Research Attachment in IMU Malaysia for Strathclyde Students

Six third year pharmacy students, Rosie Iles, Fiona Cleat, Neil Davidson, Ross McKerral, Ali Mahboba and Simon Bailey from the University of Strathclyde, UK had the opportunity to spend six weeks at the International Medical University (IMU), Malaysia working on a short research project under the supervision of Drs Ivan Yap and Lee Choy Sin. Neil, Ali and Fiona were under the supervision of Dr Ivan Yap while Rosie, Ross and Simon were under the supervision of Dr Lee Choy Sin. The students under Dr Lee’s supervision worked on a chemistry project where they synthesised polyesteramide from palm oil and tested its antifungal activity. Most of their time was spent optimising the synthesis in the synthesis lab. One of students, Simon describes his experience in IMU. “I have always been interested in science and considered a career in research. Besides that, I love traveling and finding out about new cultures and trying new things, so I jumped at the opportunity to apply and was delighted to be accepted! Dr Lee was our project supervisor and she was great! Wendy Wong, a Masters student, supervised us a lot on the actual project and was absolutely brilliant. Chua Bing Wei and Adeline were two other Masters students who contributed a great deal to our time in synthesis lab! The postgraduate students who shared our lab were phenomenal and really made our time here special! Labs were great fun and we learnt so much there. The IMU Student Ambassadors were so welcoming and it has been really great to hang out with them too. Those guys deserve a medal for their hard work.” “In addition to the research, I have learnt a lot about food, different cultures (food) and concluded that Malaysian food is pretty good… except durian. I find Malaysia different from home. People in the UK always talk about the weather all the time! In Malaysia, people talk about food instead!” The six students took every opportunity they had to explore the city of Kuala Lumpur as well as Langkawi, Borneo, Melaka and Singapore. Besides these places, Ali also went to Penang. Simon added, “Wendy took the three of us (Rosie, Ross and Simon) to her house in Perak which was the best part of our trip. Highlights of this particular trip included exotic fruit picking, juice making, visiting monuments, riding scooters, holding giant snakes and eating non- stop.”