June 20, 2025
I’m Zi Kang Ooi, a first year PhD student in the Longley Lab at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI). Earlier this June, I had the opportunity to travel to Medan and Jakarta in Indonesia, with the generous support of an ACREME Travel Grant. The purpose of the trip was to support the ZOOMAL project, a collaboration led by the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin. This visit was an important part of my PhD and a chance to strengthen relationships with our international collaborators.
As part of the ZOOMAL project, we analyse serological samples to understand zoonotic malaria transmission in Indonesia. Due to local regulations, human samples cannot leave the country, which means I will need to travel to Indonesia to carry out lab work. In the first two weeks of June, I visited Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) in Medan, where Dr Inke Nadia Lubis and her team are based. The team recently received a Luminex MAGPIX system but had not used it before. My role was to train them on how to set up and operate the system so that we can begin generating reliable data for the project. In addition to that, I was also invited to give a talk on Plasmodium knowlesi surveillance using multiplex serology to all the undergraduate and residents of USU.
In the third week, I travelled to EXEINS Health Initiative (EHI) in Jakarta, where Dr Rintis Noviyanti and her team are based. As they are already experienced with the Luminex MAGPIX system, my focus was on ensuring that both sites in Indonesia are using a standardised protocol to produce consistent, high-quality results. On my way back, I was also invited by Dr Zulkarnain Md Idris to give a talk at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), where I presented how multiplex serology can support Plasmodium knowlesi surveillance. It was a great opportunity to exchange ideas with researchers working on a wide range of infectious diseases.
This was a very meaningful and productive trip for my PhD, and I am grateful to ACREME for supporting this travel through the training grant. I look forward to continuing this important work in the months ahead.
