JCSMHS Year 5 Student Publishes in Q1 (Top 10%) Journal

August 2020

We are proud to announce that our Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences (JCSMHS) year 5 medical student, Chew Siang Siang, has successfully published her Scholarly Intensive Placement (SIP) project in a Q1, Top 10% journal Cancers with impact factor of 6.126 as the first author. The article entitled "Targeting Gut Microbial Biofilms—A Key to Hinder Colon Carcinogenesis?" (https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/12/8/2272#). The article provides vital insights on various strategies that target microbial pathogenic biofilms and could potentially play a role in the prevention of colorectal cancer,  which includes the use of natural products, silver nanoparticles, upconverting nanoparticles, thiosalicylate complexes, anti-rheumatic agent (Auranofin), probiotics and quorum-sensing inhibitors.

“The complexity of medicine and having the privilege of being able to provide help and care to people when they’re most vulnerable is what drew me to medicine,” Chew shared. For the past 5 years, Chew Siang Siang has focused on striving academically and getting involved in extracurricular activities, such as being the president of Malaysian Medics International Malaysia. “Research has always been a point of interest that I never had the time or opportunity to fully immerse in,” Chew confessed. She went on saying, “This is why I truly appreciate the SIP unit. It has opened a whole new door of opportunity for me and I have learned so much throughout this rotation.” Chew explained that not only she has gained more in-depth knowledge from the specific area of her writing, SIP project has also enabled her to be more appreciative toward the value and importance of research as a whole.

She was supervised by Assoc Prof Dr Lee Learn Han (primary supervisor) and Dr Tan Loh Teng Hern (nominee supervisor), and also mentored by other faculty members (Dr Priyia Pusparajah, Dr Jodi Law Woan-Fei and Dr Nurul Syakima Ab Mutalib). Being the leader of Microbiome and Bioresource Research Strength (MBRS), Assoc. Prof. Dr Lee founded the research strength in 2018 that consists of multidisciplinary and highly skilled researchers working in the interface of medicine, biomedicine, molecular biology and medical microbiology. MBRS was formed in line with JCSMHS’s aspiration to champion microbiome research by increasing the school’s research output for publications, international collaborations, and research grants applications.