Hands-on Training in Flow Cytometry, PCR and Cell Culture for Malaysian Researchers

The need

Many research projects in Malaysian universities and institutes use the same laboratory methods: flow cytometry, PCR, cell culture, immunostaining, and protein detection by Western blot or immunoassay. Each has practical steps that must be done correctly, such as compensation in flow cytometry, aseptic technique in cell culture, and antigen retrieval in immunohistochemistry.

The records describe the participants as postgraduate students, lecturers and researchers, and at one workshop, dental officers. Some needed a refresher rather than a first course: in 2024, Prima Nexus organised a molecular biology refresher seminar for researchers at the Institute for Medical Research.

What Prima Nexus did

The programme runs in three main ways. Prima Nexus organised its own sessions, such as its 2017 Workshop Series and Discussion Series. It co-organised hands-on workshops with university laboratories, among them the Faculties of Dentistry and Medicine at Universiti Malaya, the Toxicology Group at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Universiti Putra Malaysia, and Sunway University. It also sponsored workshops that universities ran themselves, often by providing folders and other workshop materials.

Prima Nexus scientists teach alongside university staff. Dr LJ Lee of Prima Nexus led the RT-qPCR and data analysis day of a CPD-approved molecular diagnostics course co-organised with Sunway University in 2018. In 2025, Dr Ramya Dewi of Prima Nexus was invited to speak on sample preparation at a Western blot workshop held by the UiTM Medical Postgraduates Association.

The hands-on workshops covered practical steps such as:

• Flow cytometry: cell cycle and apoptosis analysis, and multicolour analysis with compensation. At a 2017 workshop co-organised with NOCERAL at Universiti Malaya, participants could bring their own cell samples.
• Real-time PCR: the full workflow, from setup to data analysis.
• Cell culture: aseptic technique, cell counting, passaging, cryopreservation and the MTT cytotoxicity assay, with a training handbook produced with Universiti Malaya in 2018.
• Immunohistochemistry: antigen retrieval, antibody staining and reading the result.

Over the years

These figures count only the events on record in the Prima Nexus event archive, so each is a minimum.

• At least 33 events from 2015 to 2025, with the most in 2017 (10) and 2018 (12).
• Prima Nexus organised 6 and co-organised 13. It sponsored 12, supported 1 and was invited to speak at 1.
• At least 17 Malaysian universities, research institutes and agencies, most often Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (13 events), Universiti Putra Malaysia (11) and Universiti Malaya (8).
• At least 187 participants at the 13 events that recorded a head count.
• Flow cytometry featured in at least 7 events, PCR in at least 8 and cell culture in at least 6.

What it means for research teams

A research team can learn a method by doing it, in a university laboratory, with Prima Nexus scientists and university staff. Departments have also invited Prima Nexus to run sessions for their own researchers, as the Institute for Medical Research and the Department of Physiology at UKM Medical Centre did in 2017. See our events page for the workshops and seminars we organise and support.

About Prima Nexus

Prima Nexus Sdn Bhd is a Malaysian research coordination group founded in 2014. It connects universities, research institutes and global technology partners, and runs eight scientific platforms under one roof: proteomics (including ELISA and Luminex multiplex immunoassays), genomics, flow cytometry, stem cell research, animal research, clinical trials, bioinformatics, and regulatory and grant support. Programmes it coordinates have supported more than 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals and research teams at more than 40 institutions across Malaysia. More about Prima Nexus.