Biopolis is the biomedical sub-district of One-North, occupying the south-eastern portion of the estate near Buona Vista MRT. It was the first component of the One-North masterplan to reach completion, with Phase 1 opening in October 2003. Its seven interconnected towers — Matrix, Proteos, Nanos, Genome, Centros, Neuros, and Synapse — form a continuous complex above a shared basement and retail podium, a configuration that was intentional: the architects and planners wanted to maximise the probability of informal encounters between researchers from different disciplines.
The cluster was conceived as Singapore's answer to biomedical research hubs in Boston, Basel, and London's Crick Institute corridor — a dedicated environment where government research institutes and private pharmaceutical companies occupy the same buildings and share infrastructure.
A*STAR Institutes at Biopolis
The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is the primary institutional anchor at Biopolis. Its Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) oversees a set of institutes that collectively define the research character of the cluster.
Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS)
Established in 2000 and relocated to Biopolis on its opening, GIS conducts research in genomics, cancer biology, stem cell biology, and computational genomics. It operates the Singapore Sequencing Consortium and collaborates with the National Cancer Centre Singapore and the Singapore General Hospital on translational projects. GIS has published extensively in high-impact journals and has generated multiple spinout companies in the diagnostics sector.
Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB)
One of Singapore's oldest biomedical research bodies, IMCB moved to Biopolis from Kent Ridge in 2004. The institute works across cell signalling, developmental biology, and protein biochemistry. Its scientists have filed over 200 patents and participated in drug-discovery collaborations with pharmaceutical partners based in the Biopolis complex.
Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN)
SIgN focuses on human immunology and inflammatory disease. It runs Singapore's national repository for immune cell lines and coordinates multi-hospital biobanking through A*STAR's Biobank infrastructure. The institute has particular depth in dengue research and COVID-19 immunology — work that received significant attention during the 2020–2022 period.
Institute of Bioengineering and Bioimaging (IBB)
IBB spans the boundary between engineering and life sciences, with research groups working on MRI contrast agents, medical device prototyping, and microfluidics platforms for diagnostics. It maintains a shared bioimaging facility within Biopolis accessible to all A*STAR tenants and some commercial partners.
Bioinformatics Institute (BII)
BII provides computational biology infrastructure to the broader BMRC ecosystem. Its researchers develop algorithms for protein structure prediction, drug-target interaction modelling, and population genomics. The institute has played a central role in Singapore's national precision medicine effort, the Singapore Translational Cancer Consortium.
Commercial and Pharmaceutical Tenants
Biopolis's ability to attract private-sector pharmaceutical and biotech tenants was central to the government's rationale. By 2010, the cluster had drawn laboratories or Asian headquarters from GlaxoSmithKline (Research Centre opened 2010), Sanofi, Roche, Eisai, and Novartis. This co-location model — public institutes and commercial labs in the same buildings — was intended to shorten the distance between basic research and drug development.
In practice, the interactions have been more structured than the informal-encounter model implied: formal collaboration agreements, co-supervision of PhD students, and joint grant applications have been the primary mechanisms rather than accidental corridor conversations. Still, the density of biomedical expertise in a small geographic area has measurably accelerated the movement of personnel between sectors, with A*STAR institute alumni consistently moving into adjacent commercial roles.
Clinical Translation Links
Biopolis is connected to the Singapore Health District via the Biopolis–Hospital corridor, a coordination mechanism linking research outputs from the cluster to clinical validation at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH), Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), and the National University Hospital (NUH). The Consortium for Clinical Research and Innovation Singapore (CRIS) sits within A*STAR's administrative structure and helps manage research agreements between Biopolis institutes and hospital research units.
The National Medical Research Council (NMRC), which co-funds translational projects, has progressively oriented its major grant programmes — including the Open Fund and the Translational and Clinical Research Flagship grants — to require Biopolis institute involvement, strengthening the pipeline between discovery research and patient-facing applications.
Infrastructure and Shared Facilities
Biopolis operates a set of shared core facilities that any BMRC institute or approved commercial partner can access on a fee-for-service basis. These include:
- A high-throughput DNA sequencing centre with Illumina NovaSeq and Oxford Nanopore instruments
- A Biosafety Level 2 and Level 3 laboratory complex for infectious disease work
- A centralised flow cytometry and cell sorting facility
- Mass spectrometry and proteomics infrastructure
- A mouse phenotyping and behaviour facility managed by the Biological Resource Centre
These shared resources reduce the capital expenditure required by any individual institute or company and enable research groups that could not justify the cost of dedicated equipment to access state-of-the-art tools.
Phase Development Timeline
Phase 1 (2003) delivered Matrix, Proteos, Nanos, and Genome. Phase 2 (2006) added Centros, Neuros, and Synapse, more than doubling the available floor area. Phase 3 began in 2011 with a further extension that added laboratory floors to Synapse and expanded the basement-level shared core. As of 2025, A*STAR has announced intentions for a Phase 4 development focused on advanced manufacturing research, tied to Singapore's Biopharmaceutical Manufacturers' Programme.
Workforce and Training
Biopolis supports a researcher workforce estimated at approximately 4,500 people across institute staff, postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, and commercial laboratory employees. A*STAR's Graduate Academy administers scholarship programmes that bring international doctoral candidates to work in BMRC institutes, and the NSS (National Science Scholarship) funnel directs top Singapore undergraduates toward careers in the Biopolis ecosystem.
For the engineering and infocomm equivalent of Biopolis, see Fusionopolis and Adjacent Districts. For the broader estate context, see One-North: Structure, Districts and Institutional Tenants.