Three IMU Pharmacy students, Kishen Kunalan, Yong Yu Jing and Woon Sze Shee from BP1116 were given a chance to conduct their final year research projects in collaboration with Prof Sanjay Garg at University of South Australia (UniSA), Australia. The students relate their experience here. 
“For this, we were assigned to a research team led by Prof Sanjay. This team mainly consisted of postgraduate students from various backgrounds. Our projects were mainly focused on the formation of drug-loaded microparticles using an encapsulating machine and the investigation of their physicochemical characteristics. We had the opportunity to learn and use different equipment, including High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). This was indeed a remarkable hands-on experience for us as undergraduate students. In addition, we also observed the dynamic teamwork in the research team. They were extremely helpful as they guided us throughout our projects. Despite their busy work, they always lent a helping hand whenever we had any doubts in our progress. We truly appreciated their reassurance and insightful feedback during our weekly team meeting. Besides that, we received a warm welcome from the team, and they invited us to their annual group dinner, helping us to adapt to the new environment. Much to our surprise, they also organized a picnic by the river to send us off.
| Our Weekend Activities in Adelaide |
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| Adelaide is both a thriving and a refreshingly laid-back city, which allowed us to recharge ourselves after a busy week. We explored the city and its suburbs during the weekends and enjoyed our time there, from tasting the local delicacies to spotting dolphins in the ocean, not to mention meeting and interacting with the kangaroos, koalas and other native animals in a conservation park. Luck was on our side as we were able to attend the Royal Adelaide Show, an annual fair filled with games, exhibits and competitions. Each weekend was filled with new, fun and thrilling adventures. |
It was really a new and exciting endeavor for us, being able to work with a multinational team in a different environment abroad. It gave us meaningful exposure which we really valued. The experiences we gained in Australia will definitely help in shaping our future in drug development and research. We were trained to be independent and resourceful.
Not only did we gain valuable lab and research skills, we were able to experience the diverse culture and scenes that Australia had to offer. In short, we are glad that we took the chance and we appreciate the guidance from our supervisors in UniSA, Prof Sanjay and Dr Ankit, as well as our IMU supervisors Dr Hira, Dr Manisha and Dr Subrat.”
