Working Visit from Minister of Health, YB Datuk Seri Dr. Dzulkefly Ahmad to UMBI
By: Prof. Datuk Dr. A Rahman A Jamal, Senior Principal Research Fellow
It was indeed an honour to host the honourable Minister of Health at the UKM Medical Molecular Biology Institute (UMBI) yesterday. His main aim was to learn more about what UMBI is doing in research and also about The Malaysian Cohort and the Biobank, which is the largest in South-East Asia, and which have become a valuable resource for research in precision medicine.
I informed the minister that the team at UMBI is already doing whole genome sequencing (WGS) on paediatric cancers, colorectal cancer, and also offering WGS/WES for rare cancers and also pre-implantation genetic testing for aneuploidy. We are embarking of the largest microbiome study in Malaysia (3000 samples in 8 different diseases) and will be doing clinical implementation pilots performing WGS on 5000 samples (healthy and diseased). We are also partnering with MiRXES to develop a blood-based test for early detection of colorectal cancer.
The minister agreed that what UMBI has built and achieved is really outstanding and that the Cohort and Biobank should be institutionalised at the national level. With the Cohort big data and largest biobank in the nation, UMBI is well-positioned to play a key role in precision medicine in Malaysia. Thank you Minister!
Relevant links: