THURSDAY, 14th JULY - Laboratory Animal Science Association of Malaysia (LASAM) 16th Annual Gen- eral Meeting was held at Grand Season Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.
47 members attended the AGM. A vote of thanks to those who attended! With a variation of background and expertise, all the members were continuously contribut- ing ideas and suggestion on improving and establishing the association.
LASAM‘s new exco list was announced in the AGM and the mandate will be hold until 2013. Three new faces in the high exco list and also fresh Committee Member and Auditor was elected. With this new line, the President confi- dently felt that the associa- tion will be more dynamic toward fulfilling the objective of the association.
16th Annual General Meeting
LASAM NEWSLETTER
Our association is 16 years this year, how time flies. We have a new executive c o m m i t t e e , elected at our last AGM in July. I believe this group is very dynamic and dedicated and we can expect bet- ter things to come in the near future for the LASAM and of course with strong support from the members.
For the last five years our membership has increased steadily from about 40 to more than 100 today. Just a big number in membership on paper means little.
What we really need is ―active member- ship‖ who will contribute ideas for the betterment of the Association. We also need support from members in making our programmes successful. At our last AGM, for the very first time the atten- dance was slightly over 50. This is very encouraging and I hope future AGMs will see more members attending.
For the next two years the executive committee has planned several activi- ties such as seminars and workshops for the members and interested parties.
Don‘t forget that next year we will have our 4th National Conference on Labora- tory Animal Science (4thNCLAS) and in 2014 the 6th Asian Federation of Labo- ratory Animal Science Association (AFLAS) Congress will be hosted by LASAM and will be in Kuala Lumpur.
So keep surfing the LASAM website for the latest news.
This newsletter is our first and I am sure with the stewardship of our new Editor, Prof. Dr Ruszymah Idrus, it will not be the last. Well done Prof!
Finally, I would like to thank all mem- bers for their support over the years and, I am sure I can depend on your support in the future. Let us all carry LASAM to greater heights in the future.
Warm Regards,
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdul Rahim Mutalib
New line of LASAM Committee discussing and brain storming in the first LASAM Committee meeting.
Honorary President
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdul Rahim Mutalib ([email protected]) Honorary Vice President
Dr. Fuzina Nor Hussein ( [email protected]) Honorary Secretary
Mr. Low Kiat Cheong @ Mike ([email protected]) Honorary Assistant Secretary
Puan Annee Suryani ([email protected]) Honorary Treasurer
Mr. Rahmat Mohd Ali Honorary Assistant Treasurer Dr. Anisah Binti Nordin ([email protected])
Honorary Editor
Prof. Dr. Ruszymah Bt. Hj. Idrus ([email protected]) Committee Member
Dr. John Shia Kwong Siew ([email protected]) Dr. Dorothy Kirubai a/p Simon Devasagayam ([email protected]) Honorary Auditor
Hjh. Mimi Nora Mansor
Dr Nihayah Mohammad ([email protected])
Massage From the President
Volume 1: November 2011 www.medic.ukm/laru/LASAM.htm L A B O R A T O R Y A N I M A L S C I E N C E A S S O C I A T I O N O F M A L A Y S I A
( F O R M E M B E R S O N L Y )
Committee members 2011/2013
P A G E 2
Dr. Gayathri Thevi’s field of specialties is in the study of small animal and comparative oncol- ogy.
Scientific Seminar
THURDAY, 14 July -
Concurrent with the 16th AGM, a Scientific Seminar was held and two speakers were invited.
Dr. Gayathri Thevi from the Faculty of Veterinary Medi- cine, UPM was delighted to deliver a presentation on
―Perspective on Using Ani- mal Models of Cancer to Aid Drug Development Pathway in the OMICS Era‖. It was a very informa- tive talk and we hope Dr.
Gayathri will continue to be with LASAM in the future.
LASAM also invited Mr.
Raymond Tan from Setia Medik to share with all the participants the latest tech- nology available in the mar- ket in relating to the animal laboratory. He introduce a technology whereby all the cleaning activities of animal cages can be done auto- matically.
On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we would like to thanks all the sponsors for their involvement in making this event a suc- cess. The sponsors are Setia Medik Sdn. Bhd., Gaia Science, I-DNA Bio- technology (M) Sdn. Bhd.
and Pet Arcade. It is an honour to have you all side by side with us! Please continue to support us.
Mr. Raymond Tan introduces to the participant his company’s new product.
Setia Medik Sdn. Bhd. staff participating in the event by promoting their products.
Participants giving full attention to the speakers during the Scientific Seminar.
Workshop on ―The Care and Use of Laboratory Rodents and Rabbits in Research‖
TUESDAY, 7th June-
Located at the Institute for Medical Research (IMR), Kuala Lumpur, a three days workshop on the care and use of labora- tory rodents and rabbits in re- search was held. It was a col- laboration between LASAM and Laboratory Animal Resource Unit (LARU), IMR. In total 27 participants joint the workshop and experienced good hands on handling laboratory animal.
Thanks to the committee for organizing an informative work- shop.
Participants of the workshop with the organizing committee. Tired but satisfied!
Workshop on ―Harmonization of the Working of the IACUV/AEC‖
Prof. Dr . Rofina Yasmin shares her view through the eyes of MOSTI on the workshop topic.
Mr. Mike demonstrating the correct technique in handling a lab mice to the participants.
Dr. Fuzina Nor Hussein initiator of the workshop hopes that the event could benefit each others mainly on the ethical issue.
laysia, Department of Veterinary Services, Institute for Medical Research and
Institute for Pharmaceutical and Neutraceutical Malaysia) at- tended the workshop.
The workshop was officiated by the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. The pro- gram started with a presentation by Prof. Dr. Rofina Yasmin Oth- man, Undersecretary, Ministry of Science, Technology and Inno- vation, on the Overview on the role of ACUC/ AEC in animal research – MOSTI‘s perspective.
This was followed by presenta- tions from four institutions, UPM, USM, UKM and Institute for Medical Research on the history as well as the management of the ACUC/ AEC in their institu- tion. After lunch, based on the four functions of the committee,
the participants were di- vided into four groups where each group was given one topic to deliber- ate . Representative from each group were then asked to present the out- come of their deliberations for further discussion by the participants. Outcome of the group deliberations as well as the discussions will be complied and sum- marized into a report by the organizing committee.
A copy of the report will then be distributed to all participants for comments.
The final report will be submitted to all partici- pated Institutions and the Ministry of Science, Tech- nology and Innovation.
MONDAY, 25th July-
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in association with the Laboratory Animal Science Association of Malaysia (LASAM) held a one d a y w o r k s h o p o n t h e
‗Harmonization on the Workings of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) / Animal Ethics Committee (AEC)‘ at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia.
The objective of the workshop was to gather feedback from vari- ous IACUC / AEC in the country on how best to streamline four important functions of the com- mittee which are the evaluation process, inter-institution collabo- ration, training as well as auditing of animal facilities.
A total of 31 participants from 9 institutions (UPM, UKM, USM, UIA, UiTM, Nuklear Agensi Ma
“the objective of the workshop is to gather feedback from various IACUC/AEC in the country”
P A G E 3
The next workshop on ―The Care and Use of Laboratory Rodents and Rabbits in Research‖
fall on the 14th—16th February, 2012 at LARU, UKM. Application form and flier can be access from http:/www.medic.ukm.my/lasam
On behalf of the Organizing Committee, LASAM would like to announce that the 4th Biennal National Conference on Laboratory Animal Science (NCLAS) will be held in 2012. Details of the event are as below:
Chairperson of 4th NCLAS: Dr John Shia Date: 11-12 July 2012
Venue for conference: Concorde Hotel, KL
Pre-conference Workshop: 9-10 July 2012 (venue to be announced) Target participant: Worldwide animal scientist
Fees: LASAM Members RM500 Non-Members RM700
Theme: “Laboratory Animals as Tools for Translational Research”
For more info, please contact Dr John Shia:
[email protected]
DUKE-NUS, Singapore and followed by a practical session later in the evening.
The workshop ended at 5 pm with Dr. Abdul Rahim Mutalib, the Presidents of LASAM pre- senting souvenir to Dr. Bunte as an appreciation from the Committee.
WEDNESDAY, 7th September-
LASAM‘s had successfully organ- ized a one day workshop on Mouse Necropsy. It was held on 7 September at Surgical Skill Labo- ratory, Institute for Medical Re- search (IMR). Fourteen partici- pants from different institutional have registered for the workshop.
The workshop started with a lec- ture session delivered by Assoc.
Prof. Dr. Ralph M. Bunte from Dr. Bunte strictly remind all the participants to re- spect the animals you work with.
Thank you Dr. Bunte for your kindness to come and educate our scientist.
Dr. Bunte personally demonstrate the procedures needed in do- ing an animal operation.
Announcement : Block your calendar!!!
Mouse Necropsy Workshop
P A G E 4
