4 Jan 2013
Happy New Year to all BIDP participants! It has been almost 5 months now since we discussed Downstream Bioprocessing, and I certainly hope that you still do recollect the basic principles/fundamentals I taught. I was recently asked to provide some of my personal views by none other than your class monitor Mel.
Looking back, four things stood out which I would like to comment on – missing much of the 2012 Olympics, this course and the programme, the Penang local food and of course – the participants (in no particular order).
Just prior to leaving London, the Olympics was into its first week and a number of key medals was on offer. I was dismayed to watch our Malaysian doubles lose their bronze medal game, following on with Datuk Lee’s game (vs Lin Dan) on the BBC and listening in to Usain Bolt’s 100m run on the radio just as the plane was taking off! The games… well, I gave that up for the BIDP programme and as you will see later was definitely worth it, despite my luggage not arriving with me!
My personal opinion is that the programme is very well structured and planned. The scientific content is very relevant and participants will benefit greatly from the initiative put together in this Bio-Analytical Industry Development Program (BIDP) as supported by TalentCorp Malaysia. I felt that one of the unique features of this programme was that participants were drawn from various science background (biochemists, chemists, engineers, etc) and were yet able to grasp the key concepts (yes, for those without
math… then the wiggly symbols of d’s written in italics or up-side-down triangles was a bit off-putting). Our course on Downstream Bioprocessing was a rather broad topic, with many items to discuss over the 3-day period. Some Chemical Engineering concepts were necessary – so many thanks for
bearing with me as I tried to explain mass transfer mechanisms to Reynolds number, Darcy’s Law and Stoke’s Law, etc… (appropriately adopting names for your groups; Team Darcy, Team Reynolds, Shear Genuis, in addition to Chai2 and UptownGirls).
A number of social activities involving eating and Penang food was organised by the group. As it was Ramadan, the group also organised a breaking of fast at a Chinese-Muslim restaurant, which was very enjoyable. I was in Penang only for 4 days but was able to try quite a number of the local delicacies.
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| Penang food |
Oh yes, I have not mentioned about the most important aspect of the programme – you, the participants! It is evident to me that you all are very talented and capable, grasping key theories/laws quickly and with great ability in reasoning and describing new concepts accurately with much confidence. Your communication skills and working as a team is commendable. I thought the game on our last day just demonstrated the multi-talent/skills.
In summary, you all made my role much easier and this assignment a very enjoyable one for me (so nevermind the Olympics). Do keep in touch and very best wishes in all your undertakings.
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| In and out of class sessions |
Written by: Jerry Heng
Dr Jerry Heng
(Instructor for Understanding Quality Control Checkpoints in Downstream Bioprocessing)
Dr. Jerry Heng has a PhD in Chemical Engineering (2006) from Imperial College London and is currently a senior lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, UK since 2007. He heads the Surfaces and Particle Engineering Laboratory (SPEL) at Imperial College London. He is very much involved in the research of pharmaceutical particle engineering, physio-chemical properties characterisation of solids, and processing (milling, spray/freeze-drying) of organic solids (pharmaceuticals and proteins) and protein crystallisation for downstream bioprocessing.
