Micron donates S$2.5m to Covid-19 treatment research, 5 charities

Singapore

MICRON Technology on Thursday announced several donations totalling over S$2.5 million from its Micron Foundation Covid-19 Relief Fund to support Singapore communities through the coronavirus pandemic.

Chen Kok Sing, corporate vice-president and Singapore country manager, said: "As local organisations continue to be overwhelmed by needs that outpace what they can provide, Micron remains committed to doing all that we can to alleviate the impact of this pandemic in Singapore and ensure equal access to support organisations and families in need."

Joining the global effort to find a cure for the virus, the Micron Foundation has committed more than S$500,000 to help discover new treatment therapies. A research team from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed a pioneering platform known as IDentif.AI, which uses AI to identify the optimal combination and dosage of drugs that can be used as an interim treatment for Covid-19. The IDentif.AI platform could play a key role in finding effective drug combinations that combat the virus as it mutates.

"Identifying a drug that can be used to treat Covid-19 is a gruelling task, which requires both time and precision given the amount of possible drug combinations," said Dean Ho, director of the N.1 Institute for Health and the Institute for Digital Medicine and head of Department of Biomedical Engineering at NUS.

Dr Ho added: "Treatment for this virus remains a high priority, and we are thankful that Micron recognises the need and urgency in optimising therapy against Covid-19. Micron's support and commitment will go a long way in speeding up the search for suitable treatments to be used here in Singapore and globally."

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Through Micron's 2-to-1 employee donation matching programme, Singapore team members have raised a total of S$1.88 million - almost doubling the initial target of S$1 million. In addition to cash donations, Micron's unique programme also allowed employees to exchange their paid annual leave for monetary donations to charities, which were also matched by Micron.

The funds raised were distributed to five charities spanning a spectrum of beneficiaries, including children, older adults, differently abled people, and vulnerable families. The five chosen beneficiaries are Children's Wishing Well, The Food Bank Singapore Ltd, Down Syndrome Association (Singapore), Daughters of Tomorrow, and Blossom Seeds.