The inaugural International Translational Medical Research Conference takes place at Newcastle University's Malaysian medical campus based in EduCity in Johor, NUMed Malaysia.

A group of leading medical experts will come together for the first time in Asia this weekend to share findings from cutting-edge research that will shape the future of patient treatment. One of twelve areas that will be discussed is whether chairs cause heart attacks - relating back to research of the 1950s which concluded that bus drivers (sitting down all shift) had more heart attacks than conductors who were on their feet and moving about whilst working.

The inaugural one-day conference ‘Personalised Medicine – from bench to individual bedside’ will explore how high level research can be translated into patient-centric care.

Many of the speakers are world-renowned in their field. They will present multi-disciplinary themes including personalised approaches to therapy in liver disease, rare genetic disease, neuromuscular disease, bacterial infections, metabolic disease and dementia.

The event will take place at the Malaysian campus of Newcastle University (UK) -  Medicine Malaysia (NUMed). NUMed’s’s CEO and Provost Professor Reg Jordan said:  “It is an exciting time to be in medical research in Asia because we are seeing a steady increase in the research being carried out in the region.  We are delighted to support this growth by hosting the International Translational Medical Research conference at NUMed, which will be a unique opportunity to hear about the future direction of medical research.”

Among the twelve confirmed speakers is Professor Christine Harrison, who is one of the most highly regarded leukaemia cytogeneticists in the world. Her translational research in cancer genetics has considerably improved treatments and her approaches have been adopted internationally. She is widely published and sits of the editorial boards of significant journals, including the highly influential ‘Leukemia’ publication.  She will give the latest insights into ‘Targeting signaling pathways in acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia’.

Professor Jeff Errington, a pioneer in the field of bacterial cell biology who has published over 200 scientific papers, reviews and patents will also be speaking. He will discuss ‘Cell division in bacteria: from basic science to antibiotic discovery’. He founded the Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology at Newcastle University UK, which is the world's largest grouping of researchers working on fundamental studies of bacterial cells, as well as two companies devoted to the discovery and development of novel antibiotics.

The International Translational Medical Research conference takes place on Saturday 1st March 2014. It will be hosted at NUMed, Newcastle University’s Malaysian branch campus in which is based in EduCity@Iskandar, Johor.

About NUMed

Newcastle University UK, was the first UK university to establish a fully owned branch campus for medicine  in Johor, Malaysia which opened in  2011. Itprovides undergraduate degrees in Medicine (MB BS) and the Biomedical Sciences (BSc), and opportunities for postgraduate study. The programmes of study are equivalent to those of Newcastle’s UK-based provision, and lead to the award of the same degrees. By choosing to study at NUMed Malaysia, students will obtain a reputable UK qualification, from an internationally recognized university, at a cost significantly less than that of studying in the UK. The undergraduate Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery (MB BS) degrees were launched in 2009 and BSc degree in the Biomedical Sciences was launched in September 2013. Many of the programmes offer opportunities for periods of study in the UK.

published on: 26 February 2014