SINGAPORE is pumping a hefty $120 million into the next big things in water and environmental sustainability research - which are tiny.

A fifth research centre of excellence (RCE) - government-funded top research centres in universities here - was
set up yesterday to conduct cut ting-edge research on bacteria communities, called biofilms.

By discovering how bacteria come together, interact and develop, the Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering expects to have a wide-ranging impact: from cleaning up oil spills, purifying water and keeping medical equipment bacteria-free, to preventing gook from growing on your kitchen sink.

The centre, located in the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and set up by NTU and the National University of Singapore, is a world's first in terms of manpower, funding and scope of research, said the centre's director, Professor Staffan Kjelleberg.

It joins four other RCEs set up since 2007, funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Education Ministry. They have invested $750 million in the five centres. The latest centre is expected to start operations next January.

With the advances in molecular-genomic technology, the centre is poised on the edge of a "gold mine, which will open the door to many other applications", Prof Kjelleberg said.

There will be plenty of economic spin-offs in the forms of intellectual-property patents and new technologies that will add to Singapore's economy, he added.

He estimates that the global water- and environment-sustainability market in Asia alone to be worth over $9 trillion in the next 30 years.

NRF chairman Tony Tan said that the RCEs have been "worthwhile investments" in establishing Singapore as a
world-class research hub, drawing top talent and making an economic and social impact.