Speaker

Teo Swee Sen

Biography :

Dr Teo Swee Sen, graduated from Universiti Putra Malaysia with Bachelor of Science with Honour in Biology in 2001. Immediately after graduation she was involved in Project on Aquatic Resource and Environmental Studies of the Straits of Malacca at Universiti Putra Malaysia, a collaboration project with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) studying and cataloguing local mudskipper species under supervision of Prof Dr Akito Kawamura and Prof Dr. Iwata. She then left the project to pursue her studies in Master of Science in Genetic Engineering and Molecular Biology (April 2002 – December 2004) specializing in Developing and Analysing Expressed Sequence Tags from Gracilaria changii, one of the more abundant agarophytic seaweeds found in Malaysia, for functional genomics studies. She succeeded in generating a library of gene sequences of the seaweed species in relation to studies the seaweed species defence mechanism towards the impact of external environmental changes in its natural habitat. In December 2004, she was awarded the Master of Science Degree in fulfilment of the requirement of her studies. Dr Teo Swee Sen proceeds to pursue higher degree of learning and enrolled for Doctor of Philosophy immediately after her Master graduation. Under the supervision of Professor Dr Ho Chai Ling from Universiti Putra Malaysia and Professor Dr Phang Siew Moi of Universiti Malaya, Dr Teo Swee Sen continue to gather more scientific data from the similar red seaweed species that she was working with during her previous studies. She succeeded in isolating differentially expressed genes from Gracilaria changii in response to salinity stress. Beside salinity stress, she also studies the impact of temperature and light intensity changes as well as pollutants presence towards seaweeds as secondary research. Other than that she has managed to cultivate the seaweed species under artificial environment, which replicate the natural habitat to facilitate for her primary studies. In Jun 2010, she was awarded Doctor of Philosophy in Genetic Engineering and Molecular Biology for her fulfilment of her research requirements. Dr Teo Swee Sen then join UCSI University as a Lecturer (May 2008 – July 2013) in the Faculty of Applied Science, teaching mainly biotechnology subjects to the under graduate students of the course while actively involved in seaweed research during her free time. As an Assoc Professor (Jan 2017 – Present), she is exploring the potential of several species of seaweeds in biomedical research. Among the cores of her expertise, she is interested in pursuing further research on seaweed natural habitats in order to facilitate the growing demands of commercial usage while retaining and preserving the natural stocks for the protection of the ecosystems that involves. Currently she is interested to participate in the project more related to sustainable development to support to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) especially on “Sustainable Cities and Communities” (SDGs 11) and “Life below water” (SDG14).