Professor Yang Mooi Lim has recently been appointed the new IUBMB Ambassador to the FAOBMB Region. This appointment was made by the IUBMB Executive Committee, after consultation with the FAOBMB Executive Committee. This IUBMB Ambassador position was previously held by Professor Phillip Nagley from 2016-2018.
Professor Lim is a Professor of Biochemistry in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biotechnology and Doctor of Philosophy in Animal Biotechnology from Universiti Putra Malaysia in 1997 and 2001, respectively. Her research interests are in the field of phytochemistry, cancer chemoprevention, herbal medicine and syndrome differentiation study in Chinese Medicine. Thus far, she has received numerous research grants, research awards, travel grants and fellowships nationally and internationally.
The purpose of the IUBMB Ambassador appointment is to make contact with organised groups or societies of biochemists and molecular biologists in countries of the FAOBMB region that are not presently Adhering Bodies or Associate Adhering Bodies of IUBMB. Because IUBMB and FAOBMB work very closely, with congruent objectives for the development of research, education and training in biochemistry and molecular biology (IUBMB globally and FAOBMB regionally), there is a parallel role for the Ambassador to help recruit groups or societies of biochemists and molecular biologists in our region to become Members of the Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemists and Molecular Biologists, in countries in our region that do not have such a society as Member of FAOBMB. With 20 Members now in the FAOBMB community of national Societies or Groups of Biochemists and Molecular Biologists, there is much scope for additional members to be recruited to both IUBMB and FAOBMB. The FAOBMB region covers about one-third of the world population, ranging from western parts of Asia and some parts of the Middle East, across Asia and Oceania to the Islands of the South Pacific as far as Hawaii in the East. The additional members to be recruited would gain benefits from becoming formally associated with IUBMB and FAOBMB as a result of the work of the Ambassador, especially where the discipline of biochemistry and molecular biology may not be well developed compared to other countries in the region and world-wide.