AFOB Newsletter

It gives me great pleasure in extending my best wishes to you for the coming New Year 2022. In the new year, let us make a resolution which can contribute towards solution of some pressing issue, such as mitigation of climate change, which has wreaked havoc this year in the form of severe cyclones and extremely hot climate on our planet. This way we can make this world a better place to live. If each one of us AFOBian makes a resolution, it can have an impact directly on environment through our action and indirectly through encouragement of others, such as our students, who tend to follow us. Let us also encourage our colleagues to become a member of AFOB to get connected with reputed scientific community and for taking biotechnology research and innovation forward. I hope that the new year will see holding of scientific webinars/workshops/symposia etc. on current biotechnology issues for our benefit. Wishing you more calmness, happiness and success in the New Year.

Virendra S Bisaria
Vice President, India

Congratulations to all AFOB members on the new year!
Since I’ve met many of you at ACB2019 in Tamsui, Taiwan, I have been deprived of the opportunity to meet you in person, and I am aware that the last face-to-face meeting of AFOB events was ARS2020 in Yogyakarta in February 2020. It has been always a pleasure to meet you all face to face in such an AFOB meeting.

Due to COVID-19, online life has completely taken hold in the world. I’ve attended the YABEC and AFOB Virtual conferences in November this year, but I was not able to experience the usual fun. After all, AFOB events are all about having fun and spending time together with you. I am looking forward to meeting you all face to face at the ACB conference in Bali this year.

I sincerely wish you all good fortune and world peace this year.

Masahiro Goto
Vice President, Japan

New year is a time to reflect on the previous year and celebrate the arrival of a new one. It’s also a time to share hopeful New Year wishes with everyone in your life with all incredible memories in 2021 and will likely continue to make memories in 2022.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish a happy 2022 New Year to the AFOB President (Prof Dr Wen-Chien Lee), AFOB General Secretary (Prof Dr Seung Wook Kim), all the Vice Presidents, AFOB Committees and all the AFOB members.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank and appreciate each other. We tend to ignore this in our daily life, we got assignments, deadlines, and targets to achieve. In all this, we forget to look around and appreciate the people who keep us running. This year let us acknowledge them who stands behind us no matter what and who unconditionally.
2021 leaving us that witness all the good and bad things that happened to us, but we not just survived but we excelled. I am delighted to share with all the members all the activities that AFOB Malaysia Chapter successfully performed even during the COVID-19 pandemic era. Here are the activities:

1) An Educational Talk: The Importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) & Biotechnology on July 17, 2021. Organised by Faculty of Chemical Engineering UiTM Sarawak Branch and AFOBMC Bioindustry and Bioeducation Academic Division.

2) Hybrid Workshop: Harnessing Microbes for Sustainable Treatment Process II from September 19 – 21, 2021. Organised by Environmental Biotechnology Research Group, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and AFOBMC Applied Microbiology Academic Division.

3) AFOB Malaysia Chapter International Symposium 2021 from September 22-23, 2021 as the main activity by AFOB Malaysia Chapter.

4) Webinar : Marine Ecosystem Cradle of Biological Diversity, Natural Chemical; and Lead Pharmaceuticals on November 18, 2021. Organised by Hokkaido University Japan, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kagoshima University Japan and AFOBMC Marine Biotechnology Academic Division.

There is much more to do and as Asian Federation of Biotechnology, we will. Today we are here to celebrate the new year and new opportunities it will bring. This demands hard work and we are ready for it. With the continuous support and hard work from AFOB Headquarter, AFOB Malaysia Chapter Committees (Session 2021-2022), AFOB Executive Board members (Malaysia region), AFOB Advisory Board members (Malaysia region) and AFOB Malaysia Chapter active members - together we will achieve the best for all. We need to work together, create a healthy environment where we all can strike the balance between work and life.

Wishing you a happy, safe and healthy 2022

Suraini Abd-Aziz
Vice President, Malaysia

2020 and 2021 were challenging years due to the global pandemic COVID-19. Despite the challenge, AFOB did exceptionally well and organized many academic conferences and forums successfully. We are very proud of AFOB and looking forward to 2022 and more.
Happy New Year!

Tsogbadrakh M
Vice President, Mongolia