Biomedical Science Week: Stirring Interest in Histopathology

^{Main Committee of the 6th annual Biomedical Science Week 2022}

The 6th annual Biomedical Science Week 2022 was held in celebration of both International Biomedical Laboratory Science (IBLS) Day and IMU’s 30th anniversary celebrations this year. The event took place online due to social restrictions from 12 to 15 April, with the final day coinciding with the IBLS Day. The goal of the event was to increase awareness of the essential role of biomedical scientists in the healthcare industry and commemorate the work of biomedical scientists. The Biomedical Science Week was organised by members of the IMU Society of Biomedical Science (ISBS), which is a student-led Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS)-affiliated society consisting of students from the IMU Biomedical Science programme. Ten students from the BM120 cohort formed the main organising committee, led by event managers Aeisha Isobel Gibson and Chang Hui Yun, and supervised by the event advisor, Dr Anil Philip Kunnath. The theme of the Biomedical Science Week 2022 centred on Histopathology and Histotechnology, with the matching tagline, “Taking Issue with Your Tissue”. By choosing this theme, the event aspired to draw attention to the invaluable role that histopathologists play in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. The event was a great success, with approximately 125 participants from various national and private schools, as well as IMU students. The event kicked off with a short opening ceremony on the first day, during which there was a short welcome speech from our event advisor and a briefing by one of our event managers, Chang Hui Yun. An animated introductory video was played to explain the overarching narrative of the event.

Through a total of 6 booths, spanning from the first to the third day of the event, participants were walked through the histopathological process, from Grossing to Microscopy and Staining, collecting hints to diagnose a patient’s mysterious disease. Each booth covered a single step of the process and had a unique animated video accompanied by online mini games.

Completing the mini games netted participants points in the competition, and the top 3 highest scoring participants won attractive prizes.

On the final day, the event concluded with an engaging and informative talk by our honoured guest speaker and former IMU professor, Prof Charles Anthony Rhodes, on the topic “The Current Advancements in Histopathological Diagnosis”. It was truly one of the major highlights of the event, with the highest number of participants amongst all activities.

Afterwards, closing speeches were delivered by one of the event managers, Aeisha Isobel Gibson and the president of ISBS, Adrian Lim Kheng Siang as well as a closing remark by the Dean of School of Health Sciences, Prof Winnie Chee. Winners for the competition and lucky draw were announced, and the event ended with a photo-taking and feedback session. Overall, the Biomedical Science Week 2022 was a successful event with much positive feedback from the participants, despite a few technical glitches as is commonplace with online synchronous events.

Some of the Participants’ Feedback
Beaconhouse Newlands International School	Dian Athirah bt Mohamad Kamal	Overall, the event was very informative and interesting and I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. The mini games were very fun and I liked that there was a different game every booth. All of the speakers were really friendly and nice and you can really see that everyone put in a lot of effort and work into the event.
Beaconhouse Newlands International School	Chan Hong Twu	It was a fun session. Opened up my eye to histopathology, a field which is hardly seen. The importance of preserving and analysing the tissues in a medical case were well explained.
Sekolah Menengah Stella Maris	Tong Zhe Xin	I love how videos are used to present everything. It makes me want to study biomedical science even more.
IMU Biomedical Science Junior Cohort (BM121)	Farah Yasmin	Very well prepared and informative, a perfect way to attract teenagers to gain interest in biomedical science.