THURSDAY, 28 JULY – Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Professor Datuk Dr. Mohd Harun Abdullah always emphasises on teamwork, discipline and harmony in the workplace to ensure UMS continue to move forward.

He said, he did not want factionalism exists in UMS as this was not only a bad habit and a hindrance to having close working relationship with colleagues but also impedes the university’s efforts to attain success.

“Knowledge is the basis to all progress and achievements of an organisation, and I believe the positive attitude which I mentioned earlier would enable UMS’ direction be realised,” he said.

Datuk Harun said the university not only produce intelligent individuals, but more importantly produce Malaysians who live in unity harmoniously in their diversity.

“We must also have collaborations with the local, national and international  industry players,” he added.

He said this when asked to comment during an exclusive interview with the Borneo Post at his office recently on his expectations in relations to bringing UMS in achieving success,. – SS (fl)

TUESDAY, 26 JULY – Researchers from Biotechnology Research Institute (BRI), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) have succeeded in cracking the genetic code of both the internationally renowned MD-2 Pineapple and the local Babagon variety. 

“The genome is difficult to unravel due to its high level of duplication and complexity,” said Associate Professor Dr. Vijay Kumar, the lead principal investigator of the project.

The team had spent three years piecing together bit by bit the almost 526 million nucleotides that made up the pineapple DNA.

“With the completion of the genome, it is now possible to further improve the agronomic traits of the crop.

“This puts UMS in the forefront ofpineapple genetics and breeding,” said BRI Deputy Director, Dr. Zarina Amin.

Using the completed pineapple genome as a reference, UMS researchers found significant regulation of a protein which was involved in the biosynthesis of ethylene during fruit ripening in pineapples.   This finding was significant as it was thought that the hormone did not play a crucial role in the process.                                                                                                                                                           

UMS had been working closely with a Malaysian-based bioinformatics company, which was providing training and bioinformatics support for this project.  They also developed the novoLR^TM package to assist in genome assembly using hybrid technology.

The MD-2 is currently the leading commercial pineapple variety globally due to its superiority in colour, sweetness, flavour and uniformity in size. – FL

Source: BRI

THURSDAY, 21 JULY – The e-Entrepreneurship Course organised by the Psychology and Social Health Research Unit (UPPsiKS) Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) was able to assist People with Disabilities (OKU) to learn digital entrepreneurship in marketing hand-made products, thus helping to generate good income.

According to UPPsiKS Head, Dr. Ferlis Bullare, this course enabled participants especially OKU to learn digital income generation through product marketing techniques on social network sites.

“It also seeks to apply the knowledge and digital entrepreneurship amongst existing micro entrepreneurs and the public who wish to pursue entrepreneurship,” he said.

He added, some OKU participants brought in some interesting products, which had good potential to enter the market.

“The products were of good quality and able to penetrate into the market, but they lacked the knowledge on effective marketing strategy that could generate revenue for them.

“Hopefully this course could bring benefit to them to expand their potential in their respective fields,” Dr. Ferlis added.

He said, it was the hope of the organisers that this programme achieve the goal of human development thus increasing the economic welfare of the people especially in the field of entrepreneurship amongst the OKU and general public.

Held at the Seminar Room of the Faculty of Psychology and Education, the course organised in collaboration with Yanzz Excellence Services and JNJ Management & Consultant was attended by more than 50 people including 20 persons with disabilities.

Among the contents were the sharing of knowledge of marketing through social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp; exposure to e-marketplace, viral marketing, e-payment and segmentation; and ad-content writing skills that attract customers as well as technique in taking pictures. – MA (fl)

THURSDAY, 21 JULY – The Human Resources Division under the Registrar Department, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) recently organised the Public Sector Housing Financing Board (LPPSA), CUEPACS Welfare Programme for Government Staff, and the 1Malaysia Housing Scheme for Government Staff (PPA1M) talks, held at the Galeri, Level 3, Chancellery Building, UMS.

The talks were presented by Senior Manager of the Chief Executive Officer Office of LPPSA, Mohd. Rashidi Baba; Information Officer from the Sabah Welfare Department, Mohd. Abas Pillai and Property Negotiator from a private real-estate agency, Shaznieffah Zakaria, respectively.

Among those that were presented were the loan criteria for government staff including the types of loans and insurance coverage for all types of property, adding that all applications are now done online.

About 100 UMS staff attended the talks that included a question and answer session.

Also attended the event was Assistant Registrar, Sharifah Rofidah Habib Hasan who also presented mementos to the guest speakers. - FL