In a groundbreaking development for artificial intelligence in healthcare, researchers from Critical Analytics for Manufacturing Personalized-Medicine (CAMP), an interdisciplinary research group at Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT's research enterprise in Singapore, have been awarded prestigious Intra-CREATE grants from the National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore. This funding will support cutting-edge research initiatives focusing on AI-driven retinal biometrics for glaucoma progression and innovative neural cell implantation therapy for spinal cord injuries. These grants represent the NRF's strategic initiative to unite brilliant minds from Campus for Research Excellence And Technological Enterprise (CREATE) partner institutions, amplifying the impact of collaborative research in artificial intelligence and medical technology.
Established in 2019, SMART CAMP has been at the forefront of revolutionizing how living cells are produced and delivered as medicine to treat various illnesses and medical conditions. Their research spans tissue degenerative diseases, cancer, and autoimmune disorders, positioning them as pioneers in AI-enhanced cell therapy development.
"Singapore's robust biopharmaceutical ecosystem provides an ideal environment for innovation, supported by exceptional talent and advanced manufacturing capabilities. We're thrilled to collaborate with our Singapore partners, bringing together interdisciplinary experts from MIT and Singapore to explore new research frontiers at SMART. Beyond our three flagship projects, we aim to develop breakthroughs in manufacturing additional cell therapy platforms that will transform medical treatments and improve outcomes for society," explains Krystyn Van Vliet, co-lead principal investigator at SMART CAMP, professor of materials science and engineering, and associate provost at MIT.
AI-Enhanced Glaucoma Progression Analysis for Precision Treatment
The first research initiative, Retinal Analytics via Machine learning aiding Physics (RAMP), hosted by SMART CAMP, assembles an interdisciplinary team of ophthalmologists, data scientists, and optical scientists from SMART, Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Duke-NUS Medical School, MIT, and National University of Singapore (NUS). This team will establish first principles-founded and statistically confident models of glaucoma progression in patients. By leveraging retinal biomechanics and artificial intelligence algorithms, these models will enable rapid and reliable forecasting of glaucoma progression rates and trajectories, facilitating more targeted and effective treatments.
Glaucoma, an eye condition typically caused by stress-induced damage at the optic nerve head over time, contributes to 5.1 million of the estimated 38 million blind individuals globally and represents 40 percent of blindness cases in Singapore. Currently, healthcare professionals face significant challenges in predicting glaucoma progression and determining optimal treatment strategies due to limited research and technology that accurately establishes relationships between key factors such as retinal and optic nerve head elasticity, blood flow, intraocular pressure, and eventual optic nerve damage.
This pioneering research is co-led by George Barbastathis, principal investigator at SMART CAMP and professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, and Aung Tin, executive director at SERI and professor at the Department of Ophthalmology at NUS. The distinguished team includes CAMP principal investigators Nicholas Fang, also a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT; Lisa Tucker-Kellogg, assistant professor with the Cancer and Stem Biology program at Duke-NUS; and Hanry Yu, professor of physiology with the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS and CAMP's co-lead principal investigator.
"We're excited to harness the innovative ideas cultivated in SMART CAMP to develop advanced data analytics and optical imaging capabilities for addressing the critical medical challenge of glaucoma prediction," states Barbastathis.
Revolutionary Cell Transplantation Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury Recovery
The second research initiative, Engineering Scaffold-Mediated Neural Cell Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury Treatment (ScaNCellS), brings together an interdisciplinary coalition of engineers, cell biologists, and clinician scientists from SMART, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), NUS, IMCB A*STAR, A*STAR, French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the University of Cambridge, and MIT. This team aims to design a combined scaffold and neural cell implantation therapy for spinal cord injury treatment that is safe, efficacious, and reproducible. Their work will pave the way for similar neural cell therapies addressing other neurological disorders. At the intersection of engineering and healthcare, this project will achieve its objectives through enhanced biological understanding of nerve tissue regeneration processes and optimized engineering methods for preparing cells and biomaterials for treatment.
Spinal cord injury (SCI), affecting between 250,000 and 500,000 people annually, results in higher societal costs compared to other common conditions such as dementia, multiple sclerosis, and cerebral palsy. SCI can lead to temporary or permanent changes in spinal cord function, including numbness or paralysis. Currently, even with optimal treatment approaches, these injuries typically result in some degree of permanent impairment.
This transformative research is co-led by Chew Sing Yian, principal investigator at SMART CAMP and associate professor of the School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering and Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at NTU, and Laurent David, professor at University of Lyon (France) and leader of the Polymers for Life Sciences group at CNRS Polymer Engineering Laboratory. The team includes CAMP principal investigators Ai Ye from Singapore University of Technology and Design; Jongyoon Han and Zhao Xuanhe, both professors at MIT; as well as Shi-Yan Ng and Jonathan Loh from Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR.
Chew comments, "Our previous SMART and NTU scientific collaborations on progenitor cells in the central nervous system are now being extended to practical cell therapy applications. This allows us to address SCI from a novel perspective, connecting with the advanced quality analysis methods for cells developed in SMART CAMP."
"Cell therapy represents one of the most rapidly advancing research areas, offering patients expanded options for preventing and treating illnesses, including some currently considered incurable. Glaucoma and spinal cord injuries affect millions worldwide. Our research aims to bridge existing gaps and deliver significant impact to cell therapy research and medical treatments for both conditions. Building on a solid foundation, we will pave the way for future exciting research and breakthroughs that will benefit the healthcare industry and society at large," says Hanry Yu, co-lead principal investigator at SMART CAMP, professor of physiology with the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS, and group leader of the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at A*STAR.
Funding for both projects will commence on Oct. 1, with RAMP scheduled to run until Sept. 30, 2022, and ScaNCellS expected to continue until Sept. 30, 2023.
Established by MIT in partnership with the NRF in 2007, SMART stands as the first entity in the CREATE developed by NRF. It serves as an intellectual and innovation hub for research interactions between MIT and Singapore, undertaking cutting-edge research projects in areas of mutual interest. SMART currently encompasses an Innovation Centre and five interdisciplinary research groups (IRGs): Antimicrobial Resistance, CAMP, Disruptive and Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision, Future Urban Mobility, and Low Energy Electronic Systems.
Launched in June 2019, CAMP operates as a SMART IRG focusing on innovative approaches to producing living cells as medicine, or cellular therapies, to provide more patients with access to promising and approved treatments. The investigators at CAMP address two critical bottlenecks in producing various potential cell therapies: critical quality attributes (CQA) and process analytic technologies (PAT). Through deep collaborations within Singapore and MIT in the United States, CAMP invents and demonstrates CQA/PAT capabilities from stem to immune cells. Their work addresses conditions ranging from cancer to tissue degeneration, targeting adherent and suspended cells, with and without genetic engineering.
As the R&D core of Singapore's comprehensive national effort on cell therapy manufacturing, CAMP continues to drive innovation in this transformative field of medicine.
