Flagship Pioneering, the National University of Singapore, National University Hospital and the National University Health System Announce Collaboration to Advance Biotech Research & Development
Collaboration Aims to Expand Globally Connected Scientific Dialogue and Accelerate Innovation in Human Health and Sustainability
SINGAPORE, May 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Flagship Pioneering, the bioplatform innovation company, the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), National University Hospital (NUH) and the National University Health System (NUHS) today announced a research and development collaboration to advance outcomes in human health and sustainability. Flagship, NUS Medicine, NUH and NUHS outlined the goals of their collaboration via a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed this week.
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Flagship, NUS Medicine, NUH and NUHS expect to create, co-develop and co-resource a series of research projects over an initial five-year horizon, tapping into opportunities across Flagship's existing ecosystem of over 40 companies, and future companies founded by Flagship. Through potential secondments, internships and participation in the Flagship Fellowship program, the collaboration will also create career development and mentorship opportunities for scientists and students of NUS Medicine with Flagship.
In addition, Flagship will tap into the ecosystem of NUH and NUHS to leverage clinical data for new biological insights, test clinical hypotheses for novel impact and improved patient outcomes.
"Our collaboration with NUS Medicine, NUH and NUHS will help us realize our goal to expand the global reach and impact of Flagship and its companies and serve as an anchor in Singapore and throughout Asia Pacific for globally connected life science innovation," said André Andonian, Chair of Asia Pacific and Strategic Advisor, Flagship Pioneering. "We are pleased to combine Flagship's signature approach to company creation and development with the scientific expertise, data reach and translational potential of NUS Medicine, NUH and NUHS. Along with our previously announced collaboration with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), our work with NUS Medicine, NUH and NUHS has the potential to bring together key players across Singapore's biotech ecosystem to advance breakthroughs that impact patients and the planet."
"As integral parts of the NUHS academic health system, NUS Medicine and NUH are uniquely positioned to translate groundbreaking biomedical research seamlessly into real-world clinical solutions," said Professor Chong Yap Seng, Dean, NUS Medicine, and Deputy Chief Executive (Education & Research), NUHS. "Through this partnership with Flagship, we aim to drive greater innovation and bridge the gap between discovery and patient care. Together, we can shape a future where practice-changing innovations and transformative health solutions can benefit patients, communities and the world."
About Flagship Pioneering
Flagship Pioneering invents and builds bioplatform companies, each with the potential for multiple products that transform human health or sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, Flagship has originated and fostered more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in more than $60 billion in aggregate value. Flagship is operating with $14 billion of assets under management as of its latest capital raise, announced in July 2024. The current Flagship ecosystem comprises over 40 companies, including Foghorn Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FHTX), Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Sana Biotechnology (NASDAQ: SANA), Generate Biomedicines, Inari, Indigo Agriculture, Lila Sciences, and Tessera Therapeutics.
About National University of Singapore (NUS)
The National University of Singapore (NUS) is Singapore's flagship university, which offers a global approach to education, research, and entrepreneurship, with a focus on Asian perspectives and expertise. NUS has 16 colleges, faculties, and schools across three campuses in Singapore, with more than 40,000 students from 100 countries enriching its vibrant and diverse campus community. NUS has also established more than 20 NUS Overseas Colleges entrepreneurial hubs around the world.
NUS's multidisciplinary and real-world approach to education, research and entrepreneurship enables it to work closely with industry, governments, and academia to address crucial and complex issues relevant to Asia and the world. Researchers in its faculties, research centres of excellence, corporate labs and more than 30 university-level research institutes focus on themes that include energy; environmental and urban sustainability; treatment and prevention of diseases; active ageing; advanced materials; risk management and resilience of financial systems; Asian studies; and Smart Nation capabilities such as artificial intelligence, data science, operations research, and cybersecurity.
About the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine)
The NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine is Singapore's first and largest medical school. Its enduring mission centres on nurturing highly competent, values-driven, and inspired healthcare professionals to transform the practice of medicine and improve health around the world.
Through a dynamic and future-oriented five-year curriculum that is inter-disciplinary and inter-professional in nature, NUS Medicine students undergo a holistic learning experience that exposes them to multiple facets of healthcare and prepares them to become visionary leaders and compassionate doctors and nurses of tomorrow. Since the School's founding in 1905, more than 12,000 graduates have passed through its doors.
In pursuit of health for all, NUS Medicine's strategic research programmes focus on innovative, cutting-edge biomedical research with collaborators around the world to deliver high impact solutions to benefit human lives.
The School is the oldest institution of higher learning in the National University of Singapore and a founding institutional member of the National University Health System. It is one of the leading medical schools in Asia and ranks among the best in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025 by subject and the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by subject 2024).
The National University Hospital (NUH) is Singapore's leading university hospital. While the hospital at Kent Ridge first received its patients on 24 June 1985, our legacy started from 1905, the date of the founding of what is today the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. NUH is the principal teaching hospital of the medical school.
Our unique identity as a university hospital is a key attraction for healthcare professionals who aspire to do more than practise tertiary medical care. We offer an environment where research and teaching are an integral part of medicine, and continue to shape medicine and transform care for the community we care for.
We are an academic medical centre with over 1,200 beds, serving more than one million patients a year with over 50 medical, surgical and dental specialties. NUH is the only public and not-for-profit hospital in Singapore to provide trusted care for adults, women and children under one roof, including the only paediatric kidney and liver transplant programme in the country.
The NUH is a key member of the National University Health System (NUHS), one of three public healthcare clusters in Singapore.
About the National University Health System
The National University Health System (NUHS) aims to transform how illness is prevented and managed by discovering causes of disease, development of more effective treatments through collaborative multidisciplinary research and clinical trials, and creation of better technologies and care delivery systems in partnership with others who share the same values and vision.
Institutions in the NUHS Group include the National University Hospital, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, Jurong Community Hospital, Alexandra Hospital and the upcoming Tengah General and Community Hospital; three National Specialty Centres - National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS), National University Heart Centre, Singapore (NUHCS) and National University Centre for Oral Health, Singapore (NUCOHS); the National University Polyclinics (NUP); Jurong Medical Centre; and three NUS health sciences schools – NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (including the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies), NUS Faculty of Dentistry and NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.
With member institutions under a common governance structure, NUHS creates synergies for the advancement of health by integrating patient care, health science education and biomedical research. As a Regional Health System, NUHS works closely with health and social care partners across Singapore to develop and implement programmes that contribute to a healthy and engaged population in the Western part of Singapore.
