By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Oct 11: Malaysia is hosting the 12th Asian Conference for Lactic Acid Bacteria (ACLAB12) at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here from Oct 10 to Oct 13.
This is the first time ever that the conference is held in Sarawak and Malaysia, after winning the bid at the ACLAB10 held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in 2019.
With the theme ‘Evidence-based LAB: Advances, Opportunities & Challenges’, the Conference will highlight the postbiotics and paraprobiotics which have been the focus of lactic acid bacteria research for the past few decades.
Sarawak Minister for Education, Innovation and Talent Development (MEITD) Datuk Roland Sagah Wee Inn said the ACLAB12 theme is very much aligned with the recently launched National Biotechnology Policy 2.0 (NBP 2.0) to ensure that the biotechnology field will develop rapidly and advance in line with the aspiration of making Malaysia a high-tech or k-economy country by 2030.
Furthermore, he said this policy will strengthen the existing biotechnology ecosystem to be a catalyst in solving national challenges related to food security, pandemic management, and climate change crisis through locally developed biotechnological solutions.
“I am very much encouraged that the industry players have come together to jointly develop high-impact initiatives to produce new food products and the processed supplement food industry.
“These are high-yield food manufacturing sectors, and we need the collaboration and support of the private sector to maximise the potential of these niches probiotic and superfood products developed from lactic acid bacteria (LAB)-based research and technologies,” he said when officiating the opening ceremony of ACLAB12 today.
At the same time, Sagah urged Malaysian Bioeconomy Development Corporation Sdn Bhd, National Institutes of Biotechnology Malaysia (NIBM), local venture capital (VC) companies and government-linked companies (GLC) to engage and collaborate to support and ensure the growth and development of the country’s biotechnology towards translating research outcomes into commercialisable products and services.
The ACLAB12 is mainly organised by Malaysian Society for Lactic Acid Bacteria (MSLAB), a society under the auspices of the Asian Federation for Lactic Acid Bacteria (AFLSAB).
Over 150 researchers, academicians, students, product legislation authorities and industry representatives from 13 countries participated in the ACLAB12, namely China, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nigeria, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
The conference encompassed 7 themes of scientific sessions featuring prominent keynote and plenary speakers from all over the world.
In promoting local edu-tourism, the ACLAB12 delegates will be brought to visit the Borneo’s endangered species – Orangutans at the Semenggoh Nature Reserve and the Sarawak Biodiversity Center which conserve, utilise, protect and sustainably develop the biodiversity of Sarawak.
Amongst those present were AFSLAB president Prof Dr Yoon Sung-Sik; Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Vice Chancellor Dato’ Prof Dr Mohd Roslan Sulaiman; Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic And International) Prof Dr Ahmad Hata Rasit; and AFSLAB vice president, MSLAB president and ACLAB12 chairperson Prof Dr Foo Hooi Ling. — DayakDaily
