BICalert

The technology in question is known as cell culture, it is a technique where cells, commonly multicellular eukaryotes, are grown under controlled conditions, and has became a routine laboratory technique in the 1950s. The cultures, which by then would be kept in the form of single cells, would then be cultured into different forms through a specific balance of nutrients and plant growth hormone. Due to the precise and highly technical nature of the procedure, it is no wonder that many researchers balk at the thought of providing this technology to the industry, and prefer other less complex and more direct methods like ready-to-grow shoots from the micropropagation of plant meristems.

“The greatest advantage of cell culture technique is in its numbers. Where we could get up to 20,000 plants from 1 milliliter of cells, in comparison to 6,000 plants in a day of meristem micropropagation. Moreover, it has a high rate of efficiency, low contamination rate, as well as lesser use of hazardous materials,” enthuses Prof. Norzulaani. “However, the down side of the coin, would be the need for highly skilled individuals to deal with the cultures, this is not really something one can learn just because one has a degree, but it requires a strong dedication to the work. Also, the cultures experience a higher degree of somaclonal variation (rearrangement of chromosomes in plants that have been produced by plant tissue culture), which is some where around 10% in comparison to meristem micropropagation. However, it must also be noted that research by French scientists who planted their cultures in Sierra Leone had zero percentile of such variations.”

However, research on commercial uses of cell culture techniques is not the only form of research in PBIU under Prof. Norzulaani’s unassuming but firm leadership. In fact, according to her, her real research lies in the manipulation of transgenic plants for trait improvement, cell cultures for secondary metabolites, as well as metabolomics. The commercial use was actually a subsidiary of the basic research in cell culture techniques. Other research include the trait improvement of banana for early flowering, disease-resistant chillies, optimal culture conditions for secondary metabolite cell cultures as well as tissue culture work.

As of 2004, Prof. Norzulaani has also been involved in a vast cross-campus, cross discipline research which gathered research scientists like chemists, biochemists, bioinformatics, molecular biologists etc. from UM, UPM and USM in a drug discovery programme to isolate an active compound from finger-root ginger. The compound, which is currently kept undisclosed would have the properties of inhibiting the dengue fever virus and could be used as a therapeutic drug for the tropical epidemic which infects thousands each year.

Prof. Norzulaani will also be presenting a paper in the upcoming Asia Pacific Conference on Plant Tissue Culture and Agribiotechnology (APaCPA) 2007. The conference, whose theme is "Biotechnology for Better Food, Health and Quality Living", is touted to be the most prestigious event in biotechnology in Malaysia this year. It will be a platform from which Prof. Norzulaani will be giving a lecture entitled, “Banana, gingers and papaya cell culture for high throughput agriculture.” The lecture, which will provide insight on cell culture in fruit crops, as well as its great potential for the industry.

“I believe that tissue culture has a lot to offer, and what I hope to achieve is to demystify the technique to the public, and allow them to understand that such technologies are not scary,” she explains. “Also, what I hope to achieve is to get industry investors to be able to trust and understand scientists better, to get them to be better informed and allow them to invest into our work.This should be their social responsibility to promote local research and bring them into the market place.”

Citing an example, industry contacts who collaborate with PBIU sign up as industry partners and provide funding for the particular project, as well as sponsor for a research student to work on the project.

“The unofficial theme of the lab is “to popularize, to provide and to educate”, and what I am currently working on revolves around this. I believe that the popularization of technologies into everyday application is the way to go to help our agribusinesses. We are here to provide expertise and knowledge, as well as being a hub in educating the public.”

In terms of the government role in the development of biotechnology, “We currently do not have critical mass for the industry. We have big plans, but all of them have yet to be meted out. I believe the public is fixated on numbers and hype, however we must also remember the importance of a hands-on approach. We, the people, as well as the government should get real with our commitment to the development of biotechnology, and not just stop with hype. Only then do I see Malaysia being a strong player.”

Prof. Norzulaani is scheduled to present her lecture, “Banana, gingers and papaya cell culture for high throughput agriculture” during APaCPA 2007 on the 20th of June, 6.00pm.


Plant Biotech Incubator Unit and the commercialization of tissue culture techniques


Great strides taken in agriculture by Malaysia of late have seen a great increase in the demand for planting materials. Planting materials of crops, including that of commodities like oil palm, rubber and cocoa, as well as non-commodity crops like fruit plants alike, are gaining importance as Malaysia strives to increase hectarage of its agricultural lands. There are more than 100 species of fruit trees grown in this country, however there is a significant lack in the production of planting materials for the commercialisation of such species.
However, research of late will soon be able to produce such planting materials on a large scale with great efficiency. Up to thousands of plantlets would be produced from just one milliliter of liquid. Sounds impossible? Such technology has been around for decades. And now these techniques may soon be available to the Malaysian public, if Prof. Dr. Norzulaani Khalid has her way.

Despite her busy schedule, MABIC has been able to secure an interview with Prof. Norzulaani this month at her office in the Plant Biotech Incubator Unit, University Malaya (UM). In lieu of her commitment as the head of the Plant Biotech Incubator Unit (PBIU), a subsidiary of the Centre for Research in Biotechnology for Agriculture (CEBAR), which heavily engaged in Plant Biotechnology research, Prof. Norzulaani is also currently course coordinator of Genetics and Molecular Biology, under the Institute of Biological Sciences, UM. Moreover, under PBIU, she is also currently involved with industry partnerships and commercial work culminating with a grant provided recently by the university to set up a commercial lab.
	Prof. Norzulaani

The technology in question is known as cell culture, it is a technique where cells, commonly multicellular eukaryotes, are grown under controlled conditions, and has became a routine laboratory technique in the 1950s. The cultures, which by then would be kept in the form of single cells, would then be cultured into different forms through a specific balance of nutrients and plant growth hormone. Due to the precise and highly technical nature of the procedure, it is no wonder that many researchers balk at the thought of providing this technology to the industry, and prefer other less complex and more direct methods like ready-to-grow shoots from the micropropagation of plant meristems. “The greatest advantage of cell culture technique is in its numbers. Where we could get up to 20,000 plants from 1 milliliter of cells, in comparison to 6,000 plants in a day of meristem micropropagation. Moreover, it has a high rate of efficiency, low contamination rate, as well as lesser use of hazardous materials,” enthuses Prof. Norzulaani. “However, the down side of the coin, would be the need for highly skilled individuals to deal with the cultures, this is not really something one can learn just because one has a degree, but it requires a strong dedication to the work. Also, the cultures experience a higher degree of somaclonal variation (rearrangement of chromosomes in plants that have been produced by plant tissue culture), which is some where around 10% in comparison to meristem micropropagation. However, it must also be noted that research by French scientists who planted their cultures in Sierra Leone had zero percentile of such variations.” However, research on commercial uses of cell culture techniques is not the only form of research in PBIU under Prof. Norzulaani’s unassuming but firm leadership. In fact, according to her, her real research lies in the manipulation of transgenic plants for trait improvement, cell cultures for secondary metabolites, as well as metabolomics. The commercial use was actually a subsidiary of the basic research in cell culture techniques. Other research include the trait improvement of banana for early flowering, disease-resistant chillies, optimal culture conditions for secondary metabolite cell cultures as well as tissue culture work. As of 2004, Prof. Norzulaani has also been involved in a vast cross-campus, cross discipline research which gathered research scientists like chemists, biochemists, bioinformatics, molecular biologists etc. from UM, UPM and USM in a drug discovery programme to isolate an active compound from finger-root ginger. The compound, which is currently kept undisclosed would have the properties of inhibiting the dengue fever virus and could be used as a therapeutic drug for the tropical epidemic which infects thousands each year. Prof. Norzulaani will also be presenting a paper in the upcoming Asia Pacific Conference on Plant Tissue Culture and Agribiotechnology (APaCPA) 2007. The conference, whose theme is "Biotechnology for Better Food, Health and Quality Living", is touted to be the most prestigious event in biotechnology in Malaysia this year. It will be a platform from which Prof. Norzulaani will be giving a lecture entitled, “Banana, gingers and papaya cell culture for high throughput agriculture.” The lecture, which will provide insight on cell culture in fruit crops, as well as its great potential for the industry. “I believe that tissue culture has a lot to offer, and what I hope to achieve is to demystify the technique to the public, and allow them to understand that such technologies are not scary,” she explains. “Also, what I hope to achieve is to get industry investors to be able to trust and understand scientists better, to get them to be better informed and allow them to invest into our work.This should be their social responsibility to promote local research and bring them into the market place.” Citing an example, industry contacts who collaborate with PBIU sign up as industry partners and provide funding for the particular project, as well as sponsor for a research student to work on the project. “The unofficial theme of the lab is “to popularize, to provide and to educate”, and what I am currently working on revolves around this. I believe that the popularization of technologies into everyday application is the way to go to help our agribusinesses. We are here to provide expertise and knowledge, as well as being a hub in educating the public.” In terms of the government role in the development of biotechnology, “We currently do not have critical mass for the industry. We have big plans, but all of them have yet to be meted out. I believe the public is fixated on numbers and hype, however we must also remember the importance of a hands-on approach. We, the people, as well as the government should get real with our commitment to the development of biotechnology, and not just stop with hype. Only then do I see Malaysia being a strong player.” Prof. Norzulaani is scheduled to present her lecture, “Banana, gingers and papaya cell culture for high throughput agriculture” during APaCPA 2007 on the 20th of June, 6.00pm.

For more information on PBIU at CEBAR, please click here

		By K. C. Liew for MABIC