TECH OFFERS

The impact of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) on society is one of our biggest global challenges as it adversely affects the quality of life of patients. This irreversible disease also poses tremendous physical, emotional, and financial burdens to their family, the community medical system, and the entire social economy.  The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a few prescription drugs (i.e. Aricept® (donepezil), Exelon® (rivastigmine), Razadyne® (galantamine) and Namenda® (memantine)) for the treatment of AD. These prescription drugs can help reduce or delay some symptoms, but not cure AD.  The possible side effects of these drugs range from mild symptoms that include nausea, vomiting, headache, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, to severe symptoms that include slow heartbeat, heart block, gastrointestinal bleeding and ulcers. As stated in the 2012 Consumer Reports, the monthly medication cost of these prescription drugs is around US$200 to US$400 per AD patient.  In light of this, we have invented a patented formulation by modifying the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formulation, Huang-Lian-Jie-Du-Tang (HLJDT, 黃連解毒湯).  Our research findings prove that the modified HLJDT (HLJDT-M) can reduce the accumulation of protein plaques and fibrous nodules (i.e. amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) and tau aggregates) in the brain that leads to rapid death of neurons and deterioration of brain function. HLJDT-M has given more significant therapeutic and pharmacological effects in treating AD with low cost and extremely low side effects.

Many of us love the warmth and brightness of the sun; however, sun exposure often causes damage to our skin. When our skin is exposed to sunlight, which is the primary source of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, our skin gets darkened, damaged or causes various aesthetic problems, such as wrinkles, blemishes, scarring, freckles and chloasmata. These are due to the oxidative stress (i.e. generation of free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS)) in the epidermal and dermal layers. Occasionally, the UV-induced damages may even lead to the development of melanoma (i.e. a type of skin cancer). The invention is a specific class of natural compounds in a well-known Chinese medicine. The product gives skin whitening effect and improves skin condition. It is safe to use and is now available on the market.

The majority of the local indoor farmers grow crops that are harvested for their leaves. One way to increase the growth rate of such leafy greens is to provide a longer period of light. However, some of the crops grown, e.g., spinach, are long-day plants that flower when the light periods are longer than their critical day-length. While important to a plant’s life cycle, this vegetative to reproductive phase change is undesirable for farmers, not only because it shortens the harvest period hence reducing the yield, but also because it changes the taste profile. To tackle this problem, a light recipe that was able to suppress flowering was formulated. Plants grown under this light recipe showed a faster growth rate than those grown under flowering-suppressing short-day photoperiod. Moreover, they do not flower even when the light period has surpassed the critical day-length. Positive results were obtained when this light recipe was tested on spinach and arugula. This technology would work for other long-day crops, and it will be beneficial to indoor farmers who are interested to try it.

The most common cryopreservation media used in laboratories consist of 10% DMSO and 20% to 90% fetal bovine serum (FBS). DMSO was thought to reduce the size of ice-crystals during freezing, thus reducing mortality whereas FBS improves the viability of cells during recovery.  Although effective for cryopreservation of most cell types, FBS poised significant risks, including the possible risk of cross-species virus infections such as the “mad cow disease”, as well as the possibility of triggering an adverse immunogenic response from the recipient. Our serum-free cryopreservation formula allows the cryopreservation of mammalian cells without the need for serum.

By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the world earth’s estimate 9.8 billion population will reside in urban centers. In addition, factors such as climate change, limited arable land and pollution will make indoor farming an attractive option. Current technologies used in traditional farming will definitely be inadequate and for Singapore, it will be even more vital to achieve food security with limited resources.  The technology described herein consists of a horticultural LED system that can eventually help to address 2 main concerns of urban farming - operation cost and crop yield. The predictive algorithms can help to predict important lighting information necessary for indoor farming. This lighting information is crucial for end-user (e.g. farmers) to formulate their own “light” recipe for optimizing the growth rate of their crops. In addition, it has analytics features that can assist in analysing DLI, energy costs, etc. for improving crop yield. The technology owner is seeking partners to collaborate through various modes including technology licensing and test bedding.

This Technology Offer allows automation of the process of monitoring stock levels in the warehouse, and when they drop below a certain threshold, trigger a certain event.  This technology can be used to address the following challenges: What items are on the shelf? What is the current inventory level? What items need to be restocked? How many items need to be restocked?

Fermentation is an old method used mainly for food preservation. However, when the technology is well known and controlled, it can be a great asset for:1. Taste: improving the taste of foods and drinks or providing exotic flavors (umami)2. Texture: Improving the structure of foods and drinks by making them smoother, more tender or creamier, or in gluten-free baked products, making them crispier, chewier or with improved raising doughs.3. Nutrition value: improving the bioavailability of vitamins and minerals or other health promoting compounds.4. Health: when foods and drinks are fermented with probiotic bacteria, they can improve gut healthy and consumers lifestyleAny food company interested in having a premium quality in their product portfolio, should partner with us to developed better foods.We own the bacteria used for improving foods and drinks as well as the knowledge of how to use them in product development.

Human DNA contamination is an issue in the process of manufacturing devices for molecular and genomic applications. Such devices need to be certified human DNA free for sensitive downstream processes. Therefore, there is a need to monitor human DNA residual level in factory surfaces and in final products. The technology provider had identified a novel target for detection of human DNA and developed a highly sensitive PCR based detection method for presence of human DNA based on this target. They have demonstrated that the method is specific, sensitive and with low cost. Compared to a commercial kit available in the market, this method is at least 500 times more sensitive. This method will be a valuable tool for device manufacturers. In addition, it can also be applied on forensic as well as environmental samples. Furthermore, the principle of the method can be adapted to detect other animal species for either identification or monitoring purposes.

Multiple Pickup and Delivery Planning (MPDP) is very common in both passenger and cargo transport operations. However, due to the planning complexity, it is impossible to quickly generate good solutions manually to support daily transport operation planning. The MPDP solution developed by the team is able to close the gap by quickly generating transport plans for multiple vehicles with multiple pickup locations and multiple delivery locations.