Prima Nexus supported a stem cell programme at Universiti Malaya and four laboratory workshops in 2015

From the Prima Nexus archive: a look back at April to August 2015.

KUALA LUMPUR, 18 August 2015: Prima Nexus supported Stem Cells on Molecular Perspective, a national seminar and hands-on workshop at Universiti Malaya (UM) on 28 and 29 April 2015, together with Bio-Rad. Through the year it also supported four laboratory workshops: three at the Tissue Engineering Centre of UKM Medical Centre in Cheras, on flow cytometry, good manufacturing practice (GMP) for cell and tissue production, and immunostaining with confocal microscopy, and one on real time PCR at the Institute of Medical Molecular Biotechnology (IMMB) of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) in Sungai Buloh.

Stem cells at Universiti Malaya

The National Orthopaedic Centre of Excellence for Research and Learning (NOCERAL) and the Tissue Engineering Group at UM's Faculty of Medicine organised the programme in the Datin Ragayah Lecture Hall of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. It was planned for students and scientists in biomedical science, life science and medicine, and its course faculty came from UM, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Universiti Putra Malaysia and Bio-Rad, Singapore.

The first day was a seminar, with talks on stem cell therapy for regenerative medicine, induced pluripotent stem cells, how stem cells sense mechanical forces, and how mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) affect the immune response. The second day was hands-on: isolating mononuclear cells, then making cDNA, running real-time PCR and analysing gene expression, with an introduction to droplet digital PCR (ddPCR).

Workshops at UKM Medical Centre and UiTM

The Tissue Engineering Centre at UKM Medical Centre in Cheras held three workshops supported by Prima Nexus: Flow Cytometry Workshop: Analysis of Cells Division, Death and Beyond on 22 and 23 April; a Good Manufacturing Practice Workshop for Cell and Tissue Production on 13 and 14 May, at the centre and at Pusat Terapi Sel, the cell therapy centre of UKM Medical Centre; and an Immunostaining, Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM) & Image Analysis Workshop from 18 to 20 August. From 11 to 13 August, UiTM's IMMB held a Real Time PCR (RT-PCR) Workshop in the IMMB Building at UiTM Sungai Buloh, also supported by Prima Nexus.

Prima Nexus's part

Prima Nexus supported the UM programme together with Bio-Rad, and the four workshops. It went on to support more meetings in this field, told in our 2016 story on stem cell and tissue engineering meetings. More photos from UM are on the programme's event page. Today, stem cell and organoid research is one of the eight research domains Prima Nexus supports for researchers, set out on its research capabilities page.