Singapore – 2020
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Atlantis Bioscience Singapore, the parent company of Villa Medical Center Phuket (www.thailandstemcell.com), demonstrated its commitment to biomedical innovation and social responsibility by contributing essential laboratory reagents to the Temasek Foundation Resilience Project. Among the critical supplies, Atlantis delivered Dulbecco’s Phosphate-Buffered Saline (DPBS) valued at over SGD 0.5 million, helping support Singapore’s national testing infrastructure and emergency biomedical operations.
This contribution marked a significant milestone in the company’s efforts to empower biomedical ecosystems in Southeast Asia. While Villa Medical Center Phuket is primarily known for its role in stem cell therapy, regenerative medicine, and ATMP (Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product) support in Thailand, the 2020 response underscored the broader mission of Atlantis Bioscience: to build sustainable and resilient life science infrastructure across Asia.
What Is DPBS and Why It Was Crucial During COVID-19
Dulbecco’s Phosphate-Buffered Saline (DPBS) is a widely used, balanced salt solution critical to biomedical laboratories and clinical environments. It maintains cell osmolarity, pH, and structural integrity during cell culture, transport, and diagnostic sample preparation. It is essential in:
- Washing cells in stem cell culture and regenerative medicine
- Diluting reagents in diagnostic assay kits
- Maintaining tissue specimens for COVID-19 testing
- Preserving cell lines used in vaccine and drug development
During the COVID-19 crisis, laboratories across Singapore faced an overwhelming surge in diagnostic testing. The shortage of validated reagents—including DPBS—posed a direct threat to operational continuity, clinical diagnostics, and biomedical research.
Through its established reagent manufacturing and distribution channels, Atlantis Bioscience Singapore was able to quickly deliver certified GMP-grade DPBS to Singaporean facilities, ensuring that both public hospitals and private diagnostics firms could continue their efforts without compromise.
Temasek Resilience Project: Building Biomedical Readiness
The Temasek Foundation Resilience Fund was created in response to the escalating global pandemic to bolster Singapore’s public health response. Working alongside the Resilient Cities Network (https://resilientcitiesnetwork.org/urban-resilience-program/), the initiative focused on:
- Enhancing medical infrastructure for mass testing and tracing
- Securing high-grade PPE and critical lab reagents
- Developing diagnostic kits, ventilators, and biotechnological tools
- Supporting local biotech innovation and private-public partnerships
Atlantis Bioscience’s contribution of DPBS became a part of the nationwide backbone that helped laboratories sustain operations in real-time while accelerating COVID-19 diagnostics, vaccine research, and clinical sample processing.
Local Action, Global Impact: Atlantis’ Broader Vision
Atlantis Bioscience’s ability to deliver rapid-response logistics and high-grade reagents stems from its extensive experience in cell therapy media, stem cell expansion, and immune platform development. The DPBS supplied to Temasek was manufactured under ISO 13485 and GMP-compliant conditions—certifications that also govern the company’s core work in stem cell therapy.
Even before the pandemic, Atlantis Bioscience and its Thai subsidiary Villa Medical Center Phuket had been instrumental in supplying Southeast Asia with critical materials for:
- MSC (mesenchymal stem cell) therapy preparation
- NK (natural killer) cell expansion platforms
- Exosome isolation kits and buffers
- FBS (fetal bovine serum) and xeno-free human alternatives
- Clinical-grade saline and tissue transport media
During the pandemic, these capabilities were adapted to meet urgent public health needs—ensuring that cell culture reagents could be redirected for COVID-19 sample handling, virus culture, and test development.
Strengthening Diagnostic Infrastructure in ASEAN
Singapore’s response to COVID-19 was widely regarded as one of the most effective globally, due in part to the ability of local biotech partners to react quickly and responsibly. Atlantis Bioscience’s role was a core example of how private sector capabilities in stem cell and regenerative tools can be repurposed for national resilience efforts.
The DPBS supplied through this initiative enabled:
- Consistent pH-buffered conditions for high-throughput PCR testing
- Preservation of viral RNA integrity during transport and processing
- Safe washing of cell cultures in vaccine production and antibody testing
- Rapid support of mobile testing labs and hospitals in under 48 hours
Through its Singaporean logistics base, Atlantis ensured that supply chains remained unbroken even amid global reagent shortages. This earned Atlantis recognition among research institutions and policy circles for its reagent reliability, biomedical-grade safety, and operational scale.
From Emergency Response to Lasting Infrastructure
Although originally driven by crisis, the relationships and capabilities built during the 2020 resilience response created lasting value. In the years following COVID-19, Atlantis Bioscience has expanded its reagent line to include:
- GMP-certified saline buffers for ATMP development
- Cell-safe wash solutions for MSC therapy and culture
- Stabilizers for exosome storage and extracellular vesicle isolation
- Transport media for biobank sample management
- DPBS variants adapted for GMP stem cell expansion protocols
Villa Medical Center Phuket, its Thai subsidiary, now incorporates these reagents into clinical workflows at major treatment centers and research institutions across Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
A Public–Private Model for Future Pandemics
The success of the 2020 DPBS contribution also highlighted a replicable model for future crises:
- Scalable supply of laboratory-grade materials backed by ISO/GMP compliance
- Centralized ASEAN logistics with temperature-controlled warehousing
- Partnership with national resilience projects such as Temasek Foundation
- Adaptability of stem cell-grade reagents to public health emergencies
- Coordination across public health, academia, and the private sector
Atlantis Bioscience continues to advocate for the integration of regenerative medicine infrastructure into national emergency preparedness, ensuring that therapeutics and diagnostics alike can scale rapidly when needed most.
Conclusion: From Stem Cells to Strategic Support
The 2020 contribution of DPBS to Singapore’s Temasek Resilience Project was more than a donation—it was a strategic demonstration of how regenerative medicine ecosystems can play vital roles in public health resilience. Atlantis Bioscience’s agility, technical rigor, and commitment to ASEAN health made it a trusted partner in one of the most challenging global health episodes in modern history.
Today, the same commitment continues through Villa Medical Center Phuket in Thailand, where stem cell therapy, ATMP support, and biological reagent distribution are helping to build the region’s future—one component at a time.
Villa Medical Center Phuket
Villa Sukhothai, Soi Pasak 8, Choeng Thale,
Thalang District, Phuket, Thailand
Email: atlantisphuket@gmail.com
Phone/WhatsApp: +66 99 301 6969