| No. | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 February 2021 | A 'New' World after COVID-19: Perspectives from an Academician UTAR Centre for Corporate and Community Development (CCCD) in collaboration with Centre for Research on Communicable Diseases (CRCD) organised a webinar titled “A ‘New’ World after COVID-19: The Perspective of an Academician” on 8 February 2021 via Zoom and Facebook Live. The webinar was moderated by Faculty of Science (FSc) Department of Allied Health Sciences lecturer Dr Saw Seow Hoon. Invited to be the speaker for the webinar was Prof Dr Robert C. Rickards from German Police University, Germany. He is currently active in contributing his expertise to various associations, such as the Board of Directors of the Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Association and the Russian Controller Association. The webinar aimed to highlight Prof Robert’s perspective of the new norm after the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. Through this webinar, the participants were able to understand how other countries tackle the Covid-19 situation. The participants also got a chance to understand the different perspectives of the countries’ governments through certain policies implemented to tackle the pandemic. While introducing the talk, Prof Robert said, “I am both a United States national and a German civil servant. Accordingly, I am in a good position to observe the situation concerning Covid-19 and governmental responses to it both in Germany and the United States. Thus, my talk provides a brief comparison of the two countries’ respective leaders in 2020, Trump and Merkel, in handling the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. The differences in Trump’s and Merkel’s background, life experiences, education, and temperament explain a sizable amount of the variation in their handling of the pandemic and subsequent success. Dissimilarities exist in restrictions pertaining to public and private gatherings; the opening of nurseries, kindergartens, and schools; conditions in retirement and nursing homes; personal mobility and transportation; hospitality and entertainment industries as well as so-called ‘essential’ workers; the role of state governments in the formulation and execution of pandemic countermeasures; initiation of vaccination programmes; interim goals and so forth. These differences in approach have produced vastly different results in the two countries.”  Prof Robert (top, second from left) from German Police University was invited to deliver the talkProf Robert began the talk by explaining the pandemic situation in Germany as well as how the government handled the situation. “When the first wave of Covid-19 hit Germany, we were still able to control the situation quite well through the Spring to the Summer and the number was very low. Unfortunately, although there were warnings from different scientists, people still took a very relaxed attitude. They went on vacation and about 10% of the population moved back to their hometowns or travelled around. In the end, these people brought back the virus from their vacations and the number increased while the country was not well prepared. During this period, many people had permissions to go back to their respective working places, universities or restaurants so the virus spread very quickly. We had our second lockdown in October 2020 but it came with fewer restrictions and the outcome was not effective. The number of Covid-19 cases increased rapidly in November and December 2020. Since it was Christmas, the Germany government decided to implement a hard lockdown and the cases had decreased a lot since then,” said Prof Robert.  Prof Robert (top, second from left) showing the average cases of Covid-19 in Germany since the first outbreak Prof Robert (top, second from left) showing a picture which indicates the effected places in GermanySpeaking of the effectiveness of vaccination, he added, “Most places in Germany was successful in vaccinating the population. The best places were Nordrhein-Westfalen, Berlin, Niedersachsen, Sachsen- Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. However, there were also some places like Rheinland-Pfalz, Schleswig-Holstein, Baden-Württemberg, Brandenburg and Thüringen which did poor job in vaccinating the population.”  Prof Robert (top, second from left) showing a graph which shows the vaccinated population in GermanyAccording to Prof Robert, after the vaccination was implemented in most regions throughout Germany, the situation in the country turned out to be better. Unfortunately, some places in East Germany were still affected seriously by the spread of Covid-19. Prof Robert also displayed a picture that showed the comparison of the situation in Germany before and after the vaccination was implemented.  The map on the right shows the affected places in Germany after the vaccination was implemented while the map on the left shows the affected places before the vaccination The graph showing the comparison between regions in managing the Covid-19 pandemicAmong other topics covered were “The policies making process and the personalities involved: The Germany versus the United States in emphasising on the contrast between Merkel and Trump”; “The restriction that currently in place: The second lockdown in Germany” and “Prof Roberts experience with his son and neighbours through the second lockdown”. The talk ended with a Q&A session between Prof Robert and the participants. Prof Robert’s professional experience include comparative public policy analysis, research methods and statistics. Before pursuing his career in academia, Prof Robert had many experiences in the industry including military service. He was in the rank of lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserves, a financial analyst and controller at the Ford Motor Company, the Director of Economic Development for the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Michigan, etc. Besides, Prof Robert also had many lecturing experiences in various universities in the United States of America and Germany. He is also a member of the European Accounting Association, the European Group for Public Administration (EGPA), and the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS). He was also invited to be an adjunct professor by the universities in Germany, Poland, Italy, Russia, China and India. |
| 2 | 19 February 2021 | Public webinar titled, "COVID-19 Vaccine: To Vaccinate or not to Vaccinate?" The development of vaccines on a global scale is a priority to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, there have been dramatic shifts in vaccine confidence around the world, threatening the implementation of approved COVID-19 vaccines in order to achieve an optimal herd immunity in the community With the aim to educate and build confidence among UTAR staff and students as well as the members of the public on the benefits of vaccination in general and COVID-19 vaccination in specific, UTAR Centre for Research on Communicable Diseases in collaboration with the Department of Soft Skills Competency (DSSC) of Sungai Long Campus successfully organised a public webinar titled, “COVID-19 Vaccine: To Vaccinate or not to Vaccinate?” on 19 February 2021 via ZOOM. Supported by UTAR Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), the two-hour insightful webinar was delivered by FMHS lecturer Dr Kang Waye Hann. In order to enlighten the participants about the vaccine and how it affects an individual’s immune system once he or she gets vaccinated, Dr Kang kick-started his talk by explaining how a human’s immune system works. He defined, “Human’s immune system is specially designed to identify and destroy foreign organisms or pathogens from the body or neutralise the toxins that some bacteria produce. Hence, whenever the human body is exposed to harmful pathogens, our body develops an immune response to get rid of the invaders.” He further explained, “Among the responses are fever to elevate the body temperature to stop pathogens from breeding; vomiting, diarrhoea, sneezing and coughing to eject the pathogens out of your body; and other undesirable symptoms due to the immune response to the infection such as body aches, fatigue, nausea, etc. However, your body will also encounter very nasty bugs, which they can’t win the war, especially bugs that may cause severe infections and complications.” He then proceeded to elucidate the participants on how a vaccine works in the body of the recipient. He expounded, “The immune system is the body’s natural defence against viruses, bacteria and other nasty stuff. However, viruses are especially good at developing disguises that help them hide from the immune system and this is why we need vaccines to help our bodies see through the act. Most vaccines contain a weakened or dead version of the virus they are meant to protect against, though some vaccines carry only the proteins found on the virus’s surface. In either case, once these substances are injected into the body, our immune system grabs them up and learns how to identify them, kind of like a cheat sheet that helps you prepare for a big test. Eventually, when the body comes into contact with the real virus it knows how to protect against it and can set to work gobbling up the viruses before they can do too much damage. The webinar also touched on the concept of herd immunity. Dr Kang used the infectious disease Polio to explain how they still have to get shots for polio, even though no one they know has gotten it. He said, “Vaccines act as a firewall that prevents the spread of diseases to others. When enough people develop resistance to a disease by getting a vaccine, the chance that a virus can infect someone and then keep spreading drops to near zero. This is how polio went from a disease that was infecting thousands of people in the past to one that caused few cases reported worldwide now. Certainly, the protection only continues if people continue to give their bodies a cheat sheet or vaccines to beat polio.” He added, “Vaccines provide herd immunity indirect protection for individuals who could not be vaccinated due to other reasons. There are various types of vaccines, categorised by the antigen (bacterial or viral material) used. This will determine how the vaccines are used, how they are stored, and how they are administered.” Dr Kang also introduced the types of vaccines available. Among them are live attenuated vaccines meaning alive but weakened bacteria/virus; inactivated vaccine meaning dead bacteria or virus; subunit vaccine meaning pieces or parts of a bacteria or virus and toxoids meaning modified toxins that are harmless. He put forward, “There is little pre-existing immunity to SARS-CoV-2, hence everyone is prone to be infected. There is no established treatment for SARS-CoV-2 yet, like influenza therefore COVID-19 causes more severe diseases than influenza, with long term complications. COVID-19 may increase the risk of long-term health problems. Body systems and organs of an infected person of COVID-19 can be affected. The virus could affect the heart and bring damage to heart muscles, damage to the brain and nervous system, mental health issues, musculoskeletal and et cetera. Months after infection with SARS-CoC-2, some people would still be battling with crushing fatigue, lung damage and other symptoms of ‘long COVID’.” Going deeper, Dr Kang also elucidated to the participants that in total there are three types of COVID-19 vaccines, namely mRNA, Viral Vector and Inactivated Virus. The three vaccines differed from each other by their main component and mechanism. He said, “The first vaccines mRNA stands for a messenger; RNA is a single-stranded RNA molecule that is complementary to one of the DNA strands of a gene. It forms viral proteins inside the host cells and stimulates an immune response. It is simple and easy to manufacture and no live component is involved. However, the mRNA vaccine requires strict storage requirements and unprecedented use. An example of an mRNA vaccine is Moderna Pfizer/BioNTech.” “Meanwhile, Viral Vector vaccine is a harmless modified virus that contains viral genetic material. Its viral material stimulates human cells to produce proteins and stimulate an immune response. The vaccine is well-documented and it is more effective and adaptive to immune response. However, the vaccine requires a complex production process and needs to ensure the viral vector is 100% safe. Among the examples of Viral Vector vaccines are AstraZeneca — CanSino Biologics Johnson and Johnson's Sputnik V. On the other hand, Inactivated Virus vaccine consists of dead virus killed by heat, chemicals or radiation which will stimulate an immune response. It is also a type of vaccine which is well-documented, involve no live component, and suitable for patients with weaker immune systems. However, it is an expensive vaccine to produce and the one and only example is Sinovac.” Moving from the benefits that an individual could get from vaccination, Dr Kang also emphasised on the common side effects that one could get from vaccines. He said, “Just like any other medications, vaccines can cause side effects. These side effects can be caused by vaccine product-related such as antibiotics, stabilisers, preservatives, adjuvants and proteins; vaccine quality defect-related; immunisation error-related; immunisation anxiety-related; and coincidental event. Among the common and minor reactions include fever and malaise, which can be part of the immune response to the vaccine.” Dr Kang said that vaccines, just like other pharmaceutical products, undergo extensive testing and review for safety immunogenicity and efficacy in the laboratory, in animals and in three phases of clinical trials. Once they are proven to be effective, only then they will be submitted for approval to market. After vaccines are marketed, there will be post-licensure surveillance of vaccine safety to monitor adverse events associated with vaccine use.” He added, “It takes almost 10 years and costs USD500million to produce an effective and safe vaccine. However, for COVID-19 the world can’t afford to wait. Hence, safety is ensured by investigating safety at every stage of vaccine development and post-trial monitoring. To date, no major side effects have been reported in phases One, Two, and Three of the clinical trials for vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna. It is also proven that vaccines that use the mRNA platform are very effective but also reactogenic and likely to cause a noticeable immune response.” In his talk, Dr Kang also explained how the COVID-19 vaccination will be implemented in Malaysia. He said, “The vaccination will be spearheaded by the Jawatankuasa Khas Jaminan Akses Bekalan Vaksin COVID-19. The project aims to vaccinate 109.65% of the population and free vaccination will be injected into volunteers. There are a total of three phases, Phase One (Feb-Apr 2021) for the first liners including public and private health care providers and essential service providers, Phase Two (Apr-Aug 2021) for remaining health care providers and essential service providers plus high-risk population such as elderlies above 65 years old and patients with chronic diseases and Phase Three (May 2021 - Feb 2022) for all volunteers above 18 years old, regardless of nationality; priority will be given to red zones followed by yellow and green zones. As a conclusion, Dr Kang concluded, “Vaccination is essential in controlling the spread of infectious diseases. To date, COVID-19 vaccinations have shown to be safe and the enormous benefits of vaccination outweigh the small risks.” The webinar ended with a successful live Q&A session. The insightful webinar attracted more than 269 participants on the ZOOM platform and more than 1,600 views on UTAR DSSC Facebook. Dr Kang is currently a lecturer in the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UTAR. He graduated from UNIMAS in 2008 and obtained his MRCP in 2014. He had served in many places including Hospital Serdang, Hospital Kuala Lumpur and Hospital Kuala Pilah. He has just completed his training as a clinical endocrinologist in Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, and his research interests mainly include diabetes and testosterone. As a visiting consultant physician in Sungai Long Medical Center, he has managed several COVID-19 patients during his watch.   Dr Kang (right) explaining how the immune system, a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases, works in human body  Some slides of Dr Kang that explain how a vaccine stimulates immune response in a human’s body    Dr Kang shows the trends of some diseases such as Polio, Hepatisis B, Measles and Smallpox to explain about herd immunity   The types of available COVID-19 vaccines  The implementation of COVID-19 vaccines in Malaysia  To mark the success of the webinar, some virtual group photos were taken at the end of the webinar |
| 3 | 3 April 2021 | Public webinar titled, "Covid-19 Vaccine: 我需要注射新冠疫苗吗？" Following the first public webinar delivered by Dr Kang Waye Hann on “COVID-19 Vaccine: To Vaccinate or not to Vaccinate?” on 19 February 2021 via ZOOM, UTAR Centre for Research on Communicable Diseases in collaboration with the Department of Soft Skills Competency (DSSC) of Sungai Long Campus successfully organised a public webinar titled, “Covid-19 Vaccine: 我需要注射新冠疫苗吗？”in mandarin for the mandarin speaking community. Supported by UTAR Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), the two-hour insightful webinar was delivered by Dr Cheng Joo Thye, Infectious Diseases Specialist, from Hospital Seberang Jaya.    |
| 4 | 20 September 2021 | Clinical Basic Science Meeting 2 - A Case of Chronic Cough |
| 5 | 18 - 24 November 2021 | World Antibiotics Awareness Week 2021 World Antibiotics Awareness Week is held every year on the 18th to 24th November to raise consciousness about issues of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and how to properly use of disease-fighting drugs in the medical applications. AMR is a global health problem that contributes to tens of thousands of deaths per year. The World Health Organization (WHO) has explained that antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria have changed in response to the use of these medicines and become resistant The 2021 theme: Spread Awareness, Stop Resistance, called upon the 3rd year of Biomedical Science students from Faculty of Science UTAR to generate a video presentation to discuss how researchers around the world or/and in Malaysia, in utilizing bioinformatics tools/next generation sequencing (NGS) to revolutionize the field of infectious diseases especially in the detection, evolution tracking and the spreading of AMR bacteria in hospital and in the community. Scientists around the world are working around the clock via utilizing the advancement of NGS to combat AMR and provide future perspectives and recommendations Come and check out the videos to learn more about AMR, NGS and the contributions of scientists in order to stop the bacteria’s resistance towards antibiotics! |
| 6 | 14 December 2021 | Webinar - Use of Advanced Molecular Tools in Infectious Diseases Research The Centre for Biomedical and Nutrition Research (CBNR) in collaboration with the Centre for Research on Communicable Diseases (CRCD) organised a webinar titled, “Use of Advanced Molecular Tools in Infectious Disease Research” on 14 December 2021 via Microsoft Teams. The webinar attracted a total of 117 participants in attendance. The webinar was moderated by Faculty of Science academics Dr Ho Lai Yee and Dr Choo Quok Cheong. The talk was delivered by University Malaya Faculty of Science Assoc Prof Dr Chan Kok Gan and Pirbright Institute Postdoctoral Research Scientist-cum-UTAR alumni Dr Joshua Ang Xin De. The webinar aimed to disseminate knowledge and latest developments in the use of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) in Microbiology research and Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) application as a precise tool in the genetic control of mosquito vectors. The webinar started with Dr Chan introducing his topic, “Next Generation Sequencing: Enabler of Next Generation Microbiology”. He shared the first pioneer who introduced sequencing research, “From the beginning of 1632 until 1723, Anton van Leeuwenhoek perfected a simple microscope for research purposes and started to explore microbial life with his microscope. Besides, he was also the first to observe and to experiment with microbes. He was a Dutch microscopist who was the first to observe bacteria and protozoa.” Explaining his team’s research, Dr Chan said, “To collect the first data, we practised the functional genomics or transcriptome approach. Besides, we used Pseudomonas Aeruginosa PA01 grown at both the human body temperature and elevated temperatures for our research. This functional genomics research gives us valuable insights into bacterial gene function. The RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) can generate information on transcript abundance in bacteria following the stress treatments.” Highlighting the molecular analysis of Asymptomatic Bacteriuria (ABU) Escherichia coli Strain VR50 to Urinary Tract by Gene Acquisition, Dr Chan stated, “Contrast to prototypical ABU E. coli strain 83972 evolved through mutation and gene loss from a virulent UPEC strain, VR50 is an ABU that has acquired fitness factor via gene acquisition. Apart from that, for bacterial methylome, the chemical structures are shown for the most common forms of DNA methylation in bacteria, including N4-methylcytosine (4mC), 5- methylcytosine (5mC), and N6-methyladenine (6mA). In each instance, a methyltransferase (MTase) transfers a methyl group (CH3) from S-adenosyl-L-methionine to the unmodified nucleotide, producing a methylated nucleotide and S-adenosyl-homocysteine.” The webinar continued with the second speaker, Dr Ang with his topic titled “Cas9-based Gene Drive for the Genetic Control of Mosquito Vectors”. He said, “According to The Malaria Atlas Project 2021 by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Malaria (P.falciparum) endemicity in 2019 has almost 229 million cases worldwide which caused 409,000 deaths. Sixty-seven per cent of the deaths are children below five years old. Besides, the popular mosquito-borne diseases are known as dengue virus, Zika virus and the malaria parasite.” Dr Ang further highlighted, “The genetic control of mosquitoes is categorised into two, namely population suppression approach and population modification approach. For the population suppression approach, the Wolbachia has no transmission of propagation of mosquito-borne pathogens, thus reducing or eliminating the mosquito populations. On the contrary, the population modification approach, the Wolbachia and Transgenesis are resistant to pathogens and could maintain the mosquito population in the wild.” Furthermore, he also enlightened the participants by presenting the data chart about homing endonuclease genes, CAS9-based genome editing (edited gene and disrupted gene), CAS9-based HEG drive, HEG drive design for population modification in An. stephensi and many more. Chairperson of CBNR Dr Cheah Seong Guan shared his opinion, “This webinar was able to provide insights for the latest updates on the use of advanced molecular tools in infectious disease research, emphasising on the applications of NGS in this area and the value of CRISPR technology in the genetic control of mosquito vectors for diseases like dengue, Zika and malaria. In addition, both of these technologies have revolutionised the biological sciences, particularly those in the medical field, and are testaments to the limitless boundary of genomic advances. The webinar sharing ended with Q&A and group photography sessions. This webinar is associated with SDG 3 – Good Health and Well-Being, ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages, and SDG 4 – Quality Education, to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.  The webinar moderator, Ho introducing the webinar’s topic Dr Choo (top right) introducing Dr Chan’s profile and achievement    Dr Chan presenting his research topic    Dr Ang presenting the malaria cases Group photograph session at the end of the webinar |