Outstanding Research Achievements by SST

Congratulations to Dr Babu Ramanathan - ASM Award

Department of Biological Sciences is glad to share that Dr Babu Ramanathan was awarded with the prestigious “Infectious Disease (ID) Fellows Program” by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM).  

As part of the fellowship, he received a travel grant to attend the ASM Microbe 2018 conference held at the Georgia World Convention Centre, Atlanta, GA, USA and delivered his research outcomes on one of his priority research areas “Development of antiviral agents against dengue”.

Congratulations to Dr Yow Yoon Yen - GlobalSeaweedSTAR Travel Fund Award

Department of Biological Sciences is pleased to share that Dr Yow Yoon Yen was awarded the GlobalSeaweedSTAR Travel Fund of £2000 supported by the UK Research and Innovation – Global Challenge Research Fund, for attending the 23rd International Seaweed Symposium in Jeju, Korea. The fund is aimed at applicants from both the UK and DAC list countries to support attendance of national and international seaweed-related scientific conferences or travel related to capacity building activities.

Dr Yow Yoon Yen is an algae biotechnologist and her research focuses on the discovery and development of new compounds from algae as functional food and nutraceutical agents in the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases. The title of her presentation is “Neuroprotective effect of agarophyte Gracilaria manilaensis from Malaysia”.  Gracilaria manilaensis is a red agarophyte endemic to Malaysia coastal area. It is used as gelling and thickening agents for food industries. The previous published data indicated that G. manilaensis has neuritogenic effect and it may possess potent bioactive compounds that mimic the neuroactivity of nerve growth factor (NGF) for neuronal survival, development and differentiation. Hence, the findings of neuroprotective effect of G. manilaensis is crucial to tap its potential as a promising functional food for neurological disorders treatment.

Congratulations to Professor Kheireddine

Congratulations to our Head of Research Centre for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Utilization (CCDCU), Professor Kheireddine, who has won the “Gold Award” for the participation in International Research Innovation Invention Solution Exposition (IRIISE) at EXPO on University Research Invention, Creation and Innovation (EUREKA 2018)! The EXPO was held on 14-16 August in University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.  

Project Title: Self-Cleaning Solar Powered Mobile Ultrafiltration System For Clean Water Supply

Project Description: A solar powered ultrafiltration system for on-site water treatment with self-cleaning capabilities was developped to provide clean water during emergencies such as floods and to remote villages deprived from access to clean water. The system can be dispatched to any site in a very short time and is able to process significant quantities of water ranging from 500-800 L/h depending on the quality of the raw water. It was found useful in converting flood and river water to drinking water during the severe floods that hit Malaysia, in 2015. Currently 2 units in Sarawak and 6 units in Peninsular Malalysia are operating in remote areas providing clean water for the daily usage of the villagers.

Congratulations to Dr Chia

Congratulations to Dr Chia Wai Chong from Department of Computing and Information Systems who has won the “Best Presentation Award” [Category: Intelligent Algorithms and Applications] at the 2018 Hong Kong International Conference on July 28-30 in Hong Kong.

Paper Title: Text Extraction and Categorisation from Watermark Scientific Document in Bulk

Project Description: The aim of this paper is to propose an approach that can be used to extract various information from scientific documents with better accuracy.

Due to the increase in number of publications, it is getting harder to study and keep track of all the related research works. The aim of this project is to build a computer software that can perform text mining on large numbers of scientific paper with better accuracy. Text mining is a process of extracting useful information from text. When is apply to scientific papers, text mining can be used to analyze and compare research findings, to determine the current research trends, to detect plagiarism, etc.

Congratulations to Professor Ruqaiyyah

Congratulations to Professor Ruqaiyyah who has been selected as the TWAS Young Affiliate 2018 (Central & South Asia Region)!  TWAS is a prestigious Academy that was founded in 1983 under the leadership of the famous physicist Nobel Laureate, Dr. Abdus Salam and officially launched by the secretary-general of the United Nations in 1985. It is funded by the Government of Italy, UNESCO and IAEA to foster the growth of advanced studies and bridge the gap between the scientists of the south and the north. Prof Ruqaiyyah has been invited formally to attend the TWAS Annual Meeting to receive this honour and to give a presentation. This will provide an excellent forum to highlight Sunway at such an important international event and to forge links with leading international scientists and access external funding.

Congratulations to Shareni!

Shareni Jeyamogan, PhD in Biology student from the Department of Biological Sciences has won the ‘Best Oral Presenter’ award with a cash price for her presentation “Anticancer efficacy of organ lysates/ sera of animals living in polluted environments” at the 4th International Pharmaceutical Research Conference for Pharmacy Students & Young Graduates 2018 (4thiPRC2018) which was held on 24-26th August 2018 at the Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences (CUCMS), Malaysia.