Congratulations and Thank You!

The First National Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Scientific Meeting was a great success, attended by an unprecedented number of participants, 123 for the 2-day event (29-30 August 2006) and 325 for the half-day Students-Teacher Program. The meeting kicked off with high spirits as Professor Dr Eng Hin Lee, the Head of Orthopaedic Surgery and Director of the Division of Graduate Medical Studies, National University of Singapore, delivered an exciting plenary lecture entitled ‘Cell-Based Therapy in Orthopaedic Surgery’. With 4 international and 9 local invited speakers, and 20 free paper presentations, the meeting content was compact yet comprehensive, covering a wide range of disciplines including orthopaedic, plastic and general surgery, otorhinolaryngology, dentistry, biomaterials, bioreactor and natural products.

An innovative session, the ‘Students-Teacher Program’, was incorporated in the meeting as part of the education outreach mission of TESMA. It provided varsity students an excellent opportunity to gain first hand knowledge from doctorate and PhD candidates who were actively pursuing research in the field of tissue engineering, covering projects involving cartilage, bone, skin and cornea regeneration.

Central to this meeting is the emphasis on the translation of research discoveries to clinical applications, in line with its theme ‘Clinical Translations’. Thus, many speakers had shared their valuable clinical trial experiences. Especially worth mentioning are the lectures by two entrepreneurs from the corporate end. Dr Gary D Shipley from Cascade Biologics, drawing from his own experience in commercialization of animal product-free culture products, gave an honest and realistic approach to bringing research products into a new market while Dr Aw Tar Choon from StemLife Sdn Bhd gave a vivid perspective of the emerging applications of blood stem cells therapy rationalizing stem cell banking as a lucrative industry.

Finally, an intellectually rigorous panel discussion on issues pertaining to clinical translations of research products such as meeting the GMP facility requirement marked a wonderful conclusion for the meeting.

By virtue of the small community, an intimate and collegial atmosphere could be felt throughout the meeting, and heightened during the social dinner at the Seafood Restaurant, Tasik Titiwangsa, Kuala Lumpur. Nothing could be more satisfying than to see the close interaction and friendly exchanges among the attendees and the experts assembled. The Society is grateful to the numerous sponsors for this event including the Medical Faculty of National University of Malaysia, the Hospital of National University of Malaysia, and especially worth mentioning, TMS Sdn Bhd and Stemlife Sdn Bhd for each sponsoring a talk and the lunches over the 2 days.

It is our hope that this success will be an impetus for TESMA to continue forge ahead and serve this growing community. Aimed at holding the event bi-annually, the 2nd NTERMS will tentatively be held in August 2008. Mark your calendar today!

Congratulations to the three winners of best poster presentation awards

Lynette C, Hamizah A, Aminuddin BS , Mazlyzam AL, Angela Ng MH, Ruszymah BHI. Evaluation Of Telomerase Activity In Cultured Dermal Fibroblast And Keratinocytes In Vitro. Poster presentation. 1st National Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Scientific Meeting. ‘Clinical Translation’. 29th - 30th August 2006 Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur [BEST POSTER PRESENTER - 1ST PRIZE]

Phang MY, Angela Ng MH, Naseem M, Aminuddin BS, Asmah R, Ruszymah BHI, Fauziah O. Surface Morphological Changes Of Seeded Cells And Matrix Within The Biomaterial In The Presence Of Fibrin. Poster presentation. 1st National Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Scientific Meeting. ‘Clinical Translation’. 29th - 30th August 2006 Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur [BEST POSTER PRESENTER - 2ND PRIZE]

Norzana AG, Ropilah AR, Jemaima CH, Chua KH, Mazlyzam AL, Isa MR, Fauziah O, Siti Nor Ain B, Aminuddin BS, Ruszymah BHI. Ex-Vivo Serial Expansion Of Rabbit Corneal Epithelial Cells In Serum-Free And Feeder Layer-Free Culture System. Poster presentation. 1st National Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Scientific Meeting. ‘Clinical Translation’. 29th - 30th August 2006 Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur [BEST POSTER PRESENTER - 3RD PRIZE]