Written by the organizer, Dr. Siti Hawa Ngalim
All the way in South-east Asia, a BPS networking event was held at the Advanced Medical and Dental Institute (AMDI), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang on Thursday, March 14, 2019. A total of 40 participants, made up of post-graduate students, lecturers, research officers – the majority from biochemistry and molecular biology, biomedicine and chemistry background - benefitted from the event. The event was entitled “Biophysics – more than just biology and physics. It’s inside you too!” It was led by Dr. Siti Hawa Ngalim, sponsored by a BPS Networking Event mini-grant and supported by USM, Zeiss and a new, local society – Persatuan Biofizik Malaysia. There were short lectures introducing core themes in biophysics, hands-on workshops on techniques for image analyses, and information about research, internship and career opportunities in biophysics worldwide. This event provided attendees the opportunity to learn about the different careers in biophysics in both academia and industry.
The day started with a brief introduction to the Biophysical Society, the benefits of being a member and our aim to establish the first BPS Student Chapter in Malaysia. The lecture series began with a representative from Zeiss Singapore, Dr. Siang Hui, who talked about research using optical tweezers. This topic was foreign to the participants but they were wooed by the presentation. The two following lectures were given by on-site physicist and statistician, Dr. Anusha Achuthan and Dr. Hafiz Zin, introducing the participants to basic knowledge on images, image processing, and software readily available for such purposes – Matlab and Fiji/ImageJ.
There were several invited speakers with different areas of expertise (virologist, medical physicist, cheminformaticist, bioinformaticist)
from neighboring institutions and states who shared their knowledge and expertise on biophysics-related topics. Dr. Magdllene Sia Henry Sum talked about molecular changes from Dengue infection. Dr. Sakinah Suardi excited us with bioenergetics using low-level laser. Dr. Siti Zuraidah Md Zobir educated us about conformational changes in the interaction between erythromycin and altered ribosome. Dr. Nazahiyah Rodzli talked about some approaches in studying structural biology. The lecture session was beneficial as they enabled participants to gain insight into other interdisciplinary methods that can be used to solve research problems and questions! A recorded webinar about atomic force microscopy for mechanobiology by Dr. Nicholas Geisse from Nanosurfacebio USA was also shown, in order to give an overview regarding advances in nanoscale biophysical research done elsewhere around the world.
Hands-on workshops on image analysis software ran in parallel with the afternoon lectures in the next room. Many of the participants were not familiar with common software for image analyses like Fiji/ImageJ and Matlab. Turns out, the workshops were a hit as the participants were very thankful to learn new techniques that can help them optimize the output of research from their raw images and data! We greatly appreciate Dr. Md Azim Ab Patar, a neuroscientist coming by bus from 5-hours away, who volunteered solely to assist us with the Fiji/ImageJ workshop!
Overall, the feedback from the participants was very positive. Knowing that the membership dues for student members of developing countries are also heavily discounted, we are very optimistic that the first BPS Student Chapter in Malaysia will be organized soon!
