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  Channel NewsAsia 26 Feb 07
NUS sets up research unit on environmental issues
 By Pearl Forss

SINGAPORE : The National University of Singapore (NUS) has set up an Environmental Research Institute to tackle the global problems of climate change and other environmental issues.

The university has given the institute a start-up fund of $12 million over three years, and this is expected to be supplemented by grants from the National Research Foundation.

Scientists warn that millions of people in South Asia could be killed by the "Asian Brown Cloud" - a dense blanket of pollution that hovers over cities like Hong Kong and Shanghai. Over in Southeast Asia, the haze - at its worst - had sent hospital admissions for respiratory diseases soaring.

The NUS Environmental Research Institute (NERI) is on the job.

One research team is studying indoor air quality and its impact on people. The study measures how experiment subjects respond to different parameters like temperature, humidity, pollution and ventilation. With more Asians staying in air-conditioned rooms to avoid polluted hot air, the team is warning that indoor air must also be studied for its potential health risks.

Associate Professor Tham Kwok Wai, Department of Building, NUS, said: "People work at least about eight hours in an office, so we do not want to subject them to unnecessary stress. If we can make the environment better for them, then I think it's quality of life.

"Secondly we are worried about productivity. It is very competitive, we all know, so if we are able to examine how air quality may affect productivity then we at least have a basis in basic mundane facilities management."

Based on the study, the team is also developing technologies such as filtration systems, energy efficient air-conditioning, and air circulation systems in buildings.

Professor Tham added that many buildings in the tropics are overcooled because the current air conditioning technology removes moisture by overcooling the air, consuming a wasteful amount of electricity in the process.

His research team is studying a new way of doing this by dealing with the thermal aspect and dehumidification aspect in air cooling separately. In his study of indoor air quality,

Professor Tham also found that partitions in offices affect good ventilation, carpets affect air quality due to bacteria growth, and pressed wood could be a source of pollutant as it produces formaldehyde.

This research is jointly carried out by the School of Medicine and the Department of Building, an example of one of the many multi-disciplinary works being done.

Professor Barry Halliwell, Deputy President (Research & Technology) at NUS, said: "We think we can draw on all the strengths of our different faculties to tackle specific problems. We want to help improve environment and environmental management. At the same time, we want to do fundamental cutting edge research.

"The third thing that is very important is to train manpower. When you have all these excellent research groups, you produce very good graduate students that can go out and form their own companies or be employed by industry."

And in two years, the NERI will be staffed with over 200 researchers for these tasks.

Another key area of research for the NERI is water. With groundwater being contaminated in some parts of China, and countries like India and Indonesia facing a shortage of drinking water, NUS believes its research in this field will have significant impact in Asia.

Water quality in particular is something the NERI is looking into. It is using ultra sensitive genetically modified human cells to monitor water quality.

Assistant Professor Gong Yinhan, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Tropical Marine Science Institute at NUS, said: "Currently most of the conventional techniques are using chemical analysis. This chemical analysis is only based on a single compound or a group of compounds. However, lots of compounds in water are existing in mixture states."

And the beauty of using a human cell is that scientists are not only able to test for mixed and multiple compounds concurrently. They are also able to test for as yet unknown pollutants, and determine the effect of the water on humans. Human cells are also over a hundred times more sensitive to pollutants compared to chemicals. And it makes spotting even slightly contaminated water easier.

Professor Gong said the key challenge was growing and stabilising the human cell, and the research team has managed to find a nutrient called "culture meelia" to do this.

Its industrial application is also fairly simple. Scientists monitoring water will have to put a drop of it in the cell line. Computer analysis in the laboratory can then record the behaviour of the cell and determine the purity of the water. The research team is in the process of commercialising this.

Millions of people in countries like Bangladesh, China and Pakistan are at risk of poisoning from contaminated waters. - CNA/de
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