J&J Innovation provides S$5m in World Without Disease Research Grants

In its persistent efforts to accelerate the pace of life science research around the world, Johnson & Johnson Innovation has recently announced the names of three contestants that would receive S$5.1 million for three yeorder to support innovation projects. Reportedly, the three finalists include Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI), a group of researchers from Genome Institute of Singapore and National University Healtars in h System, and the third one consists of a team of scientists from Singapore Immunology Network, National University of Singapore, p53 Laboratory, and National Cancer Centre Singapore.

For the uninitiated, the initiative, named as the World Without Disease Grant Call, has been instituted by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, and the Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR), and the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. As per reliable sources, the initiative sought innovative approaches to foster research in the city-state and to discover new solutions to intercept, prevent, and cure various diseases.

The initiative received more than 40 applications of highly-qualified teams from Singapore's public sector. Reportedly, the applicants were assessed based on their capability to fulfill the following norms:

• Work upon the challenges faced by patients and the overall healthcare system and suggest meaningful solutions that would alter the way diseases are treated.
• Determine a path to de-risk critical problems that would result in swift decisions and a pathbreaking approach for the state of the disease.
• Devise an approach on a hypothesis associated with the causation of the disease, which would lead to the identification of individuals at risk for the illness, determination of triggers for illness, procedures of monitoring the initiation of the disease, and developing potential methods of treatment.

Speaking on the development, the Global Head of World Without Disease Accelerator, Janssen Research and Development, LLC, Benjamin Wiegand was quoted stating that the three grant winners signify forward-looking solutions to address the significant burden of diseases across the world.

Reportedly, the grant winners would seek to pursue unique approaches to treat cancer, liver diseases, and eye related illnesses.