Page 6 - R&D News June 2021

Inspired by her grandfather,
who said, “All plants come begin her research and find

with unique therapeutic cures for cancer in 1997. Prof student Jenny Lau Wei Meng,
effects, hence human should Lim enthused, “I collected Ministry of Health Institute
harness plants wisely,” Insti- more than 100 medicinal Medical Research Dr Susan
tute of Postgraduate Studies plants and tested them for anti- Hoe, Ministry of Health Insti-
and Research of Sungai Long cancer properties. Among the tute Medical Research Dr Alan
Campus Deputy Direc- plants I collected, Ubi Kemili Khoo Soo Beng, UTAR
tor-cum-Faculty of Medicine showed the strongest antican- FMHS lecturer Dr Foo Chai
and Health Sciences (FMHS) cer property. The active com- Nien, UTAR FMHS lecturer
lecturer Prof Ts Dr Lim Yang pound isolated from Ubi Dr Ng Foong Leng, UTAR

Mooi was introduced to Tradi- Kemili was maslinic acid. FMHS lecturer Dr Fong Lai
tional Chinese Medicine ever Maslinic acid was first report- Yen, Universiti Kebangsaan
since she was young. Her ma- ed by our team to show the Malaysia (UKM) Institute of
ternal grandfather was the strong anticancer property, System Biology lecturer Dr
fourth generation of TCM and thus, subsequent research Goh Hoe Han, Tung Shin Hos-
practitioner from the ‘Loh’ works were conducted to elu- pital Dr Paul Lim Vey Hong,
family back in China. She was
inspired by the kindness and
generosity of her grandfather
who has helped and treated
many in those days when

access to the healthcare
system was limited. Further-
more, growing up in a village Ubi Kemili (le� photo) contains Maslinic acid, a poten�al chemopreven�ve agent that could
surrounded by a large expanse regulate mul�ple cancer signalling pathways
of medical herbs and plants, cidate its mechanism of Universiti Sultan Zainal
she was always requested by actions in carcinogenesis.” Abidin Assoc Prof Dr Yeo
her grandmother to search for Chiew Chieng, UTAR Faculty
medicinal herbs to treat differ- This led Prof Lim to conduct a of Science lecturer Assoc Prof

ent illnesses. Since then, she research, titled, “Drug discov- Dr Khoo Kong Soo, The Uni-
had developed a strong fond- ery: Maslinic acid as a chemo- versity of Melbourne, Austral-
ness for medicinal plants that preventive agent”. The team ia School of Biomedical
have miracle healing power. members involved were Tay- Sciences Prof Dr Lim Saw
lor’s University School of Hoon, UPM Faculty of Sci-

With the dream of wanting to Bioscience Head of Prog- ence Prof Haji Nordin Lajis,
discover the miracle healing amme Dr Yap Wei Hsum, Kyoto University, Japan Fac-
power of medicinal plants, UTAR Postdoctoral fellow Dr ulty of Agriculture lecturer
Prof Lim landed in Universiti Wong Teck Yew, UTAR Post- Prof Akira Murakami and Uni-
Putra Malaysia Prof Dr Abdul doctoral fellow Dr Menaga versiti Sultan Zainal Abidin
Manaf Ali’s laboratory to Subramanium, UTAR FMHS Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof
PhD’s student Ooi Kai Xin, Manaf Ali.
UTAR FMHS master’s