Eugene Low Yi Ming and Doris Lee Shuo Yu

Eugene and Doris at the Clinical Pharmacogenomics Laboratory

Eugene at the University of Chicago

During the few weeks in Chicago, Eugene Low Yi Ming and Doris Lee Shuo Yu worked at the Clinical Pharmacogenomics Laboratory at the basement of Mitchell Hospital, University of Chicago Medicine.

Also UCSI Pharmacy students, they were able to revise and enhance their knowledge in pharmacogenomics. They studied and were given the opportunity to conduct assays that detect Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) for several important genes in our body.

Two important assays, one of which is CYP2D6 assay focuses on the gene itself that has more than 27 types of alleles, along with its Copy Number Variation. The other assay would be Open Array, which focuses on many types of genes, with huge amount of SNPs that can be detected from the assay, up to 480 SNPs to be detected in a single run.

CYP2D6 and the Open Array assay were the crux of their project during their summer course training. Besides the huge portion of time spent on learning pharmacogenomics and the assays, they were also exposed to the Clinical Chemistry laboratory. They were able to observe and learn the operations for Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and blood tests in both the mass spectrometry and clinical chemistry lab.

 “My Chicago experience was eye-opening, fulfilling, and unforgettable. Other than academics, a few aspects of what I experienced were the people, the food, the view and scenery, the festivals and celebrations, and last but not least, the climate,” said Eugene.

“Due to the presence of numerous races in the state of Illinois, cultural tolerance and cultural assimilation were obvious among the people. The most important skill that I was able to brush up on was my communication skills.

“I was also able to improve my socialisation skills by meeting new people, making friends, and spending time with one another. Other skills I obtained or polished included time management, work ethics, and self-confidence.

“The knowledge and experience that I gained will be very useful in my career and in the future, when I further my studies for a Master’s degree or a PhD in any field related to pharmacogenomics, or if extend my career to involve precision medicine,” he added.

Doris learned how important it was to experience new things, meet new people, make new friends, and learn about different lifestyles.  She also learned to accept people from different backgrounds and not to judge people based on her own opinions as well as not to stereotype them. 

“It was an extremely amazing and wonderful experience for me and living abroad was a life-changing experience.

“What I learned technically from my research project greatly enhanced my study experience. I believe that the knowledge I gained would be useful for me to utilise in the future. I hope this knowledge will help me to improve the healthcare standards at my work place,” she said.