June 7, 2016, by Lisa Chin

My Research

This post is written by Tay Sook Hui, PhD candidate from the School of Pharmacy.  

Are we doomed to a life of obesity or disease because of our genes? My PhD expedition seeks to uncover the mystery of long heated debates of nature (Genetic) versus nurture (Epigenetic) in obese diabetic subjects.

When visiting the nature versus nurture dispute, the recent paper published in Nature Genetics on 14.5 million pairs of twins, ascertaining that both genetic and environmental factors contributing a draw influence of traits and diseases. Indeed, this has shed light to us that we have domination over our health status and not condemned by bad genes. Buoyantly, my doctorates investigations can breath hope to this quest.

To identify the influence of genetic impact to alarming ever-rising incidents of obesity and diabetes, I will explore the genetic sequencing to detect the chance of mutation on our target gene in our subjects. Our obese diabetic subjects will be undergoing an established dietary intervention, medical nutrition therapy (MNT) recommended by American Diabetes Association and Malaysian Dietitian Association. Although such intervention with MNT has appreciably delivered clinically favourable results, the underlying molecular mechanism is rare. Additionally, we attempt to understanding the possibility of either personalised genetic or epigenetic biomarkers contribute to some variation of results. With this in mind, we will then explore the effect of diet in our gene, explicitly epigenetic and how epigenetic influence our genes. The next-generation sequencing, namely Pyrosequencing will be used to deliver this purpose. We hope to find novel biomarker(s) in the complexity of molecular medicine, transforming into simplicity of personalised healthcare solution.

My pursuit of Dual PhD in Pharmacy (The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, UNMC) and in Molecular Medicine (Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM) has enriched me with synergistic and converging value as a researcher. Simultaneously, having prudent co-supervisor currently at Harvard Joslin Diabetes Centre, being attached to National Diabetes Institutes, having very supportive erudite supervisors from both UNMC and UPM, I am enthusiastic that the endeavours of our PhD research will bring an optimistic contribution to Medical Revolution Transformation especially in the area of obesity and diabetes epidemic.

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