BetaLife

A week ago, our brilliant Research Scientist, Beatrice Ho, who is a secondee to our company from A*STAR through the T-Up programme (Technology for Enterprise Capability Upgrading), spoke as part of a panel discussion titled ‘Beyond the Bench’. Beatrice shared her experience about how her PhD, previously at IMCB, set the basis for her work in industry (a start-up). It had trained her to be able to troubleshoot, to optimise, to think on her feet, and to be able to solve problems. The ability to solve problems was a theme echoed by multiple voices during the discussion. When industry hires for a scientific or technical role, they look for someone who excels in science, can physically work through a solution for a problem from 0 to 1, who could then learn the business of science on the job, instead of someone who speaks more business than science. It was a reminder about the values that a PhD brings, and that obtaining this higher degree is very much about the process rather than the end point. It can take you very much beyond the bench to think independently, rationally, and to train you to last through all the challenges it brings, while (hopefully) still carrying a fire within you. #startup #PhD #beyondthebench

Today is World Diabetes Day. “If I eat cake, will I get diabetes?” “When will there be a cure for diabetes?” Two questions that we often get. Not quite straightforward! Today we shine the spotlight on the essential role of 🌟 pancreatic beta cells in managing blood sugar. These cells produce and release 🌠 insulin—the hormone vital for life. In Type 2 diabetes (T2D), insulin resistance (in which cells in the body become less receptive to insulin) forces beta cells to work harder to produce more insulin, leading to their gradual exhaustion. The health of beta cells is impacted by many factors: 👨👩👧👦 individual genetics and family history, 🧓 aging, 🏃♂️ lifestyle habits, 🤒 environmental and health stressors, and 🍟 sub-optimal diet leading to prolonged high blood glucose (known as glucotoxicity). These damage the ability of beta cells to produce insulin effectively (in terms of insulin-releasing capacity, or the ability to respond appropriately to glucose signals), that involve many complex molecular mechanisms. Progressive loss of beta cell function makes T2D more prevalent with age, and often requiring increasingly intensive treatment. For those with severe T2D who depend on 💉 daily insulin injections, beta cell replacement therapy could be a real gamechanger as a new class of treatment. As there are currently no clinical trials for cell therapy for T2D treatment, there’s great promise, especially in Asia, where beta cell dysfunction is a major driver of the disease. This innovative path could reshape diabetes care and provide new hope for millions 💫. Raise awareness of diabetes with us today! #DiabetesAwareness #Type2Diabetes #CellTherapy #WorldDiabetesDay

We are delighted to share a podcast episode in which our Scientific Co-Founders, Adrian Teo and Natasha Hui Jin Ng sat down with Reuben Bakker and Pei Ling Chia,PhD of One North Stories, an A*StartCentral podcast series featuring start up stories and founders' stories. We talked about 📣 BetaLife's origin story, about the 🛣 journey of an ongoing transition from academic research to biotech, about an 👩🔬 effective working relationship between the Principal Investigator and the Post-doctoral Scientist in new territory, and the 💉 gaps we hope to plug in developing insulin replacement strategies for patients with severe diabetes. 👂 Listen now through the links below or wherever you get your podcasts! Apple: https://lnkd.in/gKc38hDr and Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gQHr34DV

🚀 Day 2 of GIA 9 Participants in Beijing: A Day of Innovation and Investment On Day 2 of GIA 9, we had an exhilarating day filled with innovation, networking, and investment opportunities. 🤝🏻WistE Park Demo Day We kicked off the day at the WistE Technology Innovation Center. Founded in 2020, WistE is dedicated to entrepreneurship, technology services, and investment. It leverages the synergy of universities, research institutes, government support, and industrial parks to foster innovation. WistE specializes in technology transfer services and invests in seed-stage tech companies with proprietary IP in new-generation IT and IoT. Our GIA companies —abillion , BetaLife ,Sigmawave AI ,Syswell had the opportunity to pitch their innovative solutions to a panel of investors, followed by a vibrant networking session. It was inspiring to see the potential for high-tech industrial development and the enhancement of enterprise competitiveness through R&D. 🤝🏻Company Visit at Peakview Capital In the afternoon, we visited Peakview Capital, a leading investment platform established in 2011. Focused on the new economy, Peakview Capital emphasizes technological innovation in sectors like technology, healthcare, industrial internet, and the industrial metaverse. With over 13 billion yuan invested in more than 2500 global innovative projects, including 230 public companies and numerous unicorns, Peakview Capital is a powerhouse of support for cutting-edge ventures. Our GIA companies had the privilege to pitch their groundbreaking ideas to the investment team! The day was a testament to the power of collaboration between innovative startups and visionary investors. Looking forward to more exciting engagements in the days to come! 🌟✨ #GIA #Innovation #Investment #Beijing #TechStartups #Networking #Entrepreneurship

In the upcoming Singapore Cell & Gene Therapy Pan Asia Summit, join us for an insightful session on "Positioning Human Islet Cell Therapy for Diabetes Treatment" by our Scientific co-founder Dr Adrian Teo ! Dr Adrian Teo is also currently a Senior Principal Investigator at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR, and an Assistant Professor at NUS Medicine, Singapore. Find out more about his exciting work using human pluripotent stem cells for therapeutic development. 📆 Date: 19th July, Friday 🕒 Time: 10.30 AM 📌 Session 1B: Regenerative Medicine – Stem Cells / iPSCs 📍 Location: The NAK Auditorium, Academia, 20 College Road, Singapore 169856

DayDayUp is excited to announce the start of GIA x DayDayUp Beijing Acceleration Programme Batch 9, in partnership with Enterprise Singapore! 🚀 🇸🇬🇨🇳 We held our opening ceremony last Friday, graced by Marcia Lin from MSA , who shared valuable insights on expansion strategies to China. We are thrilled to introduce the four companies joining us in Beijing next week: 1. abillion 2. BetaLife 3. Sigmawave AI 4. Syswell Stay tuned for updates on their journey and achievements! #DayDayUp #GIA #EnterpriseSingapore #AccelerationProgramme #Innovation #ChinaExpansion

Our first international exhibition at the High-Tech Expo in Beijing, China this week to share about our efforts in iPSC banking and iPSC-based regenerative medicine pipelines. We’re part of the unique Southeast Asia zone that features in this year’s exhibition (with other companies from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam…) and happy to chat with both informed and lay members of the public here. Thanks to DayDayUp for bringing us here! #celltherapy #diabetes #stemcells

Hot off the press from our Scientific Co-Founders Natasha Hui Jin Ng and Adrian Teo on their diabetes research efforts at A*STAR - Agency for Science, Technology and Research, using both cell lines and stem cell-derived hepatic and pancreatic beta cells to investigate gene targets and regulatory pathways! #diabetes #insulin #stemcells #betacells

Our Research Scientist Dr Beatrice Ho has been awarded the Stem Cell Engineering Abstract Award for the ISCT, International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy Annual Meeting 2024! She will be presenting her abstract – 'Genetic Engineering of Stem Cell-Derived Islets for Allogeneic Cell Therapy in Diabetes' during the conference. If you are attending ISCT 2024 in Vancouver (29th May – 1st June), don’t miss out on her exciting poster presentation or catch her for a chat! See you there! 👋 📆 Date: 30th May 2024 🕛 Time: 18:00 - 19:30 📍Location: Poster Networking Reception 2, ISCT Annual Meeting in Vancouver #celltherapy #ipscs #regenerativemedicine #islets #diabetes

Hot off the press! Our Scientific Co-Founders Dr Adrian Teo, Dr Natasha Hui Jin Ng and Research Scientist Dr Beatrice Ho have just published a review article in Frontiers in Immunology! This review delves into the contemporary landscape of primary human islet transplantation, including the use of cadaveric human islets, xenogeneic islets, immune privileged stem cell derived islets or comprehensive stem cell banks to facilitate HLA donor matching. It addresses key immunological challenges encountered during transplantation and highlights innovative techniques in bio-engineering and cell-based strategies (e.g genetic engineered hypoimmune hiPSCs). The review also discussed advances to tackle immunogenicity of transplanted islets, aimed at circumventing immune rejection with the ultimate goal of expanding the accessibility of islet cell therapy and enhancing treatment outcomes. Find out more here! | https://lnkd.in/gkYQAQNH