The "FBI Agent" aka BSc Biotech student Felius Yuseli (standing), assisting the student participant group he was assigned to. He is demonstrating how to use a micropipette, an integral equipment of molecular biotechnology.

A high school student participant of the Lady Gaga workshop showing off DNA that she isolated from her cheek cells and kept in a cute bottle, as part of the workshop.

Biotechnology is one of the most exciting new sciences of this century! The discovery that DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), the carrier of the genetic code for any form of life, can be transferred into any other form of life opens the door to a multitude of possibilities for genetically modified plants, animals, and microbes not found on earth-until now.

As a result of that, a career that is impacted by biotechnology is not just a job. It is an invitation to participate in the development of new products and processes that could improve the quality of human life and here at UCSI University we are fully onboard this ‘Biological Revolution!'

In line with this, recently the Biotechnology staff and students at UCSI University organized a workshop entitled "Putting U in CSI: The Junior CSI Agent Workshop," where over 40 secondary school students were asked to "investigate" an interesting case study on Lady Gaga and her infamous meat dress, and to discover where the meat came from, or more sinisterly, who it belonged to. In this fictitious case, Lady Gaga has been accused of murder to obtain the meat for her dress, and it is up to the students to prove Lady gaga innocent or guilty.

The workshop introduced forensics tools to students and hoped to nurture practical learning in various biotechnological forensic techniques (in this case, DNA fingerprinting), which includes DNA extraction, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and gel electrophoresis.

"Science has limitless possibilities to improve our daily social lives as almost everything links to Biotechnology and it is our job to envisage this into reality as the concepts and theories are there as guidelines but Biotechnology is definitely not textbook conventional," said Dr Crystale Lim, a lecturer at the Faculty of Applied Sciences within the University.

"The key is to start figuring out how to make biotechnology a unifying influence for students who are the future researchers of the industry. Thus, it is our task to equip them and teach them how to analyze situations and understand the principle and the concepts rather than learn all the details without fully understanding them," she passionately added.

Apart from the creative workshop that the students participated in, the course structure at the University had also been revised to pique the interest of the students to further delve into the workings of biotechnology namely molecular biotechnology and how it may affect our daily tasks.

One fun assignment that had been given to the students was a ‘Movie Assignment' where the students were to separate facts from fiction within a particular sci-fi movie, such as Jurassic Park, X-Men and Spiderman. The main objective of this was to challenge the students to think out-of-the-box with applied theoretical information obtained from Molecular Cell Biology and grounded common sense.

"The assignment that we were asked to do was indeed fun and unique as we had to present our ideas of how theoretically possible the movie concept was, making us research further into the potential of molecular biotechnology," said Tan Gek Mui who is just starting her Final Year Project in Biotechnology.

According to yet another student, Felius Yuseli, who has almost completed his final year project, "This exercise also gave us an insight of what we may expect and envision within the Biotechnology field in the future, which forced us into being ‘Biotech Visionaries'."

Linking it to various subjects taught throughout the course such as Pharmacology, Physiology and Biochemistry, the programme structure at UCSI University provides their students with a holistic approach of condense theoretical training as well as providing them with a practical environment to further explore the subject possibilities in the industry and the world at large.

For more information on UCSI University's biotechnology programmes, activities and the scholarships offered, do visit us during our Extended Counselling days from the 25^th  to 26^th August 2012 (between 9.00 a.m. – 6.00 p.m.) You may also contact our counsellors at 03-9101 8880 or visit:  www.ucsiuniversity.edu.my/onlineenquiry

Otherwise, visit the UCSI University website at www.ucsiuniversity.edu.my.