TEAM EFFORT: (front row, left – right) Winners Logis, Lim, Wong and Richardo with their lecturers and fellow students celebrating their win.

KUALA LUMPUR: It was a combination of academic excellence, presentation skill, and confidence that saw UCSI University’s Faculty of Applied Sciences students sweep four out of six awards at the 25th Intervarsity Biochemistry Seminar held at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. 

Joko Logis and Lim Wan Chi, won two of the Best Presentation awards for the oral category while Timmy Richardo and Wong Sok Yee snagged the Best Poster Awards in the poster category. Wong is currently pursuing her degree in food science and nutrition while the others are biotechnology students. 

All four students acknowledged that the academic staff played an important role in nurturing and supporting them to achieve their full potential. 

For the oral category, participants were judged on the presentation of their entries as well as their competency during the question and answer session. 

Logis’s entry explored the quorum sensing inhibitory properties of manuka propolis on bacteria Vibrio fischeri. He explained that his research focused on the ability of manuka propolis – a resinous component of bee hives – to disrupt the chemical communication system in disease-causing bacteria. 

“Basically by inhibiting quorum sensing in these bacteria, we could reduce their ability to cause disease,” he said, adding that this could be an alternative approach to antibiotics. 

Lim and Logis revealed that the experience of sharing their final year projects with their peers and experts from other universities was a unique way to gain insight on how their projects could be further improved. 

Matching their success in the poster category were Timmy Richardo and Wong Sok Yee. 

Pointing out that he never expected to win, Richardo credited his supervisor and the Faculty of Applied Sciences for the firm support and guidance he received when preparing his poster. 

His poster illustrated the production of synthetically modified peanut allergens to make it soluble. A soluble allergen is easier to be used as a reagent for diagnosis and therapy and therefore paves the way in the study of peanut allergy. 

Commenting on their success, the dean, Assoc Prof Chan Hor Kuan shared that both UCSI and the Faculty are fully supportive of such competitions as it hones the students’ presentation and research skills. 

“Even in their future careers as researchers, they cannot just be isolated in the lab. They need to convince non-scientific people – investors and members of the public – about their research,” she said. 

Assoc Prof Chan shared that the Faculty’s focuses on the soft skills as well as on nurturing the students’ interest in research, particularly multidisciplinary research, to give its students an edge in the working world. 

She added that was in line with UCSI’s praxis® approach where students are equipped with not just theory also the application of it.