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SAT, NOV 2 / MMU
MYBS
MALAYSIAN YOUTH BIOINFORMATICS SYMPOSIUM
SPEAKERS
Speaker 1
Ms. Heng Huey Ying
A senior scientist at Sime Darby Technology Centre Sdn Bhd. She received her Bachelor Degree in Bioinformatics from Multimedia University, Malaysia. She has been involved in R&D projects in database development and management, and also bioinformatics projects related to the analysis and visualization of genomic and transcriptomic data.
Title/
ROLE OF BIOINFORMATICS IN REALITY
Description/
Bioinformatics is a branch of data science that analyzes and interprets biological data into useful information. In agriculture, bioinformatics does not deal with genomics data only but have been extended to environmental, phenotypic data, and interaction among these components to address certain biological questions. One of the good examples is oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) which is the most efficient oil crop in the world. A massive data collection of genomic sequences and phenotypic records is being deployed to study the genetic mechanism underlying agricultural traits in oil palm, such as oil yield performance. By using big data concepts, prediction of plant performance is now feasible. Hence, an efficient database needs to be in place to store the fast-growing data, ensuring data traceability and integrity. Besides, tools development to retrieve, analyze and visualize the data also one of the main challenges in this field. The main focus of the talk is to describe role expectations of bioinformatics and connecting the dots to significantly benefit to both industry and academia.
Speaker 2:
Mr. Colin Hercus
Senior IT Manager and Developer with 17 years of experience in bioinformatics tools development and analysis. Founder of Novocraft Technologies and developer of Novoalign.
Title/
EVOLUTION OF NEXT-GENERATION DNA SEQUENCING & NOVOCRAFT
AND LOOK AT SOME PROBLEMS NOVOCRAFT ARE WORKING ON
Description/
The parallel evolution of next generation sequencing and how Novocraft has evolved to keep up. In between I'll talk about alignment algorithms, suffix trees, alignment using SIMD instructions. And then quickly cover our other products, our new RNA mapper and some current problems like calling SNPs in "dark" regions.
Speaker 3:
Professor Dr. Cheong Sok Ching
FACs, The Senior Group Leader, Head and Neck Cancer Research at Cancer Research Malaysia and the Adjunct Professor, University of Malaya
Title/
ADDRESSING TREATMENT CHALLENGES IN HEAD AND NECK CANCER THROUGH GENOMICS
Description/
Researchers have characterized the cancer genome to unprecedented depth, and such information is impacting how we select patients for cancer treatment and how we understand drug response. Drawing on our own projects and experience, I will discuss our approaches in using genomics to gain insights into the biology of head and neck cancers. In addition, I will describe our work in the building of bioinformatic tools that enable us to leverage on the enormous wealth of information in the public domain for drug development. In particular, I will elaborate on GENIPAC, a database to help researchers identify suitable cell line models for head and neck cancer research, and DeSigN, an online bioinformatics tool that helps to prioritize drugs for drug repositioning. More importantly, I will discuss the importance of putting together individuals with diverse expertise and talent to build stronger teams that can work towards a common goal of a world free from the fear of cancer.
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