The third GOP program in 2011 brings Bioinformatics and Molecular Modeling Group (BIRG) to travel to Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The program ran for 9 days from 19th until 26th May 2011. The exploration team of ten master students and 1 research officer was led by the head of BIRG research group, Dr. Shahir Shamsir, senior lecturer of Faculty of Biosciences and Medical Engineering. Their exploration theme was “Knowledge can be explored anywhere as long as we determine to find one”. The delegation visited the Beijing Genome Institute (BGI) organization’s headquaters which was relocated to Shenzhen from Beijing. As a government funded organization, their research focus on whole genome sequencing, genome/gene variation study, gene regulation study and metagenomics. Their strengths are in new generation sequencing, target region capture and immune marker. In addtion, the group also visited Ocean Park of Hong Kong and toured Macau. The group was amazed at what they observed at Pixar Exhibition “Pixar:25 years of Animation” in Hong Kong Heritage Museum. In Hong Kong, they visited University of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. This trip was certainly an eye-opener to our students and had established research collaboration as well as opportunity for postgraduate exchange.
