The Monash Science Symposium (MSS) is a student-led event by the School of Science postgraduate students of Monash University Malaysia (MUM). We hope to initiate the conference as an annual event that acts as a platform for students to gain experience and valuable insight towards their research. It also serves as a promotional event to highlight the capabilities of postgraduates in research outputs and the dissemination of their scientific findings to a broader, and ideally, international audience. It is also can be the future direction of this event will aim to showcase research here in Monash to engage with other universities and industries to increase the networking opportunities.
Dr. Adzzie Shazleen was awarded a Ph.D. from Monash University Malaysia in 2016, studying the characterization of novel rare Actinobacteria from mangrove and their bioactivities. Currently, she is a Lecturer in Microbiology at the School of Science. Her current research focus is still on the bioactivities of the secondary metabolites of Actinobacteria. Other than that, she also focuses on the zoonotic vector-borne and oral pathogens projects. Dr. Adzzie is an Editorial Board of Tropical Biomedicine and a member of the Malaysian Society of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine and the International Association for Dental Research.
Dr. Cheow Yuen Lin is currently a senior lecturer with the School of Science, Monash University Malaysia (MUM). He obtained his BSc (Hons) in Chemistry and MSc in Natural Product Chemistry from University Putra Malaysia. He then undertook his PhD in Organometallic Chemistry at Nanyang Technological University Singapore. He is a trained synthetic chemist in making asymmetric phosphine and arsine ligands. Areas of interest include synthesising and evaluating biological properties of new metal N-heterocyclic carbene complexes and carbon monoxide releasing molecules.
Dr Joash Tan Ban Lee is a senior lecturer at the School of Science, Monash University Malaysia. His field of research is primarily on natural products and their applications in treating illnesses and diseases including bacterial infections, diabetes, and hypertension. He currently has nearly 650 citations with a h-index of 12. As a principal investigator, he has successfully obtained competitive government and industrial grants, and has thus far graduated six postgraduates, with four more currently under his direct supervision. His research has also won several awards, including local (Pecipta), international (ITEX), and institutional recognition (PVC Award for Excellence in Research).
Dr. Keng Yoon Yeong is currently a Medicinal and Organic Chemistry lecturer in Monash University Malaysia, having obtained his PhD from University Science Malaysia. Before joining Monash University, he spent 11 years as a research scientist in various companies where he worked on small molecule organic synthesis. He has co-authored over 60 research publications in the field of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery. In addition, he has secured numerous internal and external grants and is a constant journal reviewer. He is a co-inventor for 6 patent applications and is the recipient of the 2021 PVC Excellence Award for Research (ECR).
Dr Tan Hock Siew (Patrick)’s research expertise focuses on pathogens’ antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the molecular biology of bacteria. He is interested in characterising novel regulatory mechanisms of AMR in clinical pathogens. His lab studies the spread of AMR genes and pathogens in the environment and human populations. Dr Tan’s group aims to utilise this information to combat AMR pathogens and employs Synthetic Biology approaches to explore the potential of nucleic acids as an alternative antimicrobial agent. He has received 348 citations and numerous competitive grants for his work. He was awarded the Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2021.
Professor Qasim Ayub graduated from Khyber Medical College in Pakistan and obtained his Ph.D. from the University of North Texas, Denton, USA. He has worked in the USA, Pakistan, Italy and at the world-renowned Wellcome Sanger Institute where he was a member of the Human Evolution Team. He was awarded the President of Pakistan’s Medal of Excellence for contributions to science in 2006. He is currently the Deputy Head (Research) and Director of the Monash University Malaysia Genomics Facility in the School of Science. His research focuses on population and evolutionary genomics in human and non-human species.
Dr. Wee Sim Choo completed a Bachelor Science in Food Studies (2001) majoring in Food Quality Management with a First Class Honours and Master of Science (2004) in the field of Food Chemistry and Biochemistry from the Universiti Putra Malaysia. She then joined the Malaysian Palm Oil Board as a research officer before moving to the University of Otago, New Zealand to complete a Ph.D. in Food Science in 2008. She joined Monash University soon after and is currently a Senior Lecturer for the School of Science. Dr. Choo's current research interests focus on functional foods, extraction and application of bioactive compounds from food sources, phytochemicals, probiotics and prebiotics.
Associate Professor Adeline Ting is a highly dedicated academic and passionate researcher. She has more than 17 years of experience in both education and research. She is dynamic, progressive, creative and innovative in both teaching and research. Her research focus is on applied microbiology, investing in biological, agricultural, and environmental applications. Adeline has been awarded 14 external grants as PI and Co-researcher, and has published more than 90 journal articles. Adeline was the recipient of the National Outstanding Researcher Award (Biological Science) in 2018.
Dr. Michelle Yap is currently a senior lecturer and coordinator of Peer-Assisted Study Session at the School of Science, Monash University Malaysia. Her research expertise focuses on toxin pharmacology and toxicology. She has strong interests in pharmaco-proteomics, immunological and molecular modeling of bioactive toxins. Her current research interests also focus on molecular mechanisms of cytotoxicity of venom cytotoxin and toxin-receptor interactions. Her ultimate goal is to develop an enriched tool for next generation biotherapeutics.
Dr. Beng-Kah Song has a long-standing interest in researching the evolutionary processes shaping the genomes of weedy rice, which is biologically similar to the cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.). His main research focus is on genomics, transcriptomics and evolutionary studies of agronomic traits underlying phenotypic adaptations in Southeast Asian weedy rice. His passion in weedy rice in the past 10 years has testified through top tier international scientific journals. He sits on the review panels for local and international scientific funding agencies, and course advisory committees in local universities.
Yin Yin has teaching and research responsibilities in food science and technology. She is a researcher with expertise in biopolymer based packaging and alternative methods of preserving and processing food. She has completed supervision of 1 Ph.D. student and more than 10 Honours and third-year project students. Currently, she has a group of 3 Ph.D. students and 1 Honours student. Her research group has won several prizes: A silver medal at 32nd ITEX, 2021 and best poster presentation at MIFT, 2021. She publishes 21 peer reviewed papers and 2 book chapters with an h-index of 12.
Dr Wai-Leng Lee started her research on the discovery of novel anticancer activities of plant-based therapeutic agents when she was a post-doctoral research fellow in Academia Sinica. After joining Monash in 2013, she has won several grants that support her research on the potential of extracellular vesicles as chemoresistance markers for cancer management. In collaboration with the Monash Centre of Biospectroscopy, Dr Lee set up a platform for FTIR analysis of extracellular vesicles (EVs) isolated from urine for prostate cancer detection, leading to winning of a silver medal in the 31st International Invention, Innovation & Technology Exhibition, Malaysia ITEX 2020.
Associate Professor Siow Lee Fong works in the area of microencapsulation and controlled release of active compounds. She is also interested in valorizing underutilized or by-products to produce foods for the health and well-being of consumers. Currently she has 7 graduate students under her main supervision. She published more than 50 papers and several book chapters in the field. She was the nominee for the 2020 Monash Graduate Association (MGA) Supervisor of the year.
Dr Holly Barclay was awarded a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Natural Sciences by the University of Cambridge, UK and then undertook her PhD in Zoology at the same university studying the ecology of freshwater mussels in China as part of a World Bank/GEF lake restoration project. After a short postdoctoral period, she took up the position as a lecturer in the School of Science at Monash in 2014. Dr Barclay's main research interest is the ecology and conservation of freshwater biodiversity in SE Asia, although she is increasingly also interested in studying the effectiveness of sustainability certification schemes on agricultural management practices. Her current research focuses on the effects of land use change on the ecology and biodiversity of aquatic invertebrate communities in Malaysian waterways and potential management strategies for mitigating these impacts.
He completed his Doctor of Medical Science degree in Immunology from the Karolinska Institute (Sweden) in 1990. After postdoctoral research at the Mayo Clinic (US) and the Karolinska Institute, he joined the Medical Research Council (MRC) Toxicology Unit at Leicester University (UK) as MRC fellow. Following that he joined Nottingham University (UK) as a lecturer and in 2002, he returned to the MRC Toxicology Unit as Senior Group Leader in Immunotoxicology. In 2007 he joined the School of Science at Monash University Malaysia as Associate Professor and served as Deputy Head of School for research in 2008. He was appointed Professor of Biomedical Sciences in 2011 and currently Head of Discipline of Medical Bioscience. As founding member of the Malaysia Society of Toxicology, he was appointed Vice President (2010) and President (2012-2014). From 2014-2018, he served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Institute for Research, Development and Innovation at International Medical University, Malaysia. His research interest includes Immunotoxicology, T cell signalling and regulation of apoptosis/program cell death in mammalian cells and Toxoplasma gondii.
MSS was first held in 2013 as a gathering of local science graduate research students to share and discuss their research findings. Since then, it has grown in size and scope to include the student community of other local and international universities and research institutes. True to the Monash motto “Ancora Imparo”, the Symposium aims to enhance the science learning experience by encouraging knowledge exchange between researchers, promoting local research work, exploring potential collaborations, and fostering closer ties with other research universities.
In 2014, the Symposium has registered more than 150 student participants, half of which represent participants from 9 other different local universities/research institutes. In 2016, the symposium was held with more registered participants, including external participants who were from 13 universities and a government agency. A new scope was introduced in MSS 2016, covering a total of 6 major life sciences branches and were presented over 3-day periods. The Symposium had received overwhelming positive feedback from the participants. In 2018, an intervarsity symposium which served as a promotional event to highlight the capabilities of HDR students of Monash University Malaysia in producing quality research outputs and the dissemination of their scientific findings to a broader audience.
For MSS 2022, we intend to continue the legacy by making the event bigger as well as introduce a new science category, “Science Communication and Safety”. We also intend to encourage supervisors/lecturers to partake in MSS 2022 as the scientific committee which would assist in the abstract screening process. We therefore propose for an intervarsity symposium to be held for the graduate research students, staff and company agencies.