2003-2013: 10 Years of Achievements for UMBI
July 2013 marked the 10th anniversary of UMBI and truly it has been a remarkable journey from an institute which was given RM25,000 of operating fund at its inception in 2003. Now UMBI is equipped with many state-of-the-art equipments for research in molecular medicine. UMBI is now the leading institute on molecular medicine in Malaysia. Even at its early stage, UMBI was already making news in a big way. UMBI was chosen by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation to lead The Malaysian Cohort project in 2005, perhaps the most ambitious large scale population studies in Malaysia to date. The Malaysian Cohort (TMC) has in September 2012 completed the recruitment of 106,527 participants complete with data on health, lifestyle and environment plus also biophysical measurements. Their biospecimens are kept in TMC Biobank which is arguably the largest bio-repository in South East Asia.
In 2006-2007, UMBI was involved in the space science program in conjunction with the Program Angkasawan Negara. UMBI actually was involved in the 1st ever experiment (of sending the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans) from Malaysian scientists to be sent to the International Space Station in 2006. This was followed by 2 experiments (cancer cells and bacteria) which accompanied our first astronaut to the ISS in October 2007.
In 2009, UMBI became a Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICOE) which is a recognition given by the Ministry of Higher Education (now the Ministry of Education). Only 6 research institutes in the country (out of more than 150 which were screened) were selected after a stringent process of assessment and auditing.
UMBI was fortunate to participate in the MyGenome project in 2010 which has sequenced the gene of 26 Malaysians. This project which involved whole genome sequencing of individuals from diverse ethnic groups (8 Malays, 3 Chinese, 3 Indians, 4 Sabahans, 3 Sarawakians, and 5 aborigines) was done in collaboration with the Malaysia Genome Institute and the Malaysian Genome Resource Centre (MGRC).
UMBI initiated a UMBI-PP¼¯ÃÀÂ鶹 Genomics Unit in 2003 and over the years has provided molecular diagnostic services to patients not only from the ¼¯ÃÀÂ鶹 Medical Centre but from outside ¼¯ÃÀÂ鶹. These diagnostic tests include genotyping for thalassaemias, cystic fibrosis (rare but still a good number in Malaysia), Fragile X syndrome, cancer panels (K-ras and B-raf) and pharmacogenetic tests (TPMT and HLA-B1502).
UMBI achieved another milestone when it became the only research institute with 2 accredited laboratories. The Malaysian Cohort Bioanalytical Laboratory was given the accreditation MS-ISO15189 by Standards Malaysia in 2011. This was followed by the MS-ISO17025 accreditation of UMBI’s genomics laboratory in 2012. It should be noted that having accredited laboratories is also a key requirement for ¼¯ÃÀÂ鶹’s status as a research university.
UMBI now (2014) has 11 research fellows (6 on dual appointments) and 4 junior research fellows (undergoing their PhD training abroad). We are aiming to recruit another 9 research fellows in 2014 to make a total of 20. As a HICOE, UMBI believes in choosing and recruiting the best scientists and researchers. We believe that to be a major force in research at the regional, we need a minimum capacity of 30 full time scientists.
UMBI has won many awards over the 10 years and in 2013 The Malaysian Cohort Biobank won the Vice Chancellor Quality Award i.e. the highest award for quality in ¼¯ÃÀÂ鶹. UMBI has also won awards for the various laboratories, for community service, for publications, for research excellence and also for generation of funding.
UMBI’s performance in journal publications is above the university average per lecturer/researcher. In 2013, there were a total of 40 publications from its 9 fellows (with 11 of them in Q1/Q2). UMBI also has initiated the Asia-Pacific Journal on Molecular Medicine (APJMM) in 2011 which is on-line and has both local and international editors.
UMBI has established strategic partnerships with international institutions and this has resulted in many technology transfers, training of scientists, PhD programme, and also joint publications. UMBI has also organised many conferences including the National Thalassaemia Seminar, the Regional Conference in Molecular Medicine, the National Stem Cell Congress and the National Conference for Cancer Research.
UMBI also celebrates the World DNA Day every year by hosting secondary school children within the vicinity of the medical campus to a day of activities involving the DNA in science and its applications. This is another one of UMBI’s efforts to make its research relevant and also reach out to the society.
We at UMBI believes that the past 10 years have been memorable. It has not been easy but with the assistance and support from the top management of ¼¯ÃÀÂ鶹 and also our key partner PP¼¯ÃÀÂ鶹, alhamdullillah, UMBI has certainly laid the key foundations and resources to move into the next phase. We welcome researchers and scientists from ¼¯ÃÀÂ鶹 and outside ¼¯ÃÀÂ鶹 to work together with us for the advancement of science in the nation.