Annual Review 2014 | Page 12

Research Highlights 2014 We are a global university, driven with In line with not our passion to not a passion only to educate but only to make a but difference, line with the call to educate also to in make a difference, “equip yourself for life, solely for significant progress has not been made your own benefit but for the benefit of in research through the campus' the whole community.” six multidisciplinary platforms. (Sir John Monash, 1865 – 1931) Visible Light Communications (VLC) and Related Technologies The Light Emitting Diodes (LED) industry is a million-dollar market with an increasing popularity in the average modern life. Listed as a key economic area in the Malaysian Government’s Economic Transformation Program, a growth in the industry would inevitably beckon the development of cutting-edge technology. In Monash Malaysia, a state of the art research environment has been created as part of the development of a high quality intelligent lighting research facility – the first such comprehensive lighting research environment in Malaysia to support optoelectronic innovation environment. Industry partners Centre for Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science and Technology Telekom Research and Development Sdn Bhd ItraMAS Corporation 10 Researchers Assoc. Prof Rajendran Parthiban Dr Masuduzzaman Bakaul Dr Vineetha Kalavally Dr Mohamed Hisham Jaward Prof Jussi Parkkinen (External) Dilukshan Karunatilake Joshua Han Nah Yew Fahad Zafar A Manual for Estimating the Economic Burden of Seasonal Influenza Seasonal influenza is an acute viral infection, a serious public health problem that can cause severe illness and death in high risk populations. The Global Influenza Program (GIP) under the World Health Organisation (WHO) has commissioned Monash Malaysia to develop a manual and toolkit to guide information collection, which in turn will facilitate policy makers to make informed and evidence-based decisions to combat seasonal influenza in the society. The project was completed and submitted to the WHO for review on 31 August, 2014. Industry partner World Health Organisation Researchers Prof Nathorn Chaiyakunapruk Dr Surachai Kotirum Dr Anthony Newall (School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Australia) Towards Stronger Vector Control The number of cases and deaths caused by dengue viruses (DENV) reached an all-time high in 2014, with a staggering 108,698 dengue cases reported nationwide. Dengue deaths were also on an upward trend. Our researchers, who have been studying vector control strategies since 2011, responded to the worrying situation with the discovery of novel mosquito midgut-DENV interacting proteins during infections in mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti). These mosquito midgut-DENV binding proteins will be used to formulate new strategies for vector control, including the production of chimaeric multiple antigenic vaccines for human against mosquito midgut proteins. Industry partner Ministry of Higher Education (2012 – 2014) Researchers Assoc. Prof Dr Sharifah Syed Hassan Tham Hong Wai Dr Vinod RMTB Dr Bimo Tejo (Universiti Putra Malaysia) Dr. Hamdan Ahmad (Universiti Sains Malaysia)