Founded in 2005, the Duke-NUS Medical School is a pioneering graduate medical school in Asia with a strong research focus. It operates as a truly global partnership between the National University of Singapore and Duke University; the school combines the expertise and resources of two leading universities. There is a strong partnership with SingHealth, a major public health care cluster in Singapore. Duke-NUS has established five Signature Research Programmes to develop novel and better strategies for the treatment of diseases. The Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience (CCN) (http://www.centre4cogneurosci.org/Home) focuses on translational work in functional neuroimaging related to ageing and neurodegenerative disorders, cognition and physiological changes in sleep or sleep deprivation and cognitive ageing with a view to contributing towards improving human healthy lifespan and /or wellbeing.