‘Matchmaking’ with industry excites interest in research
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia maintains close links with companies and is ready to share its expertise

When Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor became the first Malaysian astronaut last October, it inevitably gave a boost to the profile of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), where he is a trainee orthopaedic surgeon. At the time the university’s Vice-Chancellor joked: “Now, we can say that UKM is not only internationalised but is also in space.”

In fact UKM, the National University of Malaysia, already enjoys a well-established reputation here on earth, where it is one of Malaysia’s four research-intensive universities and also boasts a centre of excellence for genomics and molecular biology.

UKM’s commercial arm, the fully owned private company UKM Holdings, has been in operation since 2001. Under the slogan “We bring UKM expertise to You”, the company provides services ranging from consultancy in various disciplines including environmental services, ICT business and management services to education, food analysis and healthcare.

The university has a Centre for Research Management, Instrumentation and Innovation that is responsible for promoting research products, a process that Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin, UKM’s Vice-Chancellor, refers to as “matchmaking” with industry. “It is important for us to project our image and let the world know what we are doing,” she says. “Because of these activities a lot of companies are coming to us and asking about our research.”

Maintaining close links with industry is fundamental to UKM’s philosophy. Advisory panels have been established for each faculty, with representatives from industry providing input on the curriculum, research and other matters.

“We get a good match and synergy between what we are doing and what they require,” says Dr Sharifah, who in 2006 became the second woman to head a Malaysian public university. “We don’t believe we should produce industry-specific graduates, but we do produce graduates who will have sufficient knowledge and skills to handle the constant changes in the world.”

Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin Vice-Chancellor of UKM

Occupying a garden campus in Bangi, about 20 miles south of Kuala Lumpur, UKM boasts seven research institutes. In the field of biotechnology, the university’s Institute of Systems Biology includes two established centres of excellence: the Centre for Gene Analysis and Technology (CGAT) and the Centre for Plant Biotechnology (CPB), as well as a growing Centre for Bioinformatics Research (CBR). The university is also home to the UKM-MTDC Smart Technology Centre, a joint venture with the Malaysia Technology Development Corporation (MTDC).

UKM collaborates with a number of universities and institutes abroad, including in the UK, Germany, the United States and New Zealand. With Cambridge University, it is working in genome sequencing, plant biotechnology and bio-sensing technology.

The university is licensed by the Ministry of Health to research and market nutritional supplements derived from Malaysian herbs and other plants. “For medical products we are building a Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) certified laboratory so that we can conduct translational research. These are very important early steps before we move on to clinical trials,” says Dr Sharifah.

UKM is also heading the Malaysian Cohort Project (TMC), which will build a comprehensive national resource of data and bio-specimens for use in health research. The massive venture, which is expected to take 10 years to complete, is part of an international collaboration by a consortium of Asia-Pacific countries.

The masterplan for UKM’s development up to 2015 will further strengthen its contribution to the national economy. The blueprint includes a technology park divided into segments specialising in biotechnology engineering and ICT, and a RM15 million (£2.3 million) Edu-Biz park, which will promote entrepreneurship among students.

Dr Sharifah emphasises that UKM takes its mission to educate every bit as seriously as its research activities. “We would like to be taken as a serious player in the area of biotechnology, not just in research but also in the human resources that we are producing,” she says.