Jul 7 2009
Three proposals from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have won up to S$30 million in research fund from the National Research Foundation (NRF) following its fourth call for proposals under its Competitive Research Programme (CRP) Funding Scheme. Since the inaugural CRP grant call was launched on 16 April 2007, NTU has received some S$90 million grants from NRF. This underscores the significant role that the university plays in fuelling Singapore's drive for research and innovation.
One of the winning proposals is led by Associate Professor Jaume Torres, which aims to develop “tools for rational discovery of novel therapeutics and diagnostics targeting integral membrane proteins”.
Commenting on receiving the funding, Assoc Professor Torres says, “With this funding, we will develop our proposal on membrane proteins, which is one of the most exciting areas of research in biological systems. We do foresee that this will be one of the hottest topics in biomedicine and biotechnology for the next 10 years. We envisage this project will help to position Singapore at the forefront of membrane protein research.”
The other winning project “Interface Science and Technology (IS-Tech)” is led by Associate Professor Christos Panagopoulos.
Commenting on the proposal, Associate Professor Panagopoulos says, “We propose to engineer and investigate novel materials with functionalities beyond the current state of technology. This approach opens up new perspectives for the emergence and exploration of interface properties that are driven by electron interactions in reduced dimensions – a true example of innovative technology, with inventions and applications originating from seminal scientific advances.”
The proposal “Nanonets: New Materials, Devices for Integrated Energy Harnessing & Storage” by Professor Subodh Mhaisalkar and his team focuses on novel nanomaterials that will bring new functionalities to applications in green energy systems such as solar cells for energy generation and batteries for electrical energy storage.
“It is indeed an honour to receive the grant from the National Research Foundation. It is an acknowledgement that the project proposed by our team is of the highest scientific standard and is well aligned with the national research agenda. We look forward to develop the project to address global climate change concerns and the critical need for alternative energy solutions,” says Professor Mhaisalkar.
The CRP Funding Scheme offers substantial funding support of up to S$10 million per proposal, over three to five years. The grant funds a broad base of research programmes through a competitive bottom-up (investigator-led) approach, with submissions assessed by international scientific reviews.