An International Medical University (IMU) Medical Biotechnology (MB) Alumnus, Lam Kit Ying, completed her degree in IMU in 2013 and is currently pursuing her Master’s degree (by Research) in Neuroscience at the same University.
“I culture cells and perform different treatments on them and see how they react to the compounds intracellular- and extracellularly. I need to attend research talks and meet with supervisors quite frequently to discuss about my research results. In March 2015, I will have the opportunity to present my research findings in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases conference in Nice, France.” Kit Ying chose to pursue an undergraduate degree in MB as she feels that the prospects for the development of medical-biotechnology in Malaysia is very promising, with great potential for growth. She would like to continue to work in key areas in the Health sciences that lead to improvements in human life such as; diagnosing, treating and preventing diseases. 
She tells us that the main reason why she chose to study in IMU was two fold; its reputation as the most established private medical and health sciences university in Malaysia and also for travel convenience as the main campus at Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur was located only a 15 minutes-drive away from her home.
“The laboratory, teamwork, problem-solving, strategic planning, communication as well as presentation skills which were acquired during my degree in IMU has turned me into a good researcher.”
“The varies modules in medical-biotechnology course such as Biostatistics, Microbiology, Cell and Molecular Biology, Physics for Instrumentation and Toxicology strengthen my foundation in biological and physical sciences. We even had the hands-on experiences in cell and tissue culture, genetic transformation of microorganisms, identifying cancer cells from the blood samples and viewing the DNA and protein structure through bioinformatics software. Besides that, we had the opportunities to visit the Department of Chemistry Malaysia to observe how they carry out different forensic tests as well as the wine factory to learn the bioprocess technology in developing different products with the help of live microorganisms.” “During the final year of medical-biotechnology course, we were exposed to the working environments as a 2-month-intern. I was placed in a biotechnology company, BioValence where it produces potential antiviral and anticancer drugs by using recombinant bacteria. I have learned to perform overnight culture of bacteria, protein isolation and purification, protein testing such as SDS-PAGE, Bradford assay and Western blot and bacterial plasmid isolation in the laboratory independently.”
“I have completed a final-year research project with the title Anti-inflammatory effect of Plantago asiatica extract on lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages as well in order for me to graduate with an honour degree.”
Another Medical Biotechnology alumnus, Lim Lee Teing, also decided to remain at IMU to pursue a Master’s degree in Public Health. Currently, she feels that in order to be a leader in Biotechnology and enter the working world with something advanced to improve human health, it is necessary to understand the needs health of the community. This can achieved by highlighting the importance of laboratory-based research leading to medical biotechnological advancements and improvements in human health. She believes that undergoing all the rigors during her time in the MB programme at IMU has fully prepared her for her further studies at the graduate level.
“Best experience that I encountered while studying MB in IMU is the community service conducted in a condominium somewhere around Puchong. Microbial threats on facilities supply on that particular condominium has been identified. The samples were collected and tested in lab. Eventually, the results were tabulated in a printed paper and distributed to the residence of that condominium so that residents which make use of those facilities might be aware of possible microbial threats to their health and take precautions when necessary.”
“MB is basically a study that uses living cells or any cell materials in research to identify possible threats to human health and hence come out with the solution, which could be the intervention of new medicine, any diagnostic or biology related technology products. MB programme is unique as it is not just about the repeated lab based tests, but something new that can benefits the society and improved health of an individual from research. With no regrets, this has sparked my interest to take up MB course, as I know that this might be a job scope that I want to do at the future, to come out with something to improve human health. MB in IMU has been chosen, as IMU is a University dedicated to healthcare education, and to go for ‘medical’ biotechnology, without hesitation, IMU will be the best option out of all.”
