First ever visit by Universiti Malaya key collaborator to MECOH Lab

​Building upon the connections made from the visit to Universiti Malaya last year, Dr. YiYou Wong, made an opportune visit to MECOH lab from Feb 1 to Feb 29. The objective of her visit is in long-term professional development and capacity building. Where critical technical skills, resources, and facilities were kindly provided by various individuals from the Center of Marine Environmental Studies (CMES), such as bioinformatic analyses for metagenome and High-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) optimization for water samples for future projects. 

Throughout the month of February, Dr. YiYou engaged in the rigorous exploration of research methodologies. She had acquired and internalized specialized skills necessary for impactful contributions to her field of research. Her efforts yielded tangible results through collaborations with Prof. Anwar Hossain, Assoc. Prof. Rumi Tanoue and Ngure Kagia. 

Pictured left: Prof. Anwar and Assoc. Prof. Rumi meeting Dr. YiYou. Center: Ngure Kagia guiding YiYou on using bioinformatics remotely. Right: Assoc. Prof. Rumi showing the capabilities of the HPLC-MS machine.

​While in Japan, she capitalized her visit by immersing herself in Japanese culture along with Thufail, another visitor from Indonesia and Dr. Divina Amalin, Dr. Ana Karen Laserna, and Kris Lord Santos from the Philippines.

​"Everybody is extremely friendly and kind, they taught me a whole lot, from pieces of scientific knowledge to different cultural norms. Importantly, they welcomed me like an old friend."

- YiYou   

MECOH believes in knowledge dissemination and technology exchange in meaningful ways. We hope that the knowledge that was passed-on will lead to the collective advancement of Dr. YiYou's peers and the broader research community. Hopefully, in the form of a Collaborative Research Laboratory (ICRL) materializing in the future.