Learning knowledge for life

The e-KLESF 2021 webinars titled “Dr Who – DNA and cancer” and “Material “R” Us” were held on 29 October 2021 via Zoom and Facebook Live. The invited speakers were Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Assoc Prof Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine Dr Oon Chern Ein, USM Centre of Marine and Coastal Studies senior lecturer Dr Chee Su Yin and USM School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering senior lecturer Ts Dr Yanny Marliana Baba Ismail.  The speakers were from the Young Scientists Network, Academy Science Malaysia (YSN-ASM).

Dr Oon and DrChee started the webinar “Dr Who – DNA and cancer” with the aim to raise awareness and educate the public on the basics of DNA and cancer. In their sharing, they shared types of cells in the body; what is DNA; DNA Mutation; what is cancer; the comparison of normal cells and cancer cells; characteristics of cancerous cells and many more.

Dr Chee explained what is DNA to participants, “DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. The information in DNA is stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). Human DNA consists of about three billion bases, and more than 99 per cent of those bases are the same in all people. DNA bases pair up with each other, A with T and C with G to form units called base pairs.”

Dr Chee explaining the types of cells and DNA to the participants

Dr Oon said, “Cancer happens when abnormal cells divide in an uncontrolled way. Cancer is the number two killer in the world after cardio disease. In Malaysia and also globally, breast cancer is the number one cancer that is mostly diagnosed in women, while the number one cancer in men is lung cancer.”

Dr Oon showing participants the mutation of cancerous cells

On the other hand, Dr Yanny enlightened participants on the topic “Material “R” Us”. Her webinar aimed to highlight the importance of nanomaterials and their applications as well as introduce different groups of materials and their properties. 

During the talk, she shared materials from the basic group of materials and their properties, advanced materials and the superpower of nanomaterials and their impact in our daily lives, particularly in health and well-being, and technology and environment.

Dr Yanny introducing different groups of materials and their properties to participants

Dr Yanny said, “Material R us means material. Human is one of the biggest living materials on earth besides dinosaur, giraffe, elephant, blue whale, ostrich and giant sequoia. Materials can be natural or man-made; for basic materials, we have wood, plastic, metal, fine sand, ceramic, polymer and so on while advanced materials are known as nanomaterial.”

“Nanomaterial plays an important role in our daily lives. Their size makes them extremely useful in electronics, and they can also be used in environmental remediation or clean-up to bind with and neutralise toxins. It was used to assist with cleaning the environment and even provide efficient energy solutions, such as nanomaterial-based solar cells. Nanomaterial can also be added to cement, cloth and other materials to make them stronger,” she added.

Speakers and participants after the webinar

The talk concluded with an extensive yet insightful Q&A session, followed by a photo-taking session.



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