Sir

Your News Feature “Building a biopolis” (Nature 412, 370–371; 2001) quotes Philip Yeo, chairman of the Singapore National Science and Techology Board, as saying that the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology (IMA) has been “a criminal waste of taxpayers' money”.

While respecting Yeo's personal view on resource allocation, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, which oversees the board, does not agree with his view. The IMA has done good work and has received international recognition.

Singapore has decided to make the biomedical sciences the focus of its life-science research efforts. The Ministerial Committee on the Life Sciences is now conducting a review of how the IMA should be repositioned with this in mind, and will make a decision later this year, after consulting its international advisers.