Singapore Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Network

The objectives of SCRN are to:

• Maintain a national network of clinical investigators and research coordinators able to undertake phase 1 to 4 clinical trials, and strategic large prospective observational studies;

• Support young investigators in embarking on infectious disease clinical research in Singapore;

• Support multi-centre infectious disease clinical research and trials in Singapore;

• Conduct strategic research in infectious disease of national priorities in peace time;

• Rapidly respond in conducting observational studies and randomised controlled trials in nationally important outbreaks; and

• Develop expertise in novel clinical research and trial platforms including controlled human

To lead high-quality infectious disease clinical research from Singapore​

• To be a collaborative infectious disease research network connecting public healthcare, academia and industry in Singapore.

• To be a professional, multidisciplinary team working together to support clinician-investigators to perform clinically relevant and practice-oriented research.

• To be prepared to rapidly respond to support outbreak research of national importance.

• ​To form a sustainable platform for controlled human infection studies.

Singapore’s first human challenge study ‘The Singapore Platform for Controlled Human Infections with SARS-CoV-2’, also known as Sing-CoV, aims to conduct a safe SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant human infection challenge in adult volunteers to investigate factors associated with susceptibility to and protection from infection, and to facilitate the development of vaccines, antivirals, and other interventions.

Study objectives:

• Establish a SARS-CoV-2 controlled human infection (CHI) model in previously vaccinated, seropositive volunteers in Singapore, with an infection rate of up to 70%.

• Characterise the clinical, virological and immunological responses following controlled inoculation of Delta variant SARS-CoV-2 in Singapore volunteers.

• Identify determinants of breakthrough infection and correlates of protection in individuals with pre-existing immunity.

• Explore antigenic imprinting and the effects of pre-existing immunity on response to infection with an immune escape variant.

• Examine time-course of the generation of respiratory aerosols containing infectious virus from inoculation onwards.

This study is currently recruiting.

International adaptive platform trial 'Staphylococcus aureus Network Adaptive Platform' also known as SNAP, aims to find out which of the antibiotics currently in use work best to treat patients with Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB).

SAB is a common and severe bloodstream infection with a 90-day mortality of 15-30% despite current best available therapies. Staphylococcus aureus is a type of bacteria that can grouped into three types depending on their antibiotic sensitivity profile:

• Penicillin-susceptible S. aureus (PSSA);

• Methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA); and

• Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA).

The objective of SNAP is to identify the effect of a range of clinical interventions on all-cause 90-day mortality.

This study is currently recruiting.

For further information on the SNAP trial, please click here.

International, multicentre, randomised controlled trial - ‘Early oral step-down antibiotic therapy versus continuing intravenous therapy for uncomplicated Gram-negative bacteraemia’, also known as INVEST, aims to determine whether oral antibiotics are as effective and safe compared with intravenous antibiotics in treating uncomplicated bloodstream infections by Gram-negative bacteria.

The incidence of Gram-negative bacteraemia is rising globally, and remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality for hospitalised patients. Although practice guidelines provide general recommendations for treatment duration for Gram-negative bacteraemia, the optimal route of administration is yet to be definitively defined. The majority of patients with Gram-negative bacteraemia initially receive intravenous (IV) antibiotic therapy. Compared with IV therapy, oral therapy eliminates the risk of catheter-associated adverse events, enhances patient quality of life, and reduces total healthcare costs.

This study is currently recruiting.

Multicentre, observational prospective study - ‘Infectious Diseases Consortium for Study on Integrated and Innovative Approaches for Management of Respiratory Infections: Respiratory Infections Research and Outcome study’, also known as I3D-RESPIRO, aims to evaluate the causes and outcomes of moderate-to-severe Community Acquired Pneumonia in Singapore and the surrounding region, so as to facilitate development of new strategies to diagnose and treat them​. 

Study objectives:

• Describe the clinical features of the illness or syndrome and identify risk factors for severe disease

• Describe the response to treatment, including supportive care and novel therapeutics

• Observe pathogen replication, excretion and evolution within the host, and identify possible determinants of severity and transmission using high-throughput sequencing of pathogen genomes obtained from the respiratory tract, blood, urine, stool and other biological samples

• Characterise the host responses to infection and therapy over time, including innate and acquired immune responses, circulating levels of immune signalling molecules and gene expression profiling in peripheral blood

• Identify host genetic variants associated with disease progression or severity

• Understand transmissibility and the probabilities of different clinical outcomes following exposure and infection

The study is currently recruiting.