Dr. Wahib M. Atroosh, hailing from Yemen, is a senior lecturer in the Department of Parasitology at Universiti Malaya (UM), where he has been a faculty member since 2019. He began his academic journey in the same department, completing his Master's degree in 2012, and subsequently pursued a PhD, which he earned with Distinction in 2017. Dr. Wahib's research focuses primarily on Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for the majority of severe malaria cases and deaths in humans, known for its high mortality rate and increasing resistance to antimalarial drugs. His expertise includes monitoring antimalarial drug resistance through in vivo clinical trials and the application of molecular gene markers of drug resistance. In addition to his primary research on malaria, Dr. Wahib collaborates with local and international research teams, including partnerships with the Medical Research Center at Jazan University in Saudi Arabia, the School of Biological Science at Universiti Sains Malaysia, and the College of Health Sciences, Nigeria. These collaborations explore the epidemiology, genotyping, and molecular characterisation of antimalarial drug resistance in P. falciparum isolates from both Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. Dr. Wahib's contributions to the field of parasitology extend to other areas, including research on leishmaniasis, intestinal protozoa, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminths (STH), and parasite-related health education programs. Dr. Wahib has also been involved in developing a novel gene marker aimed at differentiating P. falciparum isolates, enhancing the correctness of the malaria therapeutic efficacy studies outcome. Throughout his career at UM, Dr. Wahib has successfully secured internal and external research grants and contributed to 46 publications in indexed journals with an h-index of 21 and a total of 1,845 citations. He was also awarded the Universiti Malaya Excellent Service Award (APC) for the year 2023. Dr. Wahib actively contributes to the academic community as a member of scientific and technical committees and serves as a judge at international conferences. He is also a peer reviewer for several esteemed journals, including Scientific Reports, PLoS ONE, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Parasites & Vectors, Malaria Journal, Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, BMC Medicine, Pathogens and Global Health, and Tropical Biomedicine. His involvement in these roles underscores his commitment to advancing research and fostering collaboration in the field of parasitology.

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.

Dr. Goh Boon Tong is a professor in the Department of Physics, Universiti Malaya, where currently serves as the Deputy Dean, Institute for Advanced Studies and the Deputy Head of the Low Dimensional Materials Research Center. He earned his PhD in 2012 with a thesis titled “Layer-by-Layer Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition of Nanocrystalline Silicon Thin Films”. His primary research interests focus on the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials, including one-dimensional structures (nanowires, nanotubes, and nanorods), two-dimensional materials (graphene and metal carbides), and metallic nanoparticles. Dr. Goh has obtained numerous prestigious awards, both locally and internationally. These include the MASS 2001 Awards (Best Thesis Awards for Final Year Project of Undergraduate Science) from MASS Malaysia, the Excellence Award 2012 (for PhD candidates with the highest impact publications in the sciences) from the Universiti Malaya, the Newton Advanced Fellowship 2016, the Outstanding Researcher in Materials under the Science Discipline Award from the Venus International Foundation, the 2020 Top Research Scientists Malaysia (TRSM) Award from the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, as well as several conference awards. He has secured many local and international research grants and holds 6 filed patents. Dr. Goh also has been appointed to various academic and professional roles, including adjunct professor, visiting professor, visiting scientist, session chair at international conferences, editorial members and associate editors of journals, PhD thesis examiners by universities worldwide. To date, he has published over 235 peer-reviewed papers, with a total of nearly 3, 400 citations (h-index = 30) according to Google Scholar, and more than 156 refereed papers with nearly 2, 600 citations (h-index = 26) according to Publons Web of Science.