AWARDS & EVENTS
MAKNA Cancer Research Award
The MAKNA Cancer Research Award for young scientists by the National Cancer Council of Malaysia (MAKNA) continued into its fourteenth year with four awards for 2014. From a pool of 27 applicants, four successful recipients were chosen, with two of them from UTAR.
In the presentation ceremony, one of the recipients, Norlaily Mohd Ali, a doctoral student from the UTAR Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, was awarded the grant for the research proposal titled "Analysis of exosomalmi RNAs expression of bone-marrow mesenchymal stem cells and their influence on osteosarcoma-derived population".
The research project is currently under the supervision of Associate Professor Dr. Alan Ong, Emeritus Professor Dr. Cheong Soon Keng and a collaborator, Dr. Yeap Swee Keong, from Institute Bioscience Malaysia (IBS), Universiti Putra Malaysia.
The award ceremony was held at the Academy of Sciences, Malaysia, at Menara Matrade Kuala Lumpur, on 15 June 2015 with the presence of MAKNA Founder and President, Dato' Farid Ariffin. The ceremony is an annual event to support young Malaysian scientists and offers encouragement in their efforts to combat cancer through local research. This year MAKNA stepped forward by introducing the recipients to the general public through a press conference.
The other UTAR recipient who was unable to attend the ceremony is Dr Kong Sin Guan whose research proposal was titled "Systematic seeking minimal side-effects of repurposed drug compound for breast cancer."