Singapore: The Lab, The Culture, and the (Quasi) Natural Wonders

(From Tammy Chin)

I've still been very busy in the lab from 9-6 every weekday. My goal, as part of a collaborative effort between all the fifth floor Duke-NUS GMS lab members of the Brenner Centre for Molecular Medicine, has generally been to advance the knowledge of Dengue in this area where Dengue is so prevalent. From the start, my head supervisor has been Dr. Eng Eong, an epidemiologist who spends most of his time about 10 minutes away at the DSO National Laboratories. The focus of my research studies changed from what I was told at the beginning, which was to investigate how IP-10, a chemokine that potentially promotes viral replication, interacts with dengue virus. It turns out that Eng Eong and his colleagues were so eager to find out more about it, that they had already started the project before I came to Singapore. Duane Gubler, the head of the Duke-NUS GMS effort to further Dengue research, had brought back many virus isolates from Puerto Rico and Indonesia, and Eng Eong, after discussing with fellow teammates, decided to let me sequence the complete genome of these virus strains and see if, we can see a correlation between human response of Dengue and the sequencing. So, that has been my target since day one here (actually day two since adjusting to the Singapore heat and catching up on sleep took away a day). Presently, I've been working on extracting DNA out of the gels that I made and finding all the measurements of the extracted DNA. I will be sending out some DNA samples and primer sets for sequencing tomorrow. It's exciting news, but there's still a long way to go. I've only done PCR/gel extraction of two strains of the Puerto Rican Dengue 2 Virus. There are still plenty more strains to finish sequencing.

During my work in the lab, I have developed a copious amount of respect for my supervisors and colleagues. Being a scientist involves having much patience, the ability to work under pressure, and being able to keenly handle all possible scenarios while also mixing in good teamwork and communication skills. The person who supervises my work in the lab every day was talking about how tired she was today. Her daughter was sick yesterday, and she had to leave work early to get her. She also told me how she hasn't slept in the last few days because she has been under so much pressure to finish her paper and have it published. Extracting DNA out of the gels, making PCR master mixes, and isolating RNA from the viral supernatants takes a lot more time and concentration than most people will think, I have realized and experienced. Take for instance, our progress was delayed because it took us days to figure out the best cycling conditions for the PCR mixes since the melting temperatures for the primer sets of the complementary DNA were so different. Thank goodness we found the temperature gradient on the thermal cycler machine, and I've been keeping track of all of my progress in a notebook in the lab. My supervisors tell me how important jotting down every detail of every activity is in the scientific research world.

Aside from the every day labwork, I have had time to enjoy Singapore's incredible goodness. On Saturday, my friend from India and I went to the MacRitchie Reservoir to get away from the hustle and bustle of typical Singapore life. We hiked about 10 kilometers through beautiful greenery and the peacefulness of nature and ended up at The TreeTop Walk, a suspended bridge connecting the two highest points of the nature reserve. The view was amazing. Tall trees and monkeys, fresh air and a cool breeze replaced the concrete buildings and construction sites, pollution and heat that I was so accustomed to. It's worthy to note that we saw quite a few people running up and down the trail. We couldn't believe how fit these people were, especially at the ages they were at, while we were barely surviving our slow paced walk up. We only wish we will be as fit as they are when we grow old. After living here for a good amount of time now, I know how much Singaporeans value good health and fitness. It's rare to see obese people here, and the fresh fruit/fruit juice stands are always crowded with people. The food is always made fresh, and I notice many healthy options at the eateries here, like vegetables and healthy booster juices. Milo, a popular nutritional drink, is sold everywhere, and I am a huge fan of it, as Mary can testify.

While we we trekked up the trail, we passed a country club, and my friend said that only the richest of rich can afford to be a member of the country club, and that it was the desire of every person here. She said every Singaporean wishes for the 5 C's: country club, car, condo, credit card, and cash, and that really resonated in me. Golf courses and country clubs are very rare amenities here in Singapore because of the lack of land. A car is also incredibly expensive (evident from the fact that Singaporeans have to bid on a Certificate of Entitlement which ends up costing more than $15,000 separate from the car costs). A person is lucky to find a condo in such a small country where every inch of space is a fortune. Even though it's distinctly part of the "Singlish" lexicon, these are things that almost every person living in the world wants. It's interesting, after spending these past five weeks focusing on a virus that takes so many lives here, that these material things seem trivial compared to good health and care of the body. Later that night, we relaxed from our day of hiking by going to Sentosa, a man made beach nearby. The artificiality of the place was clear after we stepped onto the rocky sand, but the place was still great for an evening of tranquility.

Since my friend was going back to India soon, we decided to take advantage of what Singapore had to offer and bought a $40 park hopper for the Jurong BirdPark, the Singapore Zoo, and the Night Safari. The Birdpark is a great place to go during the day. They have the largest man made waterfall there, and the Night Safari is the first of its kind. I saw animals that I had never known existed, and there's nothing like being driven around the safari in the cool evening and listening to fascinating facts about creatures from all parts of the world. We also enjoyed the closing ceremony of the Singapore Arts Festival at a lake over the weekend. It was a spectacular and eccentric show done by Europeans on the water, with fireworks and amazing props (like the HUGE creature made out of water bottles). I can already tell that I will miss this place greatly when I go back home in a couple of weeks.