Singapore's Biopolis has become a centre of attraction for companies seeking to reduce costs and time-to-market for their R&D operations.

Since its launch in Oct 2003, the take-up rate of this two million square feet purpose-built biomedical sciences research complex has exceeded expectations. It is already well over 95 per cent occupied. As a result, construction on phase II of the Biopolis began last year and the 400,000 square feet expansion will be ready for occupancy by end 2006.

The facilities at Biopolis include a US$1 million Proteomics Laboratory for analyzing proteins and peptides; a Microarray Center to provide resources for printed and commercially-produced chips; a 9.4T MRI machine housed at the Bioimaging Lab for animal imaging; a laboratory to provide routine and ultra-high speed confocal microscope; imaging solutions on animal samples; and a research facility with specific pathogen free (SPF) research animals.

The facilities at the Biopolis help researchers achieve an easy and fast start-up. As a result, demand has been very strong from users in both research institutes at Biopolis as well as companies such as Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline.

Three additional state-of-the-art facilities were opened at the Biopolis on April 6, 2006 and add to the resources available in Singapore. These include the Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, the Laboratory for Metabolic Medicine and the Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology.