STARLIGHT Initiative

28/06/2025

The STARLIGHT Initiative is proud to be funded by the Tanoto Foundation as part "Project ASPIRE" to understand Asian-prevalent cancers using single cell and spatial technologies, including rare cancers! ⭐

We encourage academics in the region to join us on this project and industry partners to collaborate with us.

24/04/2025

Sharing an inspiring patient story!

Father-of-two Xian Jing was diagnosed with rare cancer, gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST), when he was only 38-years-old.

With a clear, solution-oriented mindset and support from his family and co-workers, he got through treatment and is now back to teaching. 💛

More on his story here 👉 https://www.nccs.com.sg/patient-care/Pages/History-teacher-tackles-rare-cancer-diagnosis-with-purpose-.aspx

19/04/2025

She was diagnosed with PIK3CA-Related Overgrowth Spectrum, a group of conditions caused by a gene mutation. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

14/04/2025

Ms Gladys Leow was just 18 when she discovered that a lump on her neck – which resurfaced even after being removed and found to be benign – was liposarcoma, a rare cancer that develops from fat cells and has a high risk of recurrence. Read more at stomp.straitstimes.com

09/03/2025

Ms Andrea Lim was among 20 women who took part in the Courage Catwalk 2025 fashion show. Read more at straitstimes.com.

01/01/2025

Wishing all a happy 2025!

13/11/2024

Do you know that overproduction of some forms of proteins can result in resistance to chemotherapy drugs and poor survival outcomes?

Recently, the team at the Cancer Discovery Hub National Cancer Centre Singapore discovered that SPP1 (Secreted Phosphoprotein 1) is overproduced in human angiosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer - resulting also in drug resistance and poor survival outcomes. This work was presented today at the Frontiers in Cancer Science 2024 conference today.

Check out the accompanied publication below!

Link: https://lnkd.in/gCgD4pfn

24/09/2024

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/she-fought-cancer-gave-when-it-got-unbearable-now-27-year-old-trying-again-4605776

Claire Liew, who has Hodgkin’s lymphoma, is not the only young cancer patient to stop treatment.

06/07/2024

Spent the morning doing some public education with members of 365 Cancer Prevention Society today, on the topic of . As usual the turnout was fantastic and the audience participation was beyond enthusiastic! At the beginning of the talk, no one had ever heard of "sarcoma" "GIST" etc. and were shocked to hear that rare cancers are actually not rare at all. I am glad to have contributed some knowledge today on the important topic and will be looking forward to more engagements with them.

Hope to see them (and all of you) at this year's Run For Hope - please join Team STARLIGHT! https://www.runforhopesg.com/portal/profile?token=6q2590fg
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Support our research by donating to: https://www.giving.sg/donate/campaign/nccs-cancer-fund_cdh

03/07/2024

Are you ready to run for HOPE? 👊 Sign up today and join TEAM STARLIGHT to dedicate the run to all patients, caregivers and survivors of rare cancers! Come join in the games and festivities even if you are not a runner! ⭐️🌈

Hi Friends! I'm participating in Run For Hope to help raise awareness for cancer research. Please join me in this journey by clicking the link below to contribute to my personal tally!

04/06/2024

Have you ever heard of Extramammary Paget's Disease (EMPD)? Do you know that -directed therapies may also help with this ultra-rare disease in its advanced stages? Yes - this is the same "HER2" in common breast cancers. Here, Lim BY et al. characterized the entire tumor DNA sequence of HER2-positive EMPD using whole genome sequencing (the world's first!) and demonstrated how HER2-targeted therapies can be used to help patients with this cancer.

Background Extramammary Paget’s disease (EMPD) is a rare cancer that occurs within the epithelium of the skin, arising predominantly in areas with high apocrine gland concentration such as the v***a, sc***um, p***s and perianal regions. Here, we aim to integrate clinicopathological data with genom...

28/04/2024

Thank you The Straits Times for highlighting rare diseases. Rarity of a disease does not diminish its importance - even in a "small" country like Singapore. ⭐️

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/new-kkh-clinic-specialises-in-rare-disease-that-causes-tumours-to-grow-in-different-parts-of-body

Tuberous sclerosis complex causes benign tumours to grow in various parts of the body. Read more at straitstimes.com.