Professor Dr. Chua Kek Heng is an accomplished senior professor and Head of the Department of Biomedical Science at the University of Malaya. His research expertise spans a broad range of topics including disease polymorphism, mutation investigation, bacterial virulence factor characterization, and diagnostic kit development. Professor Chua's commitment and hard work have led to over 200 original publications, making significant contributions to science and technology. His research has not only led to novel scientific innovations but has also improved our understanding of human disease and its associations with genetic factors and microorganisms. As a mentor and educator, Professor Chua is dedicated to training and preparing his younger staff, colleagues, and students to excel in biological research, building the next generation of scientific leaders. One of Professor Chua's significant achievements is his contribution to the study of genotyping of diseases, which has resulted in the successful mapping of important disease-predisposing markers for systemic lupus erythematosus, Crohn’s disease, and retinopathy in the Malaysian population. These findings have helped predict disease development and allow for early preventive measures. His research has also led to the development of innovative approaches, tests, and kits that allow for more cost-effective, rapid, sensitive, and specific detection and confirmation of human diseases and microbial infections. Professor Chua's efforts have been recognized at the national and international levels, with over 1500 intellectual properties, including national and international patents, trademarks, and copyrights. One of his most successful inventions is the PlasmoNex diagnostic kit for malaria, which was developed in 2011. This kit is the world's first PCR-based malaria detection system that can detect all five different species of Plasmodium (malaria parasites) in a single test. In addition to his research accomplishments, Professor Chua is also an active member of several national committees and panels, evaluating numerous grants and projects, and organizing national and international workshops to train young Malaysian researchers in molecular "bench" skills. He has delivered over a hundred presentations at various seminars, expositions, and conferences and has acted as a reviewer for many ISI (WOS) publications and international grants in his field. Professor Chua has represented the University of Malaya in numerous national and international exhibitions and competitions, receiving over 100 prestigious national and international awards, including the MTSF Science and Technology Award 2022, Biotechnology Asia Award 2005, Best Invention in Biotechnology Award 2006, USA INPEX Grand Prix Award 2008, National Intellectual Property Award 2013, World Halal Excellent Innovation Award 2013, and Top Research Scientist Malaysia 2017. He has also received recognition for his contributions to academic service and teaching, including the Excellent Lecturer Award in 2014 and Best Lecturer for Biomedical Science Teaching 2017. Overall, Professor Chua's tireless dedication to scientific research, mentorship, and innovation has resulted in significant advancements in disease detection and prevention, making him an outstanding scientist and an inspiration to the scientific community.

Hazlee Azil Illias was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He received Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Universiti Malaya, Malaysia in 2006. He immediately joined Freescale Semiconductors (M) Sdn. Bhd. as a product engineer before pursuing his PhD studies in 2008. He obtained PhD Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southampton, United Kingdom in 2011. He was a Senior Lecturer from 2011 to 2016 and an Associate Professor from 2016 to 2024 at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Malaya. Currently, he is a Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Malaya. Since joining the Universiti Malaya, he has received funding and grants of nearly RM 3 million (~USD 0.7 million), published more than 70 journal papers in ISI-indexed publications and 70 refereed conference papers and successfully supervised to completion of 13 PhD, 6 Master's Degree by research and 27 Master's Degree project (by coursework) candidates. He is currently an Associate Editor of IET Science Measurement and Technology (since 2019), the Head of Universiti Malaya High Voltage Laboratory and Research Group (since 2011) and the Counselor of IEEE Universiti Malaya Student Branch (since 2018). His current management post at the Universiti Malaya is the Director of Corporate Ranking Centre (CRC) under Associate Vice Chancellor (Corporate Strategy). He was the Head of Department of Electrical Engineering from September 2013 to July 2014 and the Secretary of IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society (DEIS) Malaysia Chapter from 2015 to 2019. He is now a Senior Member of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), Fellow of IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology), Corporate Member of IEM (Institution of Engineers Malaysia), a registered Chartered Engineer (C.Eng UK) and a Professional Engineer (P.Eng Mal). He is an active reviewer for numerous high-quality journals, which include publishers from IEEE, IET, Elsevier and IOP. His main research interests include modelling and measurement of partial discharge phenomena in solid dielectric insulation, condition monitoring, insulation system diagnosis, lightning overvoltage, transmission line modelling, optimisation methods and artificial intelligence techniques.  

I am a researcher in human genetics specialising in copy number variations (CNVs) and the impacts of such genetic variations in human health. I am equipped with a comprehensive research background which include biotechnology (BSc), human molecular genetics, population genetics, genomics, cytogenetics, molecular and cellular biology, bioinformatics, high-performance computing and biostatistics (MSc, PhD). My aim is always to promote wellness and lifestyle solutions through scientifically-driven values and tools in providing personalised disease screenings, therapeutics and preventive strategies, specifically using structural genomic variations (and other genetic variations) as potential therapeutic and screening targets for non-communicable diseases, also known as NCDs (i.e. cancer, obesity, diabetes). As an educator, I always believe in the importance of education to create long-lasting awareness in health.  Specifically, I am interested to investigate differential patterns of structural genomic variations in order to identify the plausible causes, or origins of NCDs in our Malaysian population. I am fascinated by the diversity of our ethnic composition and intrigued to see the genetic patterns of such diverse background. Given the opportunity and the right collaborations, it is hoped that together, we could delineate the genomic architecture of our unique population, which could eventually provide more informative data that are beneficial in our fight against such diseases. My previous work thus far has involved the integration of various bioinformatics components in genetic analytics, and I would like to continue doing so since big data technology is becoming a norm in current and future biological scientific research.