Global Enterprise of Micro-Mechanics and Molecular Medicine (GEM4) is a relatively new international research consortium aiming to create a global forum for the crossfertilization of ideas among engineers, life scientists and medical professionals, and for the development of novel educational tools. The uniqueness of the initiative lies in its vision of fostering a global engagement among colleagues to promote novel modes of interactions that cannot be established by conventional multi-institutional arrangements. The current member institutions of GEM4 and academics from some of these institutions who are actively associated with GEM4 are:

• California Institute of Technology (Mory Gharib)
• Chulabhorn Research Institute
• Duke University (Kam W. Leong)
• Georgia Institute of Technology (Gang Bao)
• Harvard University (L. Mahadevan)
• Institut Pasteur (Geneviève Milon)
• John Hopkins University (John D. Groopman)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Subra Suresh, John M. Essigmann, Leona. Samson, Roger D. Kamm)
• Max-Planck Institute, Stuttgart (Joachim Spatz)
• National University of Singapore (Barry Halliwell, William Schowalter)
• University of California , San Diego (Geert Schmidt-Schoenbein)
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Taher Saif)
• Weizmann Institute of Science

The National University of Singapore (NUS) further supports the GEM4 activity through the establishment of the GEM4 Secretariat at NUS with Professor B.V.R. Chowdari as the Executive Coordinator.

GEM4 enables the brokering of engineers, life scientists and medical professionals with shared facilities and joint students and post-doctoral fellows to tackle major problems in the context of human health and diseases that call for state-of-the-art experimental and computational tools in cell and molecular mechanics, biology and medicine. Broad examples of problems addressed include: infectious diseases such as malaria, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and biomechanical origins of inflammation. In each of these areas, the initial emphasis will include (but will not be limited to) molecular, sub-cellular and cellular mechanics applied to biomedicine. It is envisioned that these efforts will focus on mechanistic studies, as well as novel methods for diagnostics, vaccines or drug development and delivery.

GEM4 also undertakes the organization of major symposia/conferences specifically targeted at the theme areas of the initiative, provide training grants for student fellowships for the partner institutions, conduct summer schools to develop teaching materials, and facilitate the exchange of students and researchers. In particular, GEM4 offers several post-doctoral and graduate fellowships for those who generate significant activities and innovation across institutional and disciplinary boundaries.

“Summer School on Cell and Molecular Mechanics in Biomedicine” being held at MIT in August 2006 and “GEM4 Conference on Cancer” to be held in Singapore in July 2007 are the flagship activities of GEM4 that are currently being carried out.