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INTERNATIONAL MEETING -
45th ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE MALAYSIAN SOCIETY FOR BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
in conjunction with the
2nd INTERNATIONAL HEALTH AND MEDICAL SCIENCE CONFERENCE
​
18-19 AUGUST 2021
Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA (via Zoom)
18-19 AUGUST 2021
SPEAKERS
JACQUELINE KIM DALE (PLENARY)
Professor
D'Arcy Thompson Unit, School of Life Sciences,
University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland
Professor Jacqueline Kim Dale is a research scientist in the School of Life Sciences and a Professor of Developmental Molecular Biology as well as the University Academic Regional Lead for ASEAN, and Associate Dean International for the School of Life Sciences. Kim is also a guest professor at Taylors University Malaysia. Kim is an internationally renowned leading scientist in the role and regulation of the Notch signalling pathway which plays essential roles during vertebrate development and which also underlies many diseases.
YEO CHEW CHIENG (PLENARY)
Professor
Faculty of Medicine,
Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia
​
Dr Yeo Chew Chieng is a Professor in Microbiology at the Faculty of Medicine,
Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) in Terengganu, Malaysia. Prof Yeo
obtained his PhD in Microbiology from the National University of Singapore. His
current research projects are in antimicrobial resistance and the genomics of
multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens, particularly those of the genus
Acinetobacter and Staphylococcus.
​TAN WEN SIANG
MSBMB-Tan Sri Dato’ Kong Hon Kong Research Excellence Award 2020
Professor
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences
University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
​
Prof. Tan is an enthusiast of phage display and virus-like particles (VLPs), as well as their practical uses in the development of multi-component vaccines, drug delivery systems and immunological reagents. He has established many new methods to purify the VLPs of HBV, nodavirus, Newcastle disease virus and Nipah virus. Wen Siang has also developed methods to package anti-cancer drugs in VLPs, and display ligands on their surface for specific targeted delivery to cancer cells. Most recently, his research team successfully developed a universal influenza A vaccine based on VLPs.
CHOONG YEE SIEW
Associate Professor
Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine,
Universiti Sains Malaysia. Penang, Malaysia.
Yee Siew Choong is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine (INFORMM), Universiti Sains Malaysia since year 2008. Her present research includes the application of computer-aided molecular modelling tools to study the structure and interactions of biomarkers obtained from infectious diseases. She is also working on specific binder design against the biomarkers by applying de novo antibody design as well as in silico antibody optimization.
​MUDJEKEEWIS DALISAY SANTOS
National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, Philippines
Dr. Santos is a Scientist IV at the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, an Academician of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) Philippines, and is a Faculty (non-regular) at the Graduate School of the University of Santo Tomas, Manila. He is a fisheries scientist and and marine biologist widely recognized for his work on aquatic species genetics, assessment and policy studies to support fisheries management and aquaculture for food security, biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation.
​MARY ANN O. TORIO
Professor
Institute of Chemistry, University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB), Philippines
Dr. Mary Ann is mainly involved in the identification of bioactive peptides from legumes, mangoes, pineapple and other functional foods which have anti-hypertensive, cholesterol-lowering, and anti-inflammatory activities among others. In addition, she is also doing protein engineering in Mungbean storage protein to impart cholesterol lowering activity. Her research has showed promising results that can be used for drug and crop development.
​EEK-HOON JHO
Professor
Dean, College of Natural Sciences
Department of Life Science, University of Seoul, South Korea
Dr Jho obtained his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1995. Subsequently he performed his post-doctoral training at SUNY at Stony Brook and Columbia University in New York until end of 2000. Since then he has worked on the intracellular signal transduction of Wnt to provide therapeutic targets for human diseases. From the beginning of 2010, his group also began research on Hippo signaling which is known as a mechanism for the control of organ size. They are interested in crosstalk between Wnt and Hippo signaling in cancer formation. He has been involved in the Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology in several affairs such as a “Chair of the Winter Conference Organization Committee”.
​SANTOSH RUDRAWAR
Senior Lecturer
School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, Griffith University, Australia
Dr Rudrawar received his PhD at National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) SAS Nagar, India in 2008. In 2014, he received Australian Research Council - Discovery Early Career Research Award and started his independent research and teaching career. He is currently a Research Leader at the Menzies Health Institute of Queensland and a Senior Lecturer in the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences.
His broad research portfolio focuses on medicinal and organic bimolecular chemistry relating to neurodegeneration, cancer and antibiotic resistance. His current research interests include development of reagents and probes for studying carbohydrate processing enzymes and carbohydrate binding proteins.
​GARY GRANT
Associate Professor
School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, Griffith University, Australia
Dr. Grant is a research leader in the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, Griffith University. CIB Grant is a pharmacologist with extensive experience in biological screening of novel antibiotics development, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic strategies to optimise antibiotic efficacy, synthesis of small molecules to inhibit novel drug targets, evaluating the cellular consequences of secreted virulence factors, and novel strategies to alter bacterial virulence. A/Prof Grant has published 82 peer-reviewed journal articles with a collective citation count of 11,660 (h-index 23; i10-index 43). In 2014, he Grant assisted the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care to prepare the Preliminary Report on Antimicrobial Use and Resistance in Australia (AURA), which presented a baseline position with regards to AMR and AU. Insights gained during this project have focused his research towards using novel strategies, which includes the use of AI, to discover next generation antibiotics for high priority bacteria such as P. aeruginosa. A/Prof Grant has spent the last two years exploring how to best apply machine learning and computer vision to tackle antibiotic resistance
​ZAZALI ALIAS
Associate Professor
Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Malaya, Malaysia
Dr. Zazali Alias is affiliated to the Biochemistry Programme of Institute of Biological Sciences at the University of Malaya. He has authored and co-authored multiple chapters in books, peer-reviewed scientific papers and presented works at many national and international conferences. He also has supervised to completion more than 10 candidates of PhDs and 20 Masters. His academic career is decorated with several awards and research fundings received at university and national level. Dr. Zazali Alias research interests include agricultural entomology, environmental toxicology, biological control, detoxification and stress-response proteins.
​CARLOS L. A. CéESPEDES ACUñA
Professor
Basic Sciences Department, University of Bio Bio, Chile
Dr. Carlos has more than 37 years in academia and research, having published more than 150 published scientific ISI/Wos Journals, 4 books, 9 Book chapters. He has also received more than 3300 citations for his publications and has supervised 18 PhD and 12 MSc candidates. His research primarily focuses on Natural Products Chemistry and its Applications, specifically biopesticides, enzymatic inhibitors, ecotoxicology and growth regulators (of insect pests and commercial crops and weeds).
​PATRICIA MATANJUN
Associate Professor
Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, University Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia
Dr. Patricia Matanjun is the Dean of Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, Universiti Malaysia Sabah. She has a BSc degree in Food Science and Nutrition from University of Oxford Brookes, United Kingdom, MSc degree in Food Biotechnology from University of Strathclyde, Scotland, and PhD in Food Chemistry and Biochemistry from Universiti Putra Malaysia. She worked with the food industry for seven years before joining UMS as a lecturer in 1999. Her main research interests include the study of chemical, physical and biological properties of tropical marine seaweeds. She and her research team had developed many food products from Malaysian seaweeds. She and her team won numerous national and international innovation awards on utilizing seaweed as functional food ingredients and dietary supplements for cardiovascular health. She participated in many conferences at national and international levels presenting and publishing research papers on the nutrient composition, antioxidative and therapeutic properties of tropical marine seaweeds.
​ALEXANDER VAN SERVELLEN
Senior Consultant
ELSEVIER
Alexander is Senior Consultant for Research Intelligence at Elsevier where he serves institutions throughout Southeast Asia. He has over 10 years' experience in research analytics and has worked closely with local citation indexes and journal editors to help them in their journey toward indexing in Scopus. Alexander is from the Netherlands and has been living in Singapore since 2013. He has a Master's degree in Developmental Psychology from the University of Amsterdam.
​SHERYN TAN YEN YIN
Product Marketing
Merck Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia)
Ms Sheryn Tan Yen Yin is a product marketing sales representative with a demonstrated history of working in the Life Science industry. She has over 4 years experience with Merck Sdn Bhd: 2 years as sales specialised in development of account in Government, Academia and Hospital industry; Followed by 2 years experience as product marketing sales oversees the product development of Life Science Chemistry included the business field of Biochemistry. She holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) Biochemistry from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR).
BERND WILLIAMS​
Research Instruments
Bernd studied Biology at the University of Cologne in Germany and went on to do his PhD at the National University in Singapore doing Developmental Genetics research in Zebrafish. He started his corporate career coordinating clinical trials at a German Hospital consortium and later worked as the Global Product Manager for QIAGEN's PCR portfolio. He then returned to Singapore to represent the German Biotech Startup AYOXXA in APAC and eventually joined Twist where he is now working as the Application Specialist for our Synthetic Biology portfolio comprising Genes, Oligo Pools and DNA Variant Libraries.