The Singapore Twin Project (STP) is a database set up to facilitate medical research into how genes and the environment interact to cause disease. It will help researchers find new ways to prevent, treat and cure disease.

This project is managed by the Centre for Molecular Epidemiology at the National University of Singapore.






It is important to distinguish if a disease is due to genes or environmental factors.

Identical twins have 100% of the same genes. Non-identical twins share on average 50% of the same genes.

It follows that if a disease is genetically influenced, more pairs of identical twins will get the disease than non-identical twins. Conversely if a disease is heavily influenced by shared environmental factors then the disease should be present in equal numbers of identical and non-identical twin pairs.





Our trained staff will come to your home and interview you and members in your family nucleus. If possible, we would also appreciate a small sample of blood for genetic research. The interview consists of questions on lifestyle and medical history. It takes between one to two hours.



For the first 200 twin pairs (triplets, quadruplets) who donate blood, a zygosity test can be done. This is a genetic test which let the twins know with 99.9% accuracy if the twins are identical (monozygotic/one egg) or non-identical (dizygotic/two eggs).


  • Twins and multiples or their parents
  • Singaporean and Singapore PR
  • All ages

Do you meet the above criteria? Call 6478 9901 OR email us to register OR fill the form below and we will get back to you as soon as possible.





Straits Times "20 April 2004"
Where are you? Only 11 out of 5,000 pairs of twins signed up for study

Straits Times "3 May 2004"
30 more willing to sign up as interest in twin registry doubles

Name

Address

Contact Number

E-mail

Age of Twins

Relationship to Twins

DISCLAIMER: Any information provided will be sent to the Singapore Twin Project (STP) only. STP will not give your name out to any other research project without your permission. All responses will be kept confidential.

The STP is funded by the Biomedical Research Council.
Project Title: Establishing a Singapore Twin Database for Genomics Research
Grant No.: 03/1/11/18/225