’s research into pandemic disease threats.

Dr Fakhriedzwan Fitri Haji Idris is a Senior Scientific Officer at the in the PREPARE Laboratory Research Core, Singapore, where he leads the in vivo research team in a high containment (BSL-3) environment. In this role, he oversees the preclinical evaluation of vaccines and therapeutics targeting high-priority epidemic and pandemic pathogens, supporting multiple PREPARE collaborative projects and ensuring compliance with biosafety and IACUC ethical standards.

Our goals

• To develop, maintain and serve as a custodian of a national repository and reference collection of microbes of public health importance and associated biological/clinical specimens in Singapore

• To facilitate the research studies of microbes (genotypic and phenotypic characterization including resistance and virulence) to help inform public health and infection control efforts

• To support and encourage research in the development and verification of new diagnostic tests, therapeutics and technologies

Our strategy

• Provide secure and reliable long-term storage for pathogen and patient samples and their associated data

• Develop deep expertise in research methodologies such as pathogen isolation, culture, inactivation and characterization supported by on-site research laboratory and infrastructure

• Develop a network of local stakeholders to enable effective collection and utilization of samples

• Facilitate infectious disease and public health research for better health policies, disease knowledge and clinical care

Our collaborations

We work with both local and international private, government and academic research institutes to conduct sample collection and characterization of viral infection in humans, develop platform technologies for pathogen culture and characterization, and evaluate novel diagnostics and therapeutics.