Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner dies at 92

Singapore

NOBEL Laureate Sydney Brenner, the man who played a key role in shaping Singapore's biomedical push, died on Friday morning. He was 92.

The molecular biology pioneer, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2002, established the roundworm C elegans as a model for studying developmental biology.

Dr Brenner first visited Singapore in 1983 to advise the government on what it would take for the Republic to create a biotechnology industry.

He met then prime minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1984, and convinced officials here to look at biomedical sciences as a key economic strategy. According to Asian Scientist magazine, when Dr Brenner suggested setting up a research institute to develop a pool of locals with PhDs, the late Mr Lee told him that Singapore wa…