SCIMY INTERVIEW PROF SUDESH KUMAR

1 6 INTERVIEW SciMy Interview:

Prof. Sudesh Kumar

interviewed by Dr. Lee Hooi Ling and Dr. Wong Kah Keng P rof. Sudesh Kumar (PhD, RIKEN Institute & Saitama University,

Japan) is a Professor of Microbiology and Biotechnology at the School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). His specialisation is in the #eld of microbiology, genetics and polymer chemistry of microbial polyesters (bioplastics). Prof. Sudesh has published more than 90 original research articles, two books, four patents, with more than ten PhD students graduated under his supervision, and he was awarded with multiple national and international grants. He is currently a RIKEN 1 programme coordinator in USM. In this interview, we gain insights into his humble academic path to becoming an established scientist in biomaterials research.

Q1. What motivated you to delve into biological sciences research?

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Q2. Your research areas are interdisciplinary consisting of molecular biology, chemistry and material sciences; why is that the case?

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Signing of a comprehensive agreement between USM and

RIKEN for research and academic collaborations.

From left: Mr. Motohide Yokota (Director of Global Relations 2IÀFH3URI5\RML1R\RUL (Nobel Laureate and President of RIKEN), Dato’ Prof. Omar

Osman (Vice-Chancellor of USM) and Prof. Sudesh Kumar (Coordinator and Administrative

Advisor for USM-RIKEN collaboration)

Q3. As a RIKEN programme 1 coordinator in USM, can you explain more about the programme?

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Q4. What is your advice to potential candidates in the application for the RIKEN programme?

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Q5. What are the main research questions that you are tackling at the moment?

We are doing scale-up works to produce biodegradable SODVWLFVIURPUHQHZDEOHUHVRXUFHVWKDWDUHDYDLODEOH LQ0DOD\VLDVXFKDVWKHSURGXFWVDQGE\SURGXFWV RI RXURLOSDOPLQGXVWU\ ,QDGGLWLRQZHDUHDOVR GHYHORSLQJQHZDSSOLFDWLRQVIRUWKHELRGHJUDGDEOH materials that we produce.

Q6. What do you think can be done to reduce the cost of plastics made of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA)?

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Q8. Do you think that Malaysia is in a strategic position for the production of biodegradable plastics?

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Q9. What do you think of the research funding situation in the public universities now as compared to ten years ago?

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Q10. Finally, what is your advice to potential scientists and young researchers?

1RZDGD\V WKHUH LV D WUHPHQGRXV SUHVVXUH WR SXEOLVK7KLVLVEHFDXVHSXEOLFDWLRQLVRQHRI WKH PHDVXUHPHQW FULWHULD XVHG WR UDQN XQLYHUVLWLHV 7KXVPDQ\XQLYHUVLWLHVDQG UHVHDUFKLQVWLWXWLRQV Examples of biodegradable plastic test samples that can be are seeking to increase the number of publications produced using microbial polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) WKH\ SURGXFH \HDUO\ $PRQJ WKH YDULRXV .H\ Performance Indexes (KPI) for researchers and Q7. What are the advantages of using or OHFWXUHUV SXEOLFDWLRQ RFFXSLHVWKH FHQWUH VWDJH manipulating microorganisms from the .QRZLQJ WKH JURZLQJ GHPDQG IRU SXEOLFDWLRQ tropical environment to generate biodegradable there are now some journals that would publish materials? TXHVWLRQDEOHVWXGLHVIRUDSD\PHQW 6WXGLHV RQ WKH SURGXFWLRQ RI  3+$ KDYH EHHQ FRQGXFWHGLQPDQ\ FRXQWULHV DOO RYHUWKHZRUOG Well established and reputable journals are on 0DQ\W\SHVRI PLFURRUJDQLVPVKDYHEHHQLVRODWHG the other hand getting stricter with their selection IURPYDULRXVHQYLURQPHQWVIRUWKLVSXUSRVH$IHZ RI  PDQXVFULSW IRU SXEOLFDWLRQ 7KLV LV EHFDXVH \HDUVDJRZH IRXQGDYHU\LQWHUHVWLQJEDFWHULXP world-class journals are also competing with each IURPZDWHUVDPSOHVREWDLQHGIURPWKH6HYHQ:HOOV RWKHUWRLQFUHDVHWKHLU ,PSDFW)DFWRUZKLFKLVD /DQJNDZL7KHNH\HQ]\PHLQYROYHGLQWKHV\QWKHVLV PHWULF FRPPRQO\ XVHG WR UDQN WKH SRSXODULW\ of PHA in this bacterium was IRXQGWRKDYHWKHKLJKHVWDFWLYLW\ “We have developed of journals. Potential scientists DQG\RXQJ UHVHDUFKHUV VKRXOG EH DPRQJDOONQRZQ3+$ V\QWKDVH HQ]\PHV   %\ XVLQJ WKH 3+$ the technology aware that their publications are a WHVWLPRQ\ RI WKHLUZRUN ,I WKHLU V\QWKDVHJHQHIURPWKLVEDFWHULXP ZH KDYH GHYHORSHG DQ HIÀFLHQW to produce list of publications includes papers SXEOLVKHGLQTXHVWLRQDEOHMRXUQDOV recombinant microorganism capable of producing PHA biodegradable LWZRXOGUHÁHFWQHJDWLYHO\RQWKHP It is better in the long term to spend from palm oil. I am sure that WKHUH DUH PDQ\ PRUH VXSHULRU plastics from various time generating reproducible data and publish our work in reputable microorganisms in the tropical HQYLURQPHQW ZDLWLQJ WR EH vegetable oils” MRXUQDOV WKDQ WR SXEOLVK PDQ\ papers in dubious journals just for GLVFRYHUHG the sake of publishing.

Prof. Sudesh with Dr. Lee Hooi Ling at the interview session.

REFERENCES [1] http://www.riken.jp/en/ [2] Bhubalan et al. (2011) Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 7(9):2926-2933. >@*HQH(QFRGLQJ0LFURELDO3RO\HVWHU6\QWKDVH*UDQWHGSDWHQWRQ 31 st -XO\LQ6LQJDSRUH*UDQW31R [4] Sudesh et al. (2011) Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 9(5):1373-1386.

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