Sarawak delegation visits South Korea’s biomedical company, research institutes

KUCHING (Dec 5): A delegation from Sarawak visited South Korea’s biomedical company and research institutes yesterday to establish research and development partnerships.

A press release from Ministry of Education, Innovation and Talent Development (MEITD) said Sarawak Research and Development Council (SRDC) general manager Assoc Prof Ivan Yap Kok Seng led the visit to Bioneer Korea and the Institute for Basic Science Korea.

They were welcomed on arrival by Bioneer founder Dr Park Han-Oh and his senior management team.

Yap, who is also Sarawak Infectious Disease Centre chief executive officer (CEO), and the rest of the Sarawak’s delegation discussed with their Korean counterparts on collaboration and partnership in the area of molecular diagnostic.

They also discussed on co-development of new diagnostics for infectious diseases relevant to Sarawak and the region, with a potential to start collaborative work in 2024.

Later, the delegation also visited the Institute for Basic Science. On hand to receive the delegation was Dr Koo Bon-Kyuong, Director for the Center for Genome Engineering and his team.

They discussed on collaboration in the area of virology including fundamental mechanistic study, establishing CRISPR technology capability in SIDC and human capital development including internship programs that allow staff/students from Sarawak to be attached at the Institute for internship for up to 12 months.

Accompanying Yap during the visits were Sarawak General Hospital’s Clinical Research Centre director Prof Alan Fong, CEO of Sarawak Biodiversity Centre Datu Dr Charlie Yeo, Prof Dato Dr Andrew Kiyu from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and Prof Patrick Then from Swinburne University Sarawak.

The delegation is part of the MEITD’s visit to South Korea to establish collaboration and partnership in biomedical and pharmaceutical research and development.