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NUR ATHIRAH YUSOF

A. PERSONAL PARTICULARS

Age 27 Address 28C Jalan Tun Sri Lanang I/C No. 880904-04-5112 75100 Melaka Gender Female

Place of Birth Melaka Nationality Malaysian Marital Status Married Mobile No. 019 – 6051219 Health Status Excellent E-mail nrathirah.yusof@gmail.com

B. AREAS OF INTEREST

a. Academic Sector

Lecturer or postdoctoral academic position

C. EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

2011 – 2015 Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM, SELANGOR) Ph.D Molecular Biology (Microbiology)

2008 – 2010 Rochester Institute of Technology NY,USA BSC (High Honors) in Biotechnology Final Grade : High Honors

Final CGPA : 3.75

2007-2008 International Education Center (INTEC, UiTM) American Credit Transfer Program University Foundation Year 2001 – 2005 Sekolah Menengah Sains Johor, Kluang, Johor Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) : 10A Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) : 8A 1995 – 2000 Sekolah Kebangsaan Convent Infant Jesus (2), Melaka Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) : 5A

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D. WORKING EXPERIENCE

PhD PROJECT Location MALAYSIA GENOME INSTITUTE, BANGI Training duration 4 years (January 2011 – August 2015) Tasks Assigned Elucidation of structure and function of Glaciozyma antarctica

molecular chaperones.

a. To attain structural information for G. antarctica molecular chaperones and screen target genes using bioinformatics software

b. To determine the 3D structures of selected molecular chaperones c. To elucidate structure and function relationships of the molecular

chaperones

GRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT Location MALAYSIA GENOME INSTITUTE, BANGI Training duration 6 months (February 2015 – August 2015) Tasks Assigned Cloning and expression of Glaciozyma antarctica glycoside

hydrolases for industrial applications.

a. To amplify glycoside hydrolyses genes from G. antarctica b. To clone into cold shock expression system pCOLD and

chaperone plasmid system c. To express and analyse the recombinant proteins

Location UNIVERSITI KEBANGSAAN MALAYSIA Training duration 4 months (September 2010 – December 2010) Tasks Assigned Cloning and expression Glaciozyma antarctica anti freeze

proteins

a. Work with anti freeze protein in E. coli protein expression

LAB TECHNICIAN

Location ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NEW YORK, USA

Fall 2009- Spring 2010

Task Assigned Assigned to manage the lab machines and media

a. Handle autoclave machines for lab media, chemicals and disposal.

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b. Prepare chemicals and media for every lab session (eg: MacConkey

agar, antibiotics plates, HE plates, DNA fragments, bacterial plasmids,

etc)

c. Handle corrosive, flammable and dangerous chemicals

d. Manage the lab machines such as autoclaves, spectrometry, Bertha

machine and pH calibration machine

GENOMIC NOTETAKER ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NEW YORK, USA

Task Assigned Act as the communication facilitator for lecturer to communicate with NTID

students (National Technical Institute for the Deaf), took notes for the

NTID, maintained the RIT NTID websites with updated notes.

E. COMPLETED PROJECTS

1. PhD RESEARCH PROJECT (2015)

a. Title Elucidation of structure and function of Glaciozyma antarctica molecular chaperones

b. Project Description The broad objective of this study was to discover the role of molecular

chaperones in G. antarctica as the key survival mechanism of psychrophiles. The predominant focus was on the function of the molecular chaperones using protein crystallization in G. antarctica in order to investigate the proteins that are important for the yeast to survive sub-freezing environment and determine how cold-tolerance yeast was affected by low temperature and other environmental conditions associated with freezing conditions.

2. GRADUATE RESEARCH ASISSTANCE a. Title Cloning and expression of Glaciozyma antarctica glycoside

hydrolases for industrial applications

b. Project Description This study was conducted in order to produce soluble proteins for selected glycoside hydrolyses that were expected to have industrial potential such as in paper and pulp, detergents and food industries. Protein expression was done using cold shock expression system pCOLD and chaperone plasmid system that allow co-expression of several chaperones which were the GroEL, GroES, DnaJ, DnaK and GrpE.

3. RESEARCH ASSISTANCE a. Title Cloning and expression Glaciozyma antarctica anti freeze proteins

b. Project Description The aim of this research was to clone and express one of the anti freeze proteins from G. antarctica namely AFP6 for further study in structural analysis.

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FINAL YEAR UNDERGRADUATE DESIGN PROJECT (SPRING 2010) a. Title Cloning project: Expression of foreign genes in B. subtilis and E. coli and

characterization of chimeric plasmids b. Project Description Chimeric plasmids composed of the Eschericia coli derived pUC9 plasmid and Bacillus subtilis derived pPL608 plasmid were created to subclone for chloramphenicol resistant gene into E. coli and study the expression of foreign genes in E. coli and B. subtilis. Experiment was begun by transferring DNA into a host E. coli strain, identifying the recombinant products, amplifying the DNA, and characterizing the chimeras by restriction mapping. SUPERVISED UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH (FALL 2009-SPRING 2010)

a. Title Environmental Microbiology: The survival of Salmonella enterica in food industry.

b. Project Description In this research, the survival of salmonella was tested by manipulating the bacteria’s environment such as the temperature, pH, and in

different kind of drinks and yogurts. The growth condition determined the viability of Salmonella. By knowing the range of pH that caused the decrease of Salmonella’s viability, it will be useful for food industry to prepare food preservatives to control the growth of bacteria in food. The viability of Salmonella in different temperature was done in order to determine the most suitable temperature in pasteurization. Hektoen enteric agar was used as it is a selective and differential agar used to recover Salmonella and Shigella from specimens.

F. SKILLS AND PROFIENCY

Research and Writing Skills

Proficient in researching ideas using available resources including library-based research, database searches and online research

Adept at writing technical report for professional audiences

Technical Skills

Excellent computer skills and proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Visio

Familiar with professional software tools including bioinformatics software (PROSO, ExPASy tools, NCBI, ClustalX, MEGA molecular evolutionary analysis, SWISS MODEL, MODELLER, SAVES protein structures evaluation, GenEX qPCR software, PyMOL, CHIMERA, RasMOL, etc.)

Communication and Organisational Skills

Excellent verbal and written communication skills

Proficient in Malay and English

Ability to work unsupervised and as part of a team

Self-motivated, precise and dedicated

G. ACADEMIC AWARD

2014 -The 13th Symposium Malaysian Society of Applied Biology Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. (Awarded as best oral presenter) -The 4th Postgraduate Colloquium Faculty of Science and Technology, UKM

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2013 The 9th National Biology Symposium School of Biosciences and Biotechnology, UKM. (Awarded as best oral presenter) The 3rd Semester PhD student Colloqium

School of Biosciences and Biotechnology, UKM (Awarded as best oral presenter)

2008-2010 RIT Dean’s list in Biotechnology (School of Science and Technology) For achieving CGPA 3.5 and above every quarter in overall courses

H. EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

a. 2010-2015: Vice President

UKM Mycology Club, Selangor

Mycology Club is a professional association for all graduates in UKM that provide various supports for its member to improve their knowledge and skills in the study of fungi and microbes. The supports include seminar, workshop, weekly meeting for updates, database access and networking opportunities.

b. 2010: Master of ceremony &

Secretary National Postgraduate Seminar organized by Malaysian Society for Microbiology (MSM)

A program to that allows selected graduates from all over Malaysia to present their researches supervised by professional professors.

c. 2010: Secretary

Short Course for Experimental Design for Biotechnologist organized by Malaysian Society for Microbiology, SIRIM and UKM

A program that taught the basics and applications for biotechnologists in making breakthrough improvements for any biological products or a process with Design-Expert software. The course consists of both theory and real-life data from selected biological experiments and how the software has been used in identifying the vital factors affecting the targeted productivity or performance, subsequently, assisting in designing ideal biological processes for higher yield of optimization.

d. 2010: Master of ceremony &

committee member MSM Public Lecture jointly organized by MSM, GenoMALAYSIA.

A public lecture by an eminent and distinguished academician from USA, Prof Rita Colwell, a well known microbiologist from USA on Ocean, Climate, and Infectious Disease: The Cholera Paradigm.

e. 2008: Public Relation

Malaysian Club, RIT USA

A society that represents Malaysian community at RIT in USA. Involved in many cultural activities, voluntary works and campaigns organized by the society to improve welfare of Malaysian society.

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I. PERSONAL INTERESTS

Stocks investment and trading

Reading news magazines, journal and articles

Playing badminton, netball, bowling

Travelling

J. REFEREES

REFEREE PERSONAL CONTACT

COORDINATOR FOR STRUCTURAL PROJECT:

Emeritus Professor Dr Nor Muhammad Mahadi, Director General, Malaysia Genome Institute, Selangor.

E-mail : nor.mahadi@gmail.com

MAIN SUPERVISOR:

Associate Professor Abdul Munir Abdul Murad, School of Biosciences and Biotechnology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Dr Farah Diba Abu Bakar, School of Biosciences and Biotechnology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Tel No. : +6 0389215696 Email : munir@ukm.my Tel No : +6 03 89215980 Email : fabyff@ukm.my

CO-SUPERVISOR:

Dr. Travis Beddoe, Department of Animal, Plant and Soil Science and Centre for AgriBioscience (AgriBio), La Trobe University, Melbourne Victoria, Australia

3086

Tel No. : +6 190327400 Email : t.beddoe@latrobe.edu.acu

I confirm the above information is true to my knowledge. Further clarification on the above details is most welcomed.

____Nur Athirah Yusof_____

NUR ATHIRAH YUSOF