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By Chang Ai-Lien, Science Correspondent
A NANYANG Technological University (NTU) professor hopes to be testing soluble stents on heart patients here within two years.
Professor Freddy Boey just got a $10 million leg-up for his work.
His is among four promising research teams here which have been awarded up to $10 million apiece over three to five years by the National Research Foundation (NRF).
Three of the teams are from NTU, and the fourth, from the National University of Singapore.
Prof Boey, who has been working on the stent for five years , said: 'This award is recognition of the work we do.'
Stents used now are tiny metal wire-mesh tubes, sometimes coated with drugs, which are inserted into the blood vessels to keep them open and the blood flowing, to prevent a heart attack.
The one he and his team are developing is considered the holy grail of stents because it dissolves completely over time and releases drugs or proteins to prevent side-effects such as blood clots. Because no foreign body remains in the vessel, it can heal faster, cutting the risk of it becoming clogged over the next few years.
Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.
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