BIOGRAPHY : Dr. Chong Pan Pan is highly qualified with B.Sc. (Hons) in Microbiology (2001), M.Sc. in Biochemistry (2004) and completed her Ph.D. in Tissue Engineering (2013). After that, she worked as a post-doctoral research fellow (2013-2016) and was later inducted as a senior lecturer (2016-present) at the National Orthopaedic Centre of Excellence in Research and Learning (NOCERAL), Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya (UM), Malaysia. Additionally, she is in charge of setting up the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Laboratory in NOCERAL. She has also been put in charge of the newly provided clinical service using platelet-derived extracellular vesicles (P-EVs) to treat lateral epicondylitis, plantar fasciitis, osteochondral defect, delayed union, knee osteoarthritis, etc. The P-EVs service is provided in the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) and the University Malaya Specialist Centre (UMSC). Her research interest involves the current and innovative area of tissue engineering and manipulating adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for future use as biological therapies for poorly regenerating tissues. Her work focuses on driving the adult MSCs from bone marrow, peripheral blood, and adipose tissue along chondrogenic lineages for later transplantation to replace worn-out joint cartilage in patients suffering from joint disorders, including trauma or osteoarthritis. To attest to her work, Dr. Chong has published in several high-quality (Q1/high impact factor) peer-reviewed journals and presented her works extensively and globally at numerous international conferences. At that time, she also won several awards, including top prizes at the regional level, such as the Young Investigator Awards, Young Investigator Best Paper Award, L’Oréal Malaysia for Women in Science, Best Poster/Oral Presentations and travel fellowships, etc. In addition, she has participated in several biotechnology exhibitions and business idea competitions. Furthermore, she won many innovation awards for her work on MSCs and P-EVs as biological therapies for tissue regenerations. She has also developed intellectual property related to the novel work, which has been successfully patented.  

P. Raveendran received the B.Sc and M.Sc degrees in electrical engineering from South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota, USA in 1984 and 1985 respectively. He was a systems designer with Daktronics, U.S.A before joining the Department of Electrical Engineering at University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, as a lecturer in 1986. In 1992, he received a Ronpaku scholarship from Japan to pursue Doctorate in Engineering, which he completed in 1994 at University of Tokushima, Japan. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1995 and was promoted to Professor in 2003. His research areas include image and video analysis, formulation of new image descriptors for image analysis, fast computation of orthogonal moments, analysis of EEG signals, and data modeling of substance concentration acquired from non-invasive methods. His contributions can be seen in the form of journal publications, conference proceedings, chapters in books and an international patent to predict blood glucose levels using non-parametric model. He has successfully supervised to completion 17 Ph.D students and 13 students in M.Eng.Sc (Masters by research). He is currently a Senior IEEE member and also a member of the Signal Processing Society.

Dr. Mohd Rizal Muwazir serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Islamic Management and Finance at the Academy of Islamic Studies, Universiti Malaya. He earned his Ph.D. from Cardiff Business School, United Kingdom, in 2012, and obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Science Research Methods from Cardiff University in 2007. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Shariah (Shariah & Management) in 2003 and his Master of Business Administration (Accounting) in 2006, both from Universiti Malaya. Dr. Mohd Rizal’s research interests encompass Islamic banking and finance, Shariah auditing and governance, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and financial sustainability. He currently serves as a Shariah Committee Member at OCBC Al-Amin Bank Berhad and Great Eastern Takaful Berhad. In addition, he is a research team member at the Gulf One Lab for Computational and Economic Research (GOLCER), Lancaster University Management School, United Kingdom. Beyond his academic and professional commitments, Dr. Mohd Rizal also serves on the editorial boards of several local and international journals, including the Online Journal of Islamic Management and Finance (Universiti Malaya), Jurnal Kinabalu (Universiti Malaysia Sabah), and El Muhasaba: Jurnal Akuntansi (Indonesia). He is furthermore a certified Halal Executive, accredited by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM).