A Short Visit From Prof. Dr. Chim C Lang (The University of Dundee), PRIME Project
11th of August 2022 – Prof. Dr. Chim C Lang (UK principal investigator) from the NHS Tayside and the University of Dundee, United Kingdom (UK) has visited UMBI for our current collaborative project, “Precision medicine for diabetic Individuals: a joint Malaysia-UK Effort (PRIME) project.”
In this short discussion, Prof. Chim Lang and the lead investigator from UMBI, Prof. Datuk Dr. Rahman Jamal, and co-researchers discussed the scope and funding extension given by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) for the PRIME project. The additional funding (£40,000) is given to UMBI to characterise the levels of cardiac circulating biomarkers (high sensitive Troponin and pro-NT BNP) in the PRIME individuals with diabetes.
From 2020, the PRIME project has genotyped 5000 participants of the Malaysian Cohort (TMC) with diabetes, together with their personal demographic and clinical information from the recruitment to follow-up phases. This cohort is arguably the largest and most comprehensively characterised diabetes cohort in Malaysia with genetic information. The final aim of this project is to enable the “precision medicine” approach in Malaysia for people with diabetes.
Prof Chim shared the newest groundbreaking project in the NHS Tayside and the University of Dundee, the ‘Intelligent Diabetes’ (iDiabetes). The iDiabetes project focuses on the ‘precision medicine’ approach for diabetes and will be implemented clinically in 2023. This project was awarded £2.8 million and will involve 10,000 people with diabetes living in Tayside, Scotland. Each individual will be enhanced blood tested, and the results will tailor the specific approach and best treatment based on their risks. PRIME lead investigators, Prof Chim Lang and Prof Datuk Rahman, agreed that the PRIME cohort could expand more similar to iDiabetes, thus, having more impacts on the patients and the communities. Therefore, an outline of the PRIME scope extension and future grant applications was drafted during the discussion.
We want to thank Prof. Dr. Chim C Lang for his visit and time to share with us, and we hope for more future collaborations.
