The Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has set up a breast cancer cell bank in Singapore to help develop better understanding of tumours and treatment options for breast cancer.

A statement issued on July 1 by CSI and Philips, a healthcare technology company that made an unspecified amount of donation to help establish the facility, said that the bank, the first in Singapore, will house primary culture tumour cell lines from patients in Singapore and make them available to all local and regional cancer research centres.

Dr. Pieter Eichhorn, Lead Principal Investigator at the CSI, said: “The research at CSI will identify novel drug combinations that will overcome the limitations observed presently, hence leading to better outcomes in breast cancer patients overall.”

CSI aims to collect 25 unique breast cancer cell samples by 2015, and establish the cell bank as a research facility for researchers and clinicians, not just in Singapore, but internationally.

(Source: VNA)