UMBI Celebrates The World DNA Day

On the 25th of April 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the DNA double helix structure. Regarded as one of the most important discoveries in the 20th century, Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962. In commemorating their significant contribution, the DNA Day is celebrated worldwide on April 25th every year. On the 24th of April 2014, UMBI celebrated the World DNA Day for the third year running. In fact, UMBI is the only institution in Malaysia that makes DNA Day as an annual event. We used the DNA Day to connect ourselves with the community and invite secondary school children to spend a day at UMBI and to learn and discover DNA.

This year our guest of honour was the Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Education, Yang Berbahagia Datin Paduka Ir. Dr. Siti Hamisah Tapsir, who was kind enough to make time and officiate the event. In her speech, she lauded and congratulated UMBI and UKM for organising the event and mentioned that this event would stimulate the students to take up science as a career option. The Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation), Professor Dato’ Dr. Mazlin Mokhtar, also attended the opening ceremony. He also congratulated UMBI and is proud to see the many achievements of UMBI and also its engagement with the community through the World DNA Day.

As in previous years, various exciting activities were organized for the students including a hands-on DNA extraction using a fruit and basic household items, making DNA-inspired accessories, a guided tour of UMBI laboratories and also viewing the exhibits. The exhibition booths covered various applications of DNA in life, including in forensic, infectious diseases, immunology and cancer. All these activities were aimed at inspiring the students to become future scientists by seeing for themselves how DNA research and its applications has benefited human beings.

There were a total of 130 students (Form Four students) and 10 teachers from 5 invited schools namely the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seri Tasik, Pusat Permata Pintar Negara UKM, Sekolah Menengah Sains Selangor, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seri Permaisuri and Sekolah Menengah Sains Alam Shah. Despite the drizzle, all the students enthusiastically participated in the activities and they really had fun. XANNONCE The research fellows, the post-graduate students and all the support staff of UMBI were busy helping out, teaching, showing, explaining, demonstrating and interacting with the students.

Knowledge becomes much more meaningful when shared. Our aim was to make the DNA understandable to the students and even to the layperson in the public. The response from the students and the teachers were outstanding. Many voiced their interest to do science and they were fascinated by the wide-ranging applications of DNA in our daily lives. We sincerely hope that this event will lead to the birth of more DNA scientists in the future. Stay tuned for more exciting DNA activities next year.