History

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1985

Singapore’s first life sciences institute, IMCB, was founded.
Its founding director was Chris Tan.

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1987

IMCB moved into its own building at NUS

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1988

The National Biotechnology Programme was established by the Singapore 
Economic Development Board (EDB) to spearhead the development of biotechnology.

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1989

IMCB entered into a 15-year partnership with Glaxo, for research on degenerative brain diseases.
The team, led by Louis Lim, included Thomas Leung and Edward Manser.

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1991

The National Science and Technology Board (NSTB) was established.

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1992

A research team at IMCB, led by Chris Tan, completed and published the first sequence of dengue virus type 1.

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1993

IMCB undertook a $60-million joint venture with Glaxo and EDB to discover bioactive compounds via the Center for Natural Products Research (CNPR).

(Photo: Opening ceremony of the Centre for Natural Product Research by Mr Goh Chee Wee ( left) and Sir Richard Sykes (right)

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1995

The Institute of Molecular Agrobiology (IMA) was founded. 
Thirteen of the biomedical research groups at IMA were later merged with IMCB in 2002.

GeneSing, IMCB’s first spin-off company, was incorporated. 
The company develops human healthcare products for the Asian market.

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1999

IMCB held the first Gordon Research Conference in Singapore.

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2000

IMCB was conferred the 5th  Nikkei Asia Prize in the category of Technology Innovation for its contributions as the first major centre of biological research in Asia.

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2001

IMCB founding director Chris Tan stepped down, and Wanjin Hong took over as Acting Director.

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2002

CNPR was spun off as MerLion Pharmaceuticals. The NSTB was renamed the A*STAR.

An international consortium, led by IMCB and the Joint Genome Institute of the US Department of Energy, published the draft sequence of the fugu genome in Science.

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2003

IMCB co-developed two rapid and accurate diagnostic kits during 
the SARS outbreak, which was recognised by a National Day Award 
later that year.

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2004

IMCB moved to Biopolis. David Lane took over as 
Executive Director of IMCB.

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2005

A PCR-based malaria diagnostic kit, jointly developed at 
IMCB and NUS, was launched by Veredus Laboratories Pte Ltd.

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2006

The National Research Foundation (NRF) was established.
IMCB licensed DNA methylation detection technology to Hitachi Asia 
Ltd. for use in clinical cancer diagnostics.

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2007

Neal Copeland took over the helm of IMCB as Executive Director.

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2009

IMCB and Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) researchers developed an 
assay to detect H1N1 swine fl u strains during the 2009 pandemic.

IMCB hosted the Euro Gold Symposium.

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2010

Stephen Cohen became the Acting Director of IMCB.

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2011

Wanjin Hong appointed Executive Director of IMCB.The IMCB Junior 
Investigator (IJI) Programme was launched to nurture returning 
A*STAR scholars as well as exceptional young scientists.

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2014

IMCB developed 14 close industry links including partnerships with Procter and Gamble on skin biology and Johnson and Johnson on humanised mouse models.

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2015

IMCB launched a collaboration with Abcam to develop a range 
of rabbit monoclonal antibodies for diagnostic use.

MerLion Pharmaceutical’s lead antibacterial candidate, 
finafl oxacin, was approved  by the US Food and Drug 
Administration (FDA) for clinical use.

IMCB celebrated its 30th anniversary.

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