5 Things I Wish to Learn in Singapore for Leukemia Cytogenetics

After taking about an hour flight, finally I am able to be in Singapore and waiting for the training in National University Hospital (NUH) Singapore. I think this will be an exciting and challenging journey for me. It is because I have to learn everything especially about the leukemia cytogenetics technique within one week time!

Get Ready for the Leukemia Cytogenetics Training

Since arriving Changi Airport, I have to adapt to this new environment so that I can feel comfortable to learn something here. After settling myself in a nearby hotel, I started to plan and think for my training. What am I going to learn for this training?

i. Objectives and Implications

First of all, I wish to find out the objectives and implications of doing the leukemia cytogenetics. As far as I know, the researcher used cytogenetics analysis to look for the chromosomal abnormalities that occurred for the leukemia patients. The study serves two objectives. The first one is to increase the accuracy of leukemia diagnosis as well as providing prognostic information and allowing the more rational selection of therapy for a particular patient. The second reason is to detect the sites of consistent rearrangements so that we can know the precise localization required for the isolation and cloning of DNA from these regions. This is important for the further investigation of leukemia disease. There will be more objectives and implications that I wish to know from this training.

ii. Materials and Methods

In my opinion, this is the main purpose for me to come for this training. I wish to learn the methods and the materials that required for leukemia cytogenetics. The chance will be given for me to see step by step how the scientists in NUH doing the cytogenetics analysis for leukemia patients. For your information, the scientists in NUH have done a great job in cytogenetics analysis for leukemia. Their skills are awesome! I am sure that I can learn a lot of applicable skills from them.

iii. Knowledge

Next, I wish to gain more knowledge about cytogenetics analysis and leukemia from this training. Before this, I can only read through the related books and learn some theories from it. Theories are not enough in cancer research. However, start from tomorrow, I can absorb more applicable knowledge by asking a lot of questions to the scientists here. Their experience and professional skills will be my precious treasure to be hunt during the time in Singapore.

iv. Troubleshooting

Besides, I hope that I can get the ideas on how to troubleshoot the problems that might occurred during the cytogenetics analysis. This is essential for me as I will do the whole process of cytogenetics analysis alone after this one week in Singapore. If I was unable to troubleshoot the problems, it is not possible for me to know how to modify or optimize my skills or techniques when I cannot get the result. As we all know, there are plenty of factors that might influence our experiment results. The condition and environment in NUH might not exactly the same with University of Malaya Medical Centre. Thus, I have to prepare myself for that.

v. Attitude

Another thing that I wish to highlight is the attitude. In my opinion, the attitude can make things different. We can copy the same methods, but without the right attitude, we might achieve nothing. For this reason, I will observe the professionalism and attitude of the scientists in NUH as example to follow.

Lastly, there are five days for me to learn everything from here. I hope that I can be humble and enthusiastic in the whole learning process. Thanks to Professor Hany Ariffin for arranging all of these for me! Thanks to UMCRI to support me for this training! I will grab this opportunity to improve myself.