Congratulations to our winners!

The Asia Life Science Council announced the winners of the 1st Annual Asian Science Essay Competition today. The purpose of the competition was to solicit thought-provoking essays on the current state of life science research in Asia. Essays were judged on both style and content, including quality of analysis, origininality, and quality of writing.

Please click the titles below to read the complete article. PLEASE do discuss the essays in the forum!

First Prize: Science at the Service of Society: Using Forensics to Teach Students the Value of Science
Maria Corazon A. De Ungria, PhD, DNA Analysis Laboratory, Natural Sciences Research Institute, University of the Philippines

Science and technology are potent tools that can be utilized to aid and accelerate the economic development of a country. The Philippines has the potential to take the lead in many scientific endeavors due to the richness of its natural resources and acknowledged biodiversity as well as a culture that promotes creativity and inventiveness in dealing with everyday life. In fact, a Filipino scientist was awarded a prestigious ASEAN scientist award for his brillant work in Physics while other Filipinos have won various international scientific competitions. However, the Philippines continues to lag behind other Asian countries in realizing its full potential as a leader in the scientific and technological field. The outward migration of many science graduates to other countries to seek better ‘opportunities’ for themselves and their families, have further aggravated the situation. Why is this the case? (read more by clicking the title)

2nd Place: The Necessity for Studies on Biodiversity
Soon Guan Tan, Ph. D, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences Universiti Putra Malaysia

The world's biodiversity is not distributed uniformly throughout the globe. Some areas such as the tropical rainforests, seas and coral reefs teem with the varieties of life whereas others such as some deserts and polar regions are almost devoid of them (Gaston, 2000). The countries of Southeast Asia with their tropical jungles and seas, are rich with biodiversity. However, with the rapid pace of development globally, every day species are becoming extinct sometimes without us even knowing that they had ever existed. Even in a developed country such as the USA, one third of her plant and animal species are at risk of extinction (McCann, 2000). Hence, taxonomic and biosystematic studies of Southeast Asian plants, animals and microbes should be priority areas. So should studies on their genetics, reproductive biology, life cycles, physiology, feeding habits, migration patterns, predators and their sensitivities to environmental changes. (read more by clicking the title)

3rd Place: Some Thoughts About the Quality of the Published Literature in the Biomedical Journals
Ahmed Ibrahim Fathelrahman, Ph. D candidate, The National Poison Center, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Malaysia

Nowadays, the number of the published articles in the biomedical journals is increasing in a dramatic manner due to the increase in the numbers of journals and publishers, ease of access to the literature and the tremendous increase in the research performed in various fields. For example there were only 3000 articles related to tobacco research been identified to be published during two decades from 1975 to 1994, and within the next five years (1995- 1999) this number was almost doubled (Doering, 2002). The number of publications indexed on MEDLINE reporting randomized clinical trials has increased three times from around 35,000 in 1980s to around 93,000 in the 1990s (Ghersi and Dickersin, 2007). The total number of records in the ISSN register has increased by about 40% from the year 2001 to the year 2008 (ISSN International Center, 2009). (read more by clicking the title)

4th Place: Producing the greatest good for greatest numbers - Implementation of utilitarianism principle: The case study of producing recombinant protein of JDV
Endang Tri Margawati, Ph. D, Research Centre for Biotechnology, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences , INDONESIA

Technology develops rapidly in recent years and it affects on the research diversity and implementation to gain the value of research outcomes. We may realize without the advanced technology, people in the world would be suffered by hunger. However, at the same time researchers also realize that everything resulting from the laboratory should be safe for human and their environment. Therefore, ethical research as a form of researcher's responsibility should arise in every research work. The purpose of this article is to report the recombinant protein research in Jembrana disease virus, to identify the relevant of ethical features to the recombinant protein research as vaccine development and to discuss the integration of utilitarianism principle to vaccine development. (read more by clicking the title)

5th Place: Life Sciences in Asia: a recent graduate's perspective
Kyaw Myo Lwin Frank, B.Sc., Singapore

To get a bird's-eye view of the life sciences in Asia necessitates one to look at the nature of scientific research worldwide. Although several Asian countries have recently embarked on an odyssey of talent recruitment, enhanced research funding support and development of centres of research excellence, biomedical research in the East is, in general, a step behind the Western countries. This begs the question: why? (read more by clicking the title)

Honorable Mention

Are We Really Advancing as We Claim and See?
Thirumulu Ponnuraj Kannan, Ph. D, School of Dental Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia

Future of Education in Asia
Charnwit Kositanont, Ph. D, Assistant professor Charnwit Kositanont, Director of the Inter-department of Environmental Science, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

Are Medical Factors Responsible for Gender Discrepancy in Kidney Transplantation?
Shamima Parvin Lasker, Ph. D, Professor of Anatomy, City Dental College, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Current Status of Korean Biodiversity Management
Jeonghueui Lim (Korea)

Current Perspectives of Life Science Research in Asia
Khalid Masood, National Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, Pakistan

Life Sciences Research in Asia
Swapna Menon, Lecturer in Basic IT and Bioinformatics, Department of Medical Informatics, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Center, Coordinator, Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute, India

SNPs: Where We Differ among Each Other…
Vibhu Prasad, School of Biotechnology, Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, VIT University, India

Current State of Life Science Research in Asia
S. Sudhakaran, Ph. D, Associate Professor & Coordinator, Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied sciences, AIMST University, Malaysia.

Life Sciences: Yes! It’s Happening in Asia
Prashanth Suravajhala, Ph. D, Bioinformatics team, Centre for Development for Advanced computing, India

The Clinical Trials of Deep Brain Stimulation in Developed Countries’ Current Practice
Miyako Takagi, Ph. D, University Research Center, Nihon University, Japan

Perspective on Current State of Life Science Rresearch in Asia
Iftikhar Aslam Tayubi PhD Scholar at VIT University, currently working on Computational Biology, India

Wu Wei of Tao and Mindful Meditation to save Nature in the 21st Century
Chutatip Umavjiani, Liberal Arts, Philosophy and Religion Department, Thammasat University, Thailand