Research on SARS spawns new techniques to develop diagnostic kits for other diseases
By Hasnita Majid, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 11 March 2008 1921 hrs

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SINGAPORE: Research on the SARS virus in Singapore five years ago has helped spawn techniques that are being used to develop diagnostic kits for other infectious diseases such as avian flu.

Such research has also paved way for work on vaccines at Singapore's research hub Biopolis.

The Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology's principal coordinator, Masafumi Inoue, was one of the first few researchers who worked on the SARS virus back in 2003.

His team developed a SARS diagnostic kit, which was used by Tan Tock Seng Hospital to test for the virus.

"This experience has become very useful for us to develop the kit for avian influenza, H5N1. We have developed this kit two years ago based on our experience gained from SARS and we are constantly improving (on) it now," he said.

"The gene is of course different, but the technique to design the primer is common, and the experience from SARS was very helpful (for us) to design even better primers for sensitive diagnostic kits," he added.

Although his team of scientists have come up with an avian flu kit that can be used out in the field, his plan is to develop one that is even faster and easier to use.

Another group that also managed to develop a diagnostic kit for SARS using a slightly different technique was a team headed by Dr Martin Hibberd at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS).

Dr Hibberd, group leader for infectious diseases at GIS, said: "If SARS (comes) back we will be very prepared, we can do a diagnostic test, we understand about the disease process - when it's infectious and when it isn't. And also we might have therapies which we may be able to offer (to) patients at that point as well."

His team has also used the same technique to better understand how bird flu and dengue spread. - CNA/ac