We would like to welcome Dr Anant Sumita Ananthakrishnan who joined OLS as a Safety and Health Officer on 10 September 2007 . She has replaced Ms Poon Yoke Yin who has since left the University service.
We would also like to welcome Mr Clement Chua Chiang Lin who joined Neurobiology Programme as a Lab Manager on 17 September 2007.
OLS organized a special Fire Safety Training held on 19 September 2007 at the CeLS Auditorium. 90 participants took part in the training for staff and students who are attached to the various research programmes in CeLS. This course was conducted with the help of the Office of Safety, Health and Environment, to enhance safety awareness amongst staff and students.
A participant putting out a fire in a mock fire drill.
OLS will be organizing a safety course for undergraduate students who work in the labs at CeLS on 12 October 2007 between 1.00pm – 5.00 pm at the CeLS Auditorium. Typically undergrads have little experience of research labs. The course therefore aims to provide a general overview on safety with focus on laboratory safety aspects such as chemical, biological, radiation and fire safety. They will learn about the legislative requirements in Singapore and NUS and CeLS-specific guidelines they must follow while at work. They will also learn how to handle emergency situations like spills that may occur in their labs.
Below are the details:
CeLS Safety Course for Undergraduate Students
October 12, 2007
CeLS Auditorium-Level 1
1.00pm – 5.00 pm
Course Objective
The Centre for Life Sciences (CeLS) is committed to providing a safe working and learning environment for all its occupants. This course is therefore designed to enable undergraduate students who work at CeLS to increase their awareness of safe work practices and adopt measures that will improve the safety of their workplace. The course will include legislative requirements, NUS guidelines and CeLS-specific procedures.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Programme
1.00pm – 1.30pm : General safety practices – Sumita Anant
1.30pm – 2.00pm : Fire safety and emergency evacuation – Arnel Zornosa
2.00pm – 2.50pm : Biological safety – Sumita Anant
2.50pm – 3-10pm : Break
3.10pm – 4.00pm : Chemical Safety – Viji Vijayan
4.00pm – 5.00pm : Radiation safety – Viji Vijayan
Course instructors
Dr. Viji Vijayan
Email: olsvv@nus.edu.sg
Phone: 65167003
Dr. Sumita Anant
Email: olsasa@nus.edu.sg
Phone: 65167543
Mr Arnel Zornosa
Email: olszab@nus.edu.sg
Phone: 65166752
The Mechanobiology Workshop 2007 brings together experts from multiple disciplines to define how the mechanical factors, force and geometry, in addition to biochemical stimuli control biological form, cell growth and differentiation. Using nanotechnology, molecular and cell biology, biophysics and computational biology, the basic mechanosensing and mechanotransduction functional modules used by cells can be understood at the nanometer (molecular) and piconewton level.
These processes underlie cellular mechanical functions that are critical in normal and disease states such as cancer and bacterial pathogenesis. For more information and registration, please visit webpage at ols.nus.edu.sg/mechanobiology2007. Registration is free.
Office of Life Sciences, NUS and Baden Württemberg Universities will be jointly organizing the NUS-Baden Württemberg Joint Scientific Conference in Life Sciences. The Conference will be held at the CeLS Auditorium on 29 and 30 October 2007. Please visit the webpage at ols.nus.edu.sg/nus_badenwurttemberg for more details as well as to register. Registration is free.
The Tohoku University Global COE Programme “Global Nano-Biomedical Engineering Education and Research Network Centre” and the Division of Bioengineering, National University of Singapore will co-organize the 3rd Tohoku-NUS Joint Symposium on Nano-Biomedical Engineering in the East Asian-Pacific Rim Region (4th International Symposium of Tohoku University Global COE Programme “Global Nano-Biomedical Engineering Education & Research Network Centre”). This is a continuation of the last symposium held in December 2006 in Singapore.
As two of the leading universities for bioengineering and nano-medicine in Asia, we would like to construct a longstanding collaboration between our two institutions; co-organize various activities including this joint symposium. Subjects are focused on biomechanics, bioimaging, biodevices and biointervention but any other related topics are also welcomed. Young investigators of both universities are strongly encouraged to present their ongoing work. [READ MORE]
OLS Distinguished Lecture Series
On 11 September 2007, Dr Zheng-Gang Liu from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, USA was our OLS Distinguished Lecture speaker.
Dr Zheng-gang Liu from the National Institutes of Health, USA.
AALAS Seminar
Laboratory Animals Centre (LAC), in conjunction with the Singapore Association for Laboratory Animal Science (SALAS), hosted an evening seminar session on 28 August at CeLS for two Office Bearers of the American Association for Laboratory Animals Science (AALAS). Dr Ann Turner, Executive Director, and Dr Nicole Duffee, Director, Education and Scientific Affairs, spoke on: “Inside AALAS: Programs, Services and Products – overview of all programs offered by AALAS, including the potential Biosafety certification”, and “The AALAS Learning Library and How to Get the Most from It”, respectively.
Dr Nicole Duffee and Dr Ann Turner
(4th and 5th from left) with LAC and
CARE staff.
Attended by about 60 people involved in laboratory animal science throughout Singapore, the session provided insights on how to obtain continuing education through AALAS. Outside of North America, Singapore has the largest number of AALAS-certified laboratory animal technicians. And more than half are from NUS.
Earlier in the day, Drs Ann and Nicole also visited the Centre for Animal Resources (CARE), and on campus animal research facilities to get an insight on the standard of laboratory animal care at NUS. They were impressed with what Singapore has achieved over the last 5 years in the field of laboratory animal science.
OLS/NUS-COE/Tohoku University Joint Symposium
This is the first joint symposium between the NUS Office of Life Sciences and the Tohoku University’s Centre of Excellence, and is the culmination of discussions which began last year between Professors Yoshiaki Ito and Kazuo Sugamura.
Prof Kazuo Sugamura, Dean, Tohoku
University Graduate Medical School
Both universities have much in common. They began in the early 1900s within 2 years of each other. NUS started from a modest medical school in 1905 while Tohoku University was founded in 1907 as the third imperial university, during the period when Japan had begun to transform itself into a modernized society. Since then, both have played a leading role in research and education in their respective countries, and both are now ranked among the top universities in the Asia-Pacific region.
The joint symposium brought together scientists and researchers from Singapore and Japan for an exciting exchange of scientific ideas and will hopefully lead to the inevitable building of multiple bridges between the two countries. The programme spanned a gamut of topics from immunology to stem cells linking basic to clinical and translational science with a total of 11 speakers, who are some of the best in their fields.
The joint symposium involved both the OLS’ Immunology and Cancer programmes as well as participation of research collaborators in A*Star institutes; the Genome Insitute of Singapore and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology. This is illustrative of the strong ties and interactions between Singapore’s two major centres of life science research. Joint symposiums of this nature serve both universities well especially when there is common interest on both sides to come together in the exploration of good science.