IMU Lecturer Presents on Antarctic Research at New Zealand Conference

25 – 28 August 2014 – Dr Wong Chiew Yen, lecturer of Medical Biotechnology programme of International Medical University (IMU) presented an oral presentation entitled “Effect of Lindane on the Growth and Photosynthetic Performance of Antarctic, Arctic and Tropical Microalgae” at the SCAR Open Science Conference, Auckland, New Zealand. In her presentation, Dr Wong summarised her research findings: the Antarctic, Arctic and tropical Chlorella showed varying growth response to lindane and the sensitivity of the three Chlorella strains to lindane is as follows: Antarctic Chlorella > Arctic Chlorella > tropical Chlorella. Lindane is a persistent organochlorine pesticide that is widely distributed throughout the world, even in the remote polar regions where they have never been used. As a result of various transport routes from the terrestrial system, lindane residues have been detected in water columns where its toxicity is often extended to non-target aquatic organisms. The SCAR Open Science Conference is the only event of its kind in the world run exclusively for scientists working in the field of Antarctic Research. The Conference focus on Global Messages from Antarctica and how the changes that we are currently seeing in Antarctica will affect the rest of the world. It is one of the largest conferences and provides delegates with opportunity to explore and share a variety of different aspects of Antarctic research as well as building up network connection with collaborators from various countries. The SCAR Open Science Conference also provided an opportunity for a meeting to be held between the recipients of the Antarctic flagship grant (one of the recipients is Dr Wong Chiew Yen) and a Chilean Scientist. The purpose of the meeting was to look for collaboration between the two countries. Dr Wong Chiew Yen had presented her current Antarctic research project during the meeting. Apart from presenting the research findings, Malaysian scientists including Dr Wong Chiew Yen were at the SCAR Open Science Conference to promote the next SCAR Meetings and Conference in 2016 which will be held in Kuala Lumpur. Dato’ Sri Dr Noorul Ainur, the Secretary General of Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation (MOSTI) was there during the closing ceremony to deliver her speech and invite delegates to SCAR 2016 in Kuala Lumpur. An informal dinner meeting amongst the Malaysian scientists with Dato’ Sri Dr Noorul Ainur was organised by the Yayasan Penyelidikan Antartika Sultan Mizan (YPASM) after the closing ceremony to discuss about the future of Polar Research. Dr Wong Chiew Yen joined IMU in February 2013. She has actively involved in Polar research while she was pursuing her doctoral degree in University of Malaya. Chiew Yen had also received the University Malaya Research Grant (UMRG) working on the effect of increased CO2 and temperature on growth, photosynthesis and biochemical composition of Polar Chlorella while she worked as a Research Officer in National Antarctic Research Centre (NARC) in year 2010. Chiew Yen had presented her research findings in many international conferences and had won several awards during the conference presentations. In addition, as part of Chiew Yen’s research activities, she went on three expeditions to Polar Regions (Antarctic and Arctic) in year 2002, 2005 and 2008 in collaborative projects between University of Malaya and Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), Australia as well as Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany, with support from the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM). She collected samples from various sites for the isolation of Antarctic and Arctic microalgae and also conducted some field experiments to investigate the effect of solar UVR on the culture of Antarctic and Arctic microalgae.