Six IMU Students Shared Cancer Research Findings at World Cancer Congress 2018

Cancer alone is just a word, but not a sentence. The World Cancer Congress (WCC) 2018 with the aim to further ‘Strengthen. Inspire. Deliver’ the global cancer control momentum was held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center (KLCC) from 2 to 4 October 2018. It was a grand event with participants from around the globe. Students were encouraged to take this opportunity to attend the congress as the aim of the conference was to encourage exchange of knowledge, facilitate expansion of research network and create awareness for pragmatic challenges at policy level among the scientific community. During the congress, a total of 6 IMU postgraduate and undergraduate students presented their posters, in which the findings were also accepted into the special edition for Journal of Global Oncology. The titles of their presentations were:

“This is the first time World Cancer Congress was held in Malaysia and I am happy to be one of the participants in the event. The event attracts more than 2500 participants from 120 countries, it is exciting to have the opportunity to exchange research ideas with the experts. This is also the first time I participate in the e-poster presentation, a very good practice and experience for me to improve my presentation skills,” says Wei Meng. “I was truly inspired and enjoyed the traditional plenary sessions, Big Debates, abstract presentations and lively Meet’in Café sessions. The layout of the conference was very conducive for networking with diverse organisations and industry leaders around the globe,” says Ling Wei.

“A great variety of topics were addressed, ranging from motivating prevention and healthy behaviours, advances in screening and early detection, improved and sustainable healthcare systems for better outcomes, raising funds and attracting resources to maximising quality of life and death by empowering patients and care givers. I was also given the opportunity to present my research findings in one of the e-poster sessions, which helped to ignite and spark me with more innovative thinking and new perspectives.” Yuen Fen shared the same views as Ling Wei and Wei Meng. She added, “After returning from the World Cancer Congress 2018, I am again motivated to get back to work on cancer research. It is a global effort involving multidisciplinary programmes and government policies particularly on taxation in cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care.”

“This conference has definitely allowed me to expand my thoughts on cancer research,” says Li Zhe. “At the congress, I presented an e-poster with the topic Targeting the tumour specific spliceosome through in silico virtual screening for discovery of new SF3B1 small molecule inhibitors. This poster depicted vitamin D and its analogue were found to be potential new inhibitors for SF3B1. The work wasn’t as perfect as how I wanted it to be but I am glad that I was able to interact and receive feedback from the audience for further improvement.”

“It was a privilege to be able to join and participate as a presenter in this renowned international cancer conference for the first time,” says Zong Yang.“This great opportunity had broadened my knowledge on cancer especially towards strategies executed by different countries in tackling and preventing cancers.” “Going there as both a participant and a presenter, I witness for myself the vast flow of information there,” says Chia Howe. “More importantly, most of the findings presented are not published and yet these are researches with breakthrough values to fight cancer diseases.” “Overall this was a fruitful rewarding experience for all of us and we would like to express our utmost gratitude to IMU and Institute for Research, Development and Innovation (IRDI) for the research facilities and support. Not forgetting our supervisors, Prof Leong Chee Onn, Dr Mai Chun Wai, and Dr Lim Chooi Ling for encouraging and supporting us to attend this conference.”