January 18, 2020, by Lee Mei Kee
Biomedical science highlights ( 2016)
Here are some highlights for biomedical science from the year 2016…
Biomedical science students won 1st poster price at Biochemistry seminar!
The 27th Intervarsity Biochemistry Seminar was held on the 14 May 2016 where a total of 10 universities from both the public and private sectors participated in this event. It is an annual affair organized by the Malaysian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (MSBMB), where it aims to provide a platform for our talented undergraduate students to showcase their final year project findings and share their knowledge and experiences.
Three of our BMS final year project students, comprising Ling Sii Gii, Tan Hui Woon and Liew Sok Sian represented the department in presenting findings from their final year projects. To top it off, Sii Gii, with her marvelous calmness, enthusiasm and credibility, managed to sell her research findings to the judges in 3 minutes and won the first prize for the best poster presentation!
Her project, titled ‘Assessing antifungal activity of zinc oxide nanoparticles against Saccharomyces cerevisiae was supervised by Dr Yuh-Fen Pung.
Biomedical Science PhD student won ISSFAL Travel award
Chai Boon Kheng, a graduate student in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, has won the ISSFAL Travel Award to present his research at the congress of International society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids, held in Stellenbosch, South Africa from 5th to 9th September 2016.
Boon Kheng is supervised by Dr. Suresh Kumar Mohankumar of the Metabolic and Vascular Diseases Group. The laboratory of Dr Suresh is looking for safer alternatives to replace conventional treatments for Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Currently, the laboratory is interested in using a family of fatty acids known as conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) as the substitute to replace the insulin sensitizing dug known as rosiglitazone.
Using Sprague-Dawley rats fed with high fat diet for 12 weeks and treated for the last four weeks with CLA mixture and rosliglitazone, Boon Kheng found that concurrent administration of CLA mixture and rosiglitazone increases the risk of atherosclerosis by raising non-HDL and non HDL:HDL ratio. This increases in non-HDL is accompanied by decreased relaxation of the blood vessels in the endothelium-free state.
‘We found that despite the inclusion of LDL in the non-HDL fraction of cholesterol, both are not equivalent. While LDL has been the standard for predicting atherosclerosis and cardiovascular risk, non-HDL is gaining relevance as it better predicts cardiovascular risks. Our results also suggests that retaining the function of endothelium, cells lining the inner surface of blood vessels, may be the key to preventing cardiovascular complications in diabetes’ Boon Kheng stated.
Dr Suresh presented the findings on his behalf at the ISSFAL Congress at Stellenbosch. The research is funded by the Ministry of Higher Education Fundamental Research Grant Scheme and University of Nottingham.
Internship and training experience
In addition to learning in the classroom, we encourage our students to take part in internships and training programmes in order to gain hands on experience of working in the industry before they graduate.
Chan Chia Yung and Elijah Bepono were 3rd year Biomedical science students who were chosen to participate in a training programme organized by Norvartis Malaysia and the Ministry of Higher Education to gain a better understanding of the pharmaceutical industry in Malaysia.
‘The B.SMArT (BeST Sales & Marketing Apprenticeship Training) programme is a strategic collaboration between Norvatis Malaysia, ICOE Healthcare, Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) and the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). The apprenticeship programme offers exposure to undergraduate students to the pharmaceutical industry via comprehensive training modules.
Within the 5-day programme, numerous topics were covered. They range from Personality profiling, Personal Grooming and branding, Practical Communication Methology, Brand execution, Brand strategy and Operation to comprehensive overview and operation of the pharmaceutical industry. The programme provided us with relevant skills and information as well as good insights to succeed in the industry. In addition to modules covering sales and marketing, officers holding different responsibilities such as from quality insurance, legal and compliance, and drug registration departments also share the nature of their work via the programme.
In each module, we worked within teams to complete various tasks. One of which is the group presentation that focused on the current unmet needs in patient care. The group tasks gave us opportunities to explore issues in modern healthcare practice and come up with inventive and forward-thinking proposals. Our trainers constantly gave us constructive feedback and were always helpful and approachable.
It was an honour to be selected as among the 20 participants for the programme. The exposure provided to us was invaluable, as it really serves as a stepping-stone for one to move on into the pharmaceutical industry after graduation.
Student life: My UK experience
BMS students at UNMC are given exclusive opportunities to transfer to UK campus for their final year of study before graduation. Yasmeen Zailan was one of our first batch of transfer students. Here, she shares her experience of how a year at Nottingham has impacted her life.
‘I still remember the morning of my departure. It was an amazing feeling where I was finally embarking on an adventure after all my hardwork. At the same time, I had to be prepared to leave my family and friends behind. It was tough, as I know that this day marked the beginning of being truly independent in a foreign country. When I arrived at Nottingham, my first impression of the place was its cold weather, as the wind was chilly. However, the beautiful surroundings of the campus made up for it , where even my dad commented that the campus looks more like a resort.
Life as a transfer student at Nottingham has its challenges. From personal experience, it was tough to stay productive and concentrate on studies during the winter months as there was less sunlight and it was constantly gloomy. In contrast, spring and summer were the perfect season to study due to long hours of daylight.
One of the highlights of my time in Nottingham was being able to study cancer cell’s migration and behavior in various growth media. It was a challenging project to undertake, as we had to monitor the migration patterns of the cells in every 2 hours, learn from mistakes made during the research and troubleshoot research protocols that didn’t work out. However, it was well worth the effort when we finally obtained the desired results. Outside of university, I always looked forward to enjoy an ice cream or coffee by the campus lake with my friends if we needed a break. I also had the opportunity to travel around the UK and other parts of Europe during semester breaks.
Overall, I would not have enjoyed my stay without the support from friends and academics that made my time here fulfilling and I would definitely encourage everyone to take up opportunity to experience life as a student here in Nottingham.
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