Grants worth $31.6 million have been awarded by Singapore?s A*Star Biomedical Research Council to six institutions for 51 projects.

The winners were picked by local and international reviewers after a stringent review of 168 proposals submitted between May 2 and June 5 last year.

A statement from A*Star, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research today says the six institutions hosting the 51 projects are: National University of Singapore; Nanyang Technological University; National Neuroscience Institute; National Cancer Centre; Singapore Eye Research Institute and KK Women?s and Children?s Hospital.

Funding for individual projects, the statement says, range from $250,000 to $1.7 million for periods lasting from 24 to 36 months, depending on the nature and scope of the project.The highest award of $1.7 million for a single project goes to a three-year study on myopia, an eye disease affecting many Singaporeans.

A team from the Singapore Eye Research Institute led by the principal investigator, Dr Saw Seang Mei, will explore the link between genes, the environment, and myopia.

Dr Saw says: ?Myopia is a huge public health problem in Singapore because the rates of myopia are one of the highest in the world and severe myopia may lead to blindness."

"Right now, little is know about what causes the disease. With new funding from the council, we can investigate the link between genes, the environment and the onset of myopia, and hopefully shed light on its origins.?

The A*Star statement also notes that the submissions show that cancer continues to be the key research focus in Singapore, followed closely behind by neuroscience, neurobiology and neurology.

Translational research projects spanning work in laboratories and clinical applications accounted for 40 per cent of those awarded grants by the council this year.

Its executive director, Dr Beh Swan Gin, says: ?We continue to get a good balance of basic and translational research proposals and our expert reviewers inform us that the quality of research proposals submitted is also getting better each year.

?Research funded through the council?s previous grant calls has generated more than 860 publications and 43 patent filings to date. It reflects the growing maturity of the biomedical sciences sector in Singapore.?

Researchers from Singapore?s public institutions, including restructured hospitals, disease centres, research institutes and local universities were invited to submit proposals, but research institutes under A*Star were excluded.

The total number of grants awarded so far since the council started its funding initiative in 2001 is 290. All grant recipients must obtain ethics approval from the appropriate Institutional Review Board and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee for their research.

They must also conform to the highest standards and strict scientific and ethicalguidelines governing biomedical sciences research issued by the Ministry of Health in Singapore and the Bioethics Advisory Committee.