Hi everyone,

It has been 3 years plus since the last post was up. Not even sure of anyone visits this blog anymore.

Just a random shout out to those who still come here. Take time to reminisce your days as a biotechnology student.

What's the fondest memory you have?

The fondest memory that I have was when all if us walking together in a gang like a bunch of 黑社会! no one dares touch us! Beat that!

Anyways,
Greg out!

What's up?

As the title says.... WHAT'S UP EVERYBODY?

I know I should be sleeping now but as I was doing the usual stalking-ppl-on-fb daily routine of random people before I go to bed, I realized I have sorta "disconnected" from the utarians >_<"

I know it's really common when one asks "how are you" just to start a conversation with a stranger/friend just for the sake of being polite or god-knows-what reasons, but here's a genuine "how are you" to everyone in kiasu spirit.

How are you? How's your new job/course?

Well, here's a lil info bout my current life. Staying in PJ now, working as a biomedical conversion engineer that deals with MRI images and designing knee implants everyday. Is my work stressful? Yes of course it is, but it's more like everyone in my department is stressed due to KPI issue. On the good side, I don't deal with clients/surgeons directly =D

FYP Information + Final Exam Schedule

Just for you to know:

THESIS SUBMISSION

Phase 1: Submission of Thesis for Marking
a. No need to SIGN the approval/declaration form (Hii, 2010) (unless your supervisor said so, though quite rarely).

b. Hand in your thesis by 27th of April, 2010, 5 pm to your supervisor and Mr. Asraf (ground floor FGO, the counter on your left. He is the ONE and ONLY Malay guy staff at that floor, very nice person). If your supervisor is in Kampar, you can hand in BOTH of your thesis to Mr Asraf and tell him one of the copy is to be dispatched to Kampar and tell him your supervisor's name. You can also ask your Kampar friends to hand in the thesis for you but please do this BEFORE the due date. And I am saying this once only to those whose supervisors are in Kampar: DO NOT HAND IN YOUR THESIS TO DR WONG BY PUTTING IN HER PIGEONHOLE!

I "bold-ed" the statement, capitalise the whole thing, blew-up the font size, coloured it red, highlighted it yellow, and put an exclamation mark so don't say I did not mention this before. :)

Phase 2: Returning of Thesis for Correction
a. The final date is at 19th of May, 2010, Wednesday. It could be earlier, I do not know, because this date is set due to the possibility of third examiner. If your thesis does not go through the 3rd examiner, perhaps it could be returned earlier. Don't quote me on this because I am just speculating.

Phase 3: Submission of Softcopy (in PDF format, burned onto the CD) to Office
a. The closing date is 26th of May, 2010. I think you could hand in earlier than that.

FINAL EXAMINATION

This is the schedule:
1. Fermentation Technology (3/5/2010, 2.00-4.00 pm)
- Index No. 0001-0012: SD203
- Index No. 0013-0070: SD205

2. Genomics and Bioinformatics (5/5/2010, 9.00-11.00 am)
- SD203 (all candidates)

3. Introduction to Sociology (8/5/2010, 9.00-11.00 am)
- SE105 (all candidates)

4. IPC (11/5/2010, 9.00-11.00 am)
- SD205 (all candidates)

5. MMP (13/5/2010, 2.00-4.00 pm)
- SE105 (all candidates)

Of course, this information is available on your exam slip. This is just for your reference. Remember to print out your exam slip... don't blur-blur wait for me to distribute. :)

For more information, please DON'T contact me. Just joking.


Regards,
You-Know-Who

See what I have Blasted...

Just now, I helped my friend to blast her ~500 bp sequence of 16s rRNA gene of an unknown bacteria collected from soil.

Guess what is the result? [click to enlarge]

The E-value is low (in fact, it is so low it is zero). Low E value means it is highly possible that particular organism is the one you are looking for. In this case, it is Bacillus anthracis. OH... MY... GOD.................

Although it only says a partial sequence, a 500 bp out of the total 1400 bp 16S rRNA gene and with a score of 900+ and E value = 0, it has a good chance to be right! Then and again, a full-length gene is needed for a 100% identity. Sigh, too bad it is not a full length one.

WBLE trouble

Ok. Here is a shortcut to register your subjects.

1. Access WBLE
2. Select FES 201001 from the left sidebar
3. You will see a list of courses. Ignore it. Search "Bioinformatics" on the search field.
4. You should see 3 options, if I remembered correctly. Select the Dr Alan's one and make sure the year is 201001 for that subject.
5. Then click yes when a pop up is displayed.
6. Now, click on the "Participants" link on the left sidebar.
7. Search either Chua Chee Shin's, Mok, or Tan Chor Siong's name. If cannot, search mine la.
8. Then you click on their name.
9. You should see a list of subjects on one of the details. Click all of them ONE BY ONE. Every time you click, a pop up will ask you to enrol/register the subject. Just click yes. Anything just ask me.

Short Notice

1. Dr Haresh confirmed no lessons on CNY week (Week 5)

2. Replacement classes for Dr Haresh: Thursdays (3 times), 9-10 am, SE108
(I hope nobody takes holidays onwards by Week 4, no right? If too many ppl take "Pre-CNY Week Holiday" on Week 4, we need MORE replacement classes.)

3. As for Ms Charanjit's "Saturday presentation" issue, I am still waiting for her reply. So be patient ya...

4. Schedule for phototaking session:

5th of March, 2010
2.30 - 3.30 = Group 1*
3.30 - 4.30 = Group 2*
4.30 - 5.30 = Group 3*

*Groups are NOT the same as the tutorial groups. Make sure you check which group are you in when you get the name list later. The name list is the one that ask for you whether you want to attend the workshop, the tea session and the convo dinner.

There 3 sheets of paper for the name list. The first sheet is Group 1 and so on. As for the photo taking session. to be safe, EVERYBODY please come by 2 pm. Just in case if anything happens. Pass around the news.



Regards,
Your *still breathing, still alive* course rep... anything just ask me...

Short Announcement

1. The schedule of FYP sessions and the thesis format are found in our course email.

2. There is an FYP briefing on the 22nd(postponed to) 29th of January, 2010 at DK1, from 2 to 4 pm. This is because Dr Say is taking his students to the hospital for a visitation. Dr Hii and Dr Loo are present for the briefing.

3. No Fermentation Technology lab AND no Bioinfo lab on Week 1.


^[New!]4. Lab for MMP begins on Week 1.

5. Will keep you guys updated if there is anything new. Oh wait, I almost forgot, please get ready RM 5 - RM 10 (will decide on the exact amount later after we get to know how many notes are passed down by our dearest lecturers) for class fund.

At your service,
Your Course Rep (who wants needs more holidays...) and love you guys the most.