Dr. Lim Siew Huah is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Malaya (UM), where she specializes in Natural Products Chemistry and Bioorganic Chemistry. She earned her Ph.D. (2013), M.Sc. (2007), and B.Sc. (Hons.) (2004) from UM, and her research focuses on isolating and studying bioactive compounds from Malaysian plants, particularly alkaloids, for potential applications in health sciences and biotechnology. Dr. Lim has extensive experience in teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate students and has been actively involved in curriculum development. She teaches courses in organic chemistry and molecular spectroscopy, incorporating contemporary research findings into her teaching. She previously served as the Undergraduate Program Coordinator for the B.Sc. Chemistry program, where she oversaw academic planning and program improvements. In addition to lecturing, she supervises final-year undergraduate research projects (FYP) and mentors MSc and PhD students in organic and natural products chemistry, guiding them in phytochemical investigations and structural elucidation of bioactive compounds. Her research focuses on natural products chemistry, particularly the isolation, structural elucidation, and spectroscopic characterization of plant-derived secondary metabolites. She specializes in the study of alkaloids, employing advanced spectroscopic techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry to determine the structures of complex natural compounds. Her work extends to the chemical modification of natural products to understand their structure-activity relationships and enhance their potential applications. Her research explores the diverse flora of Malaysia to uncover bioactive natural compounds with potential therapeutic relevance. Investigations include the structural modification of natural products to explore their chemical properties and interactions, particularly in cancer-related studies, skin brightening effects, and other health-related applications. Through her work, she contributes to the advancement of natural products chemistry and its role in biomedical research.

Dr. Sharifah Aishah Osman is an Associate Professor at the Department of English,   Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Malaya. She holds a PhD in English Literature from Boston University, U.S.A. Her areas of expertise are Children’s and Young Adult Literature in Malaysia, and Nineteenth-century British Literature. She also has research interests in women’s writings, feminist youth literature, and folklore studies. She has published in all these fields, both in edited books, as well as in international journals such as Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature, Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, and Southeast Asian Review of English (SARE). She has presented numerous papers in international conferences, where she often promotes the works of authors of youth literature from Malaysia. She also serves as peer reviewer for a number of international journals, two of which are Scopus-indexed. Her current research projects examine the role of feminist folktales and folk tale adaptations in Malaysian youth literature. She welcomes research students working on any aspect of youth literature (especially in Asia), as well as British women's writings from the nineteenth-century.     

Prof. Dr. Subha Bhassu is currently an academician at the Institute of Biological Sciences, with 24 years of experience teaching across various programs. She has developed numerous course structures aligned with the Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF) for the University of Malaya (2008–2015) and INTI University College (2000–2004). Additionally, she served as a moderator for Biotechnology courses at INTI University College from 2008 to 2015, MAHSA University, International Medical University ( Biomed Programs) and other universities. Furthermore, she is a member of the International Biosafety Committee (IBC) at the University of Malaya and serves as an auditor for the Enforcement Committee for Biosafety under the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (2014–present). Her passion for research ignited during her second year of undergraduate studies when she realized the challenges and excitement research could offer, which continues to inspire her to this day. Since starting her PhD program in 1996, she has built a global network of research collaborations, mentors, and friends. Her experiences as a student instilled in her the belief that thinking outside the box is crucial in research. While knowledge and research grants are essential, she emphasizes that the two most important elements are love and selfless service, which guide her research to benefit students, universities, communities, industries, the country, and global society. To date, Prof. Subha has supervised 25 PhD students and 25 master’s students to completion and is currently mentoring eight PhD students and five master’s students. She has also guided 50 undergraduate students to completion. Her research output includes over 100 ISI publications, three book chapters,two books, three national patents, and two international patents. She serves as a reviewer for several journals, including PLOS ONE, GENE, META GENE, Aquaculture, Aquaculture Research, and Genomics. Her future research endeavours will continue to prioritize ethics and integrity as she advances her work in the aquatic sciences, employing multidisciplinary approaches. She aims to inspire the scientific community with thought-provoking ideas that align with global needs and foster harmony in the minds, hearts, and souls of humanity. As for research excellence, Professor Dr. Subha Bhassu holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Science (Honors) from UKM and a PhD in Molecular Biology from UPM, specializing in Molecular, Population, and Quantitative Genetics. Her primary research interest is in the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health, a field termed Halo Genomics. This area of study emphasizes the One Health concept within biomedical, agricultural, and environmental contexts. Dr. Bhassu’s expertise spans various aspects of biology, from cellular mechanisms to phenotypic expressions, with a particular focus on aquatic animals as model organisms for exploring host-pathogen-environment interactions. In her research, genomics and molecular biology serve as tools to address challenges related to disease, nutrition, and environmental factors. She aims to deepen our understanding of genetics and its role in phenotypic expression, as well as gene-gene interactions, to provide insights into the relationships among aquatic hosts, pathogens, and their environments. Her research applies genomics, transcriptomics, and molecular biology to develop the innate potential of aquatic species. In her future research, Dr. Bhassu is focusing on the innate immune system, exploring its role in maintaining cellular ecosystem equilibrium. Her team has discovered innate immune biomolecules in shrimp that function before the adaptive immune response is activated. Through this research, she aims to demonstrate how host-pathogen interactions reveal signature immune biomolecules in certain species that have evolved to resist pathogens and coexist with them. These biomolecules' efficiency and specificity can be studied using aptamer technology, while their interactions with pathogens are visualized through spectral flow cytometry, and their abundance is analyzed via single-cell transcriptomics and mRNA expression. This research raises the question: could innate immune biomolecules be harnessed as solutions to disease, similar to gene therapy, for therapeutic applications? As an academic professional, Dr Bhassu has developed numerous course structures in alignment with the Malaysian MQF standards for UM and INTI University College, where she has also served as a course moderator in Biotechnology. She is an associate member of the CEBAR, Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, CRYSTAL, NANOCAT and UM’s Marketing & Recruitment Centre. Additionally, she serves on the International Biosafety Committee at UM and as an auditor for the Biosafety Enforcement Committee under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. She is an associate member of the National Framework on Biosafety and Biosecurity Committee (IBBC) for Health under the Ministry of Public Health. Recently, she was appointed as a Research Fellow at the Malaysian Genome Vaccine Institute, part of the National Institute of Biotechnology Malaysia. Contact details: subhabhassu@um.edu.my