GE Global Research, the central technology development arm for GE Healthcare and all of GE€â„s businesses, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Singapore Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). This agreement will focus on advancing current medical imaging technologies and diagnostics to enable more accurate, earlier and faster clinical diagnoses of cancer and other diseases. The partnership between A*STAR and GE Global Research brings together two world-class research institutions, integrating their deep domain expertise in biomedical, science, and engineering capabilities to support this effort.

This MOU expands upon a productive collaboration between GE and A*STAR Singapore Bioimaging Consortium (SBIC) using Hyperpolarized Carbon-13 technology. Early results exploring sub second bio-chemical imaging in Oncology applications helped pave the way for a broader scientific collaboration on projects inmedical diagnostics and medical imaging. The goal is to improve diagnosis and tissue characterization in diseases that are prent in the Asian population, such as liver, lung, and gastric cancers.

Michael Idelchik, Vice President of Advanced Technology Programs at GE Global Research, said, €œTo more effectively combat cancer and other deadly diseases, more advanced diagnostic tools will be needed to help doctors become more prescriptive in their diagnoses and treatment regimens. Combining A*STAR world-class biomedical and clinical expertise with GE€â„s strengths in diagnostic and molecular imaging, we have an exciting opportunity to take medical diagnosis to this next level. Specifically, A*STAR will help us address cancers and other diseases more common in Asia and where pathology and outcomes are different as compared to the rest of the world.€

Professor Low Teck Seng, Managing Director of A*STAR, said, €œThis win-win public-private partnership between A*STAR and GE comes at an opportune time with the increasing research interest in diseases affecting the Asian population. I am confident that A*STAR€â„s cross-disciplinary capabilities in both the biomedical, and physical sciences & engineering research will complement GE€â„s expertise in diagnostic and molecular imaging to meet today€â„s complex healthcare challenges and enhance lives.€

As part of the MOU, A*STAR and GE Global Research will collaborate to enhance medical imaging technologies in imaging modalities, ranging from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) to computed tomography (CT). In a Frost & Sullivan global market analysis report, the medical imaging sector was valued at about US$25 billion as of 2008, with MRI and CT scanners accounting for a combined 40% of the total global device medical imaging market[1]. In one project, scientists from A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics (IME) and GE scientists will explore the development of new imaging technologies to improve the speed and accuracy of clinical cancer diagnosis. Leveraging IME network and partnerships with the microelectronics industry, this project could result in the development of a new local industry for Singapore in the healthcare technologies area.

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