Just to liven the PhD School sub-forum a little bit... what field is your PhD/postgraduate degree in and what's your research all about? Research Honours, Masters students and post-docs are also welcome to post on their research.

PhD in the field of...
My research is about...

Not sure whether this topic is overlapping with this or not: http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1942640



Still, my phD field involves Seaweed Biotechnology
And I work on the taxonomy and phylogenetics of commercially important seaweeds (Kappaphycus and Eucheuma Sea Bird's Nests), and also on ways to increase overall production yields, whether directly or indirectly

Might overlap a bit. My bad but I guess this thread is just for researchers to let people know what novel work is being done in their fields.

Cool stuff. Sounds like some very practical work indeed.

This post has been edited by Farmer_C: Mar 18 2013, 10:48 PM

which institution are u guys doing ur phd at?

I'm in the Insitute of Ocean and Earth Sciences (IOES), University of Malaya

Hello Tanji,

Can I buy Eucheuma Cottonii Sea Bird's Nests at Carrefour, JUSCO, & TESCO?

I want to make soup in a slow cooker for my loved ones.

By the way, do you have Soup Recipes?

My PhD is in Drug Discovery Biology/Pharmaceutical Biology/Cardiovascular Pharmacology whatever you wanna call it

My research looks at the activation of adenosine receptors with drugs to produce cardioprotection, i.e. to reduce cell death during a heart attack, and reduce complications after a heart attack. Mainly testing and learning about the new drugs that were produced in-house which have minimal side effects.

I'm with the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne.

This post has been edited by Farmer_C: Mar 19 2013, 04:14 PM

wow you guys are doing excellent research..

farmer_c..may i know are u holding any sort of inetrnational scholarship for ur phd? if u dont mind sharing, how much allowance u are given annually>?

I am blessed to be holding two scholarships, both from Monash University...one to cover my course/insurance fees and another for my stipend... about AUD $25,000 annually.

Edit: Just got an e-mail saying that I won a Victorian government scholarship! It's worth an extra $5000 annually but the catch is I need to take part in promotional activities. Feels like I've become a tourist attraction.

This post has been edited by Farmer_C: Mar 20 2013, 02:55 PM

Hey man, thanks for the message

I don't think they are selling these in those hypermarkets
But you should be able to find in pasar (depending on where you live)..
Do take note that the prices of E. cottonii in Peninsular Malaysia are very expensive (RM10-20 per pack) compared to those in Sabah (~RM4-7 per pack)..
Based on what I know, there is already a Sea Bird's nest farm being set up in Pangkor (Mr. Beh), you would be able to buy raw materials/ consume cooked ones there

As for the receipes:
There are several ways of doing it, such as this:
1. http://www.biogreen2u.com/home/index.php?o...ourse&Itemid=66

2. http://kccookies.blogspot.com/2012/09/sea-bird-nest.html

Most Chinese people prepare the seaweeds based on recipe (2)
The seaweeds are only added as extras in soups/drinks because of the good texture for "chewing"; and the main trick is to not cook them until they dissolve and become gel (much like Cincao)

Wah, valuable research work man, not many can get this kind of projects

Thanks for the tips and recipes! I used to cook Shark’s Fin Melon Soup 鱼翅瓜汤.

Wow, yummy
By the way, for those who do not know. The Shark Fin soup that we eat today at most Chinese Restaurants are already replaced by carrageenan (from Eucheuma cottonii/ Kappaphycus) and alginate yo

Of course there are still certain places selling shark fin illegally

This reminds me of pain research where researchers inject carrageenan into the paws of mice to induce inflammation and swelling.



This post has been edited by Farmer_C: Mar 20 2013, 03:36 PM

Gosh! What can you tell me about food-grade carrageenan? Is Carrageenan SAFE? Can you recommend Anti-Inflammatory Diet source?

According to the reports below, scientists have raised serious concerns about the safety of carrageenan in food, based on laboratory animal studies showing gastrointestinal inflammation, ulcerations and colitis-like disease in animals given food-grade carrageenan in their drinking water or diet.[1] [2] [3]

[1] Tobacman JK (2001) Review of Harmful Gastrointestinal Effects of Carrageenan in Animal Experiments. Environmental Health Perspectives 109(10): 983-994

[2] Watt J and Marcus R (1981) Danger of carrageenan in foods and slimming recipes. The Lancet 317(8215): 338

[3] Watt J and Marcus R (1981) Harmful effects of carrageenan fed to animals. Cancer Detection and Prevention 4(1-4): 129-34

There seems to be conflicting evidence in the net. Maybe [PF] T.J. can help answer?

The causative compound is actually poligeenan, a breakdown product of carrageenan
As far as I know, there are no reports that carrageenan will be degraded into poligeenan in the human alimentary tract (even if there is, they need to be pretty high amounts to bring about inflammation), and until now the benefits of carrageenan still greatly outweigh the potential risks

This post has been edited by [PF] T.J.: Mar 20 2013, 04:04 PM

Thanks for clearing that up for me! And the success of medical advances depends on the frontiers of Farmer's research in the activation of adenosine receptors.

By the way, have you ever heard of Exon Skipping? It is a method being heavily researched for the treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). Recently, Lowyat Kopitiam got 1 user passed away because of DMD.

THanks man
I've heard of it but never really gone into the specifics.
I've done some reading based on your recommendations and found the website where you got the photo from~ Its a good website and simple enough, definitely worth reading for those who are interested: http://www.muscular-dystrophy.org/about_mu...ow_does_it_work

I hope that the human trials will work

I just finished my PhD recently in Drug discovery/medicinal chemistry/molecular microbiology from Strath Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, Uni of Strath, UK. Im MPharm holder from Uni of Strath too.