300 International Scientific Delegates Including Genome Institute of Singapore and A*STAR Expected at the Personalized Cancer Medicine Conference from 21st to 23rd Feb 2011, at Biopolis, Singapore

February 18, 2011 -- About 300 scientists and medical practitioners from around the world will converge on Biopolis, Singapore from 21st to 23rd February 2011for the Personalized Cancer Medicine Conference 2011, jointly hosted by the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), an institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), and Fritz Bender Stiftung (FBS), Germany. The speakers at the conference, who are well-known local and international experts in personalized cancer research, will cover topics related to Cancer Genetics, Genetics Mutation, Gene Expression Regulation, Disease-Specific Concerns and Targeted Therapeutics.

Personalized medicine is an approach to healthcare that seeks to take into account the unique social, environmental, and genetic background of each patient and to tailor treatment and diagnoses to the individual patient in whatever way possible. By considering the specific needs of each patient, personalized medicine has the potential to produce more accurate diagnoses and prescribe more effective treatments, resulting in better care for the patient. Some highlights of the symposium include:

- “Cancer Genomes in Personalized Medicine” by Prof Edison Liu, Executive Director of GIS, Professor of Medicine at the National University of Singapore, and Chair of the Conference. Prof Liu’s talk will cover the use of DNA paired-end ditag (DNA PET) to map cancer genomes.

- “Drug discovery in the p53 pathway” by Prof Sir David Lane, Chief Scientist of A*STAR and one of the co-discoverers of p53. Prof Lane will discuss how knowledge of the p53 activation pathway can be used in drug development

- “Lost in translation: the biology of mammalian microRNAs” by Prof Carl Novina, Assistant Professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute & Harvard Medical School and Associate Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. Prof Novina will discuss the role that microRNAs play during the formation of cancers.