B E Y O N D | J U L . T O S E P T . 2 0 2 0 | I S S U E 2 1As the COVID-19 pandemic rages across the world, life as we know it has been severely disrupted sincethe beginning of the year. With borders closed and travel restrictions in place, most international meetingsand conferences have to be rescheduled if not cancelled. However, the scientific community has beenquick to adapt. The 'new normal' has in fact accelerated the adoption of online meetings, webinars andvirtual conferences. The benefits of such transitions are manifold. Participation of a wider audience fromdifferent corners of the world; reduction in carbon footprint, savings for participants and hosts; to namejust a few. Disruption to our efforts to grow and develop research in genomic medicine at IHS has been kept to theminimum. Meetings with international colleagues to showcase our works and to discuss ongoingcollaborative research were run on various online platforms throughout this period of upheaval. Ourresearch work entitled “Whole-Exome Sequencing reveals the genetic heterogeneity of Osteopetrosis in aconsanguineous Iraqi family” was recently presented through a webinar hosted by the Perdana University,Malaysia, to not only the usual audiences from Southeast Asia but also to the wider genomic datacommunity located in Australia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe who might otherwise not attend aregional meeting for different logistical reasons. Osteopetrosis is a rare genetic disease characterised byabnormal bone density and proneness to fracture. Our comprehensive analysis of the whole-exome dataderived from an Iraqi family has identified both known and novel causative genetic variants of thedisorder. More importantly, we were able to show that multiple genes may have complicated andcompounded the effects of the disease. We are therefore proposing the need to perhaps viewosteopetrosis as a genetically heterogeneous disease. One of the first activities organised by the recently established Biomedical Genomics Core Laboratory(BGC Lab) included three sessions of virtual laboratory training on Illumina Exome Sequencing and weresuccessfully run for colleagues at IHS. Delivered by Illumina appointed specialists in Malaysia, the onlineworkshop provided technical details of next generation sequencing (NGS) which the BGC Lab has beentasked to do. Every step involved in the construction of exome sequencing library and the running of thelibrary in the Illumina’s Nextseq NGS machine was introduced. Although a hands-on training would havebeen preferred for laboratory work, this online workshop has not only benefited many colleagues at theInstitute, it has also made it possible for the BGC Lab to kick start the NGS runs with acceptable delays.Without an end to the COVID-19 pandemic in sight, the adoption to online meetings is no longer an optionif collaborative research is to remain relevant and productive. Indeed, several such activities, including the9th (Virtual) Southeast Asian Pharmacogenomics Research Network (SEAPharm) Meeting, have now beenlined up in the coming months.I N T E R N A T I O N A L R E S E A R C H M E E T I N G I N T H EE R A O F T H E ' N E W N O R M A L ' 5Left: Webinar on the genetics of osteopetrosis conducted online by Dr. Zen and hosted by the Perdana UniversityRight: Illumina Exome Sequencing online training organised by IHS Biomedical Genomics Core LaboratoryDr. Lu Zen Huat, Senior Assistant Professor
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