PENANG, 19 May 2018 - Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Vice-Chancellor, Professor Datuk Dr. Asma Ismail received a courtesy call from two distinguished researchers in the field of tropical diseases and medicine from the United Kingdom, in her office at the main campus here recently.

The researchers, Professor Dr. Simon Croft, a Professor of Parasitology at the Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) UK and Dr. Mo Alavijeh, Managing Director of Pharmidex UK, were accompanied by Emeritus Professor Dato' Dr. Visweswaran Navaratnam; Director of Analytical Biochemistry Research Centre (ABrC) USM, Associate Professor Dr. Zafarina Zainuddin and Director of Research Creativity and Management Office (RCMO) USM, Professor Dr. Lee Keat Teong.

Both parties exchanged views and shared experiences on potential research collaborations and possibilities of new partnerships in the area of biotechnology, including the way forward, funding options and roles of all the partners involved.

The resulting outcomes of the visit are:

1. Implementation of the Malaysian Biotechnology hub;
2. Establishing a viable and sustainable platform for collaborative partnership between the Malaysian Biotechnology hub and UK Biotechnology companies;
3. Identification of priority niche areas in Biotechnology that will address the ASEAN Biotechnology business agenda.

Croft and Alavijeh also attended workshops organised at ABrC, besides attending meetings and discussions with the Natural Products researchers from Centre for Drug Research (CDR), the Bioinformatics team from the School of Biological Sciences, School of Computer Sciences and NEXUS Sciences.

They also visited three other research centres at Sains@USM, namely Centre for Herbal Standardisation (CHEST), the University Incubation Centre (I2U) as well as the Malaysian Institute of Pharmaceuticals and Nutraceuticals (IPharm) in Penang and the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) in Bukit Minyak.

Text: Tan Ewe Hoe/Source: Division of Research & Innovation, USM