BioBiz 2008: Exploring Singapore’s Biomedical Horizon

Kelvin Lim | kl@nus.edu.sg
the ridge news
A NUSSU Publication

29th March 2008

Story Highlights:

• BioBiz 2008 is an annual biomedical conference organized by students for students.
• Main agenda features four different plenary sessions and a career fair
• Students commended on the relevance and insight to biomedical sector.
• There was a call for more participating companies.
• A different theme for next year’s BioBiz conference.

An annual biomedical conference organized by students and for students.

Conference chair and fourth-year Bioengineering student from the National University of Singapore (NUS), Christine Giam Sze Yee, explains that BioBiz 2008 aims to engage both industry professionals and aspiring graduates.

Into the third year of its running, BioBiz 2008 has attracted over 450 industry players and students from various disciplines of study.

While originally targeted at graduating students, Robert Cheong, a second-year Chemistry student felt that BioBiz would be a good exposure to plot his future career path.

Opening the conference was guest of honour, Mr. Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry.

With biomedical sciences industry is the second largest contributor to Singapore’s GDP, next to manufacturing, Lee was confident that the future of the biomedical field has never been brighter than before.

Kick-starting the key note session was Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, senior deputy president of NUS and Deputy Chairman of Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star).

He outlined the different phases of Singapore’s biomedical science initiative and concluded that it was now into the second phase of the biomedical push.

With the setting up of Biopolis, an international research and development centre for biomedical sciences, the focus was now on “developing translational and clinical research” to realize the full potential value of this initiative.

For the second keynote address, Mr. Tan Kay Yong, vice president of GlaxoSmithKline PLC (India/China Sourcing and Supply), noted the emerging health care trends and opportunities in the global market.

In light of a rapidly growing population and new diseases, he was convinced that there was much work to be done.

Summarizing succinctly, Mr. Tan concluded, “From my personal insight, I think we’re in a good place.”

Interspersed between morning tea and lunch, were four panel sessions devoted to different aspects of the biomedical industry: research, manufacturing, homegrown firms and support organizations.

Nicholas Kee, a postgraduate student from NUS Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering commended the panel discussion on the biomedical manufacturing arena.

While Kee thought it was generally insightful from the employers’ perspective, his only grievance was the absence of pharmaceutical companies such as Eli Lilly and Abbott Laboratories.

Rounding up the whole conference was a career fair, where students could interact with participating companies and submit their resumes.

On the other hand, Chin-Wee Tan, a pharmacovigilance specialist from Quintiles lamented that BioBiz should have invited more companies down.

In response, Chee Ka Mung, from the programs committee explained that BioBiz was never meant to compete with existing “full blown career fairs.”

She rationalized that the targeted approach would be more effective in linking biomedical industry players with students from related fields.

Nonetheless, with BioBiz still in its infancy, Chee promises that next year’s conference would feature a different theme.