The Wearable Imaging for Transforming Elderly Care (WITEC) project, led by SMART in collaboration with MIT, NTU, NUS and Tan Tock Seng Hospital, is developing the world’s first wearable ultrasound imaging system for continuous, real-time monitoring of chronic conditions such as hypertension and heart failure. Supported by advanced tools like Southeast Asia’s first sub-micrometre 3D printer and cutting-edge ultrasonic imaging technology, WITEC aims to shift healthcare from hospital-based interventions to proactive, home-based care, enabling earlier detection, personalised diagnosis and improved patient outcomes.

At the base of mossy trees, deep in the mountains of Taiwan and mainland Japan or nestled in the subtropical forests of Okinawa, grows what most might mistake for a mushroom – but what is actually a very unique plant with some of the smallest flowers and seeds in the world. With no chlorophyll to photosynthesize with and no root system to supply it with water from the ground, Balanophora has evolved a series of extreme traits to survive entirely as a parasite on the roots of specific trees. Some species and populations produce seeds only without fertilization (obligate agamospermy) – which is exceedingly rare in the plant kingdom. 

Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Kobe University, and the University of Taipei have now joined forces to survey Balanophora across its sparse and inaccessible habitats, upending our understanding of photosynthesis loss in land plants, obligate agamospermy, and the role of the plastids.