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Complementary & Alternative Medicine – Chemistry & Standards
- The R&D team focuses on TCM authentication, TCM product QA/QC, new TCM product development, and helps in the development of local ISO standards with Singapore’s TCM technical committee.
- Our capabilities include TCM product safety and efficacy (in vivo and in vitro testing) and chemical fingerprinting (HPLC, LC-MS/MS, GC/MS, FTIR).
- Our industry partners include Eu Yang Sang International, Singapore College of TCM, Singapore Chinese Druggists Association, Yi Shi Yuan, and The Medicine Manufacturing Association of Singapore.
Industry Partners
Iconic Project : Safer Red Yeast Rice Nutritional Supplement
- Red Yeast Rice (RYR) is produced by fermenting cooked non-glutinous whole rice kernels with the yeast, Monascus purpureus. RYR has been used by the Chinese since 800 A.D. as fermented food and medicine to stimulate blood circulation and digestion.
- With the discovery that RYR produces a chemical called monacolin K, which inhibits the body’s production of cholesterol, it has been developed as a popular functional supplement for reducing cholesterol.
- Our team seeks to develop a simple and rapid method to remove the majority of water-soluble compounds present in RYR. The new RYR should be safer for patients with multi-cardiovascular diseases as water-soluble RYR extracts causing potential herb-drug interaction(s) to have been removed.
- A patent filed over 10 different countries (including US, China, Canada, Japan…etc) on the proprietary processing method and potential novel applications of the water-soluble RYR.
- The product has been marketed under Eu Yang Sang International, Singapore since 2012 until now.
Iconic Project : Edible Bird’s Nest Authentication
- The current method for authentication of Edible Bird’s Nest (EBN) is based on physical appearance and requires a skilled grader to distinguish genuine from fake samples.
- The life sciences team developed a method of authenticating EBN with hyperspectral imaging. This novel method has not been reported in any scientific journal. It was granted a Singapore Patent in 2018.
- The team further improvised to use Near Infra-red Spectroscopy (NIRS) for EBN grading. This method is more accurate, faster, and very easy to use.