Innovations and technologies are becoming increasingly important as drivers of national industrial economies. Thailand is ranked 52 out of 128 countries in the Global Innovation Index. Influential factors that will promote and enhance innovative research and development in Thailand include the establishment of legal intellectual property (IP) protection. Currently, researchers take IP protection for granted and many of them neglect to apply for patent mapping before starting projects.

Indonesia is considered one of the top investment countries in medical device industry. It is remarkable from the investment perspective which is more than 7 million US dollars. Currently, Indonesia has 242 medical device manufactories. Two key factors that have driven the growth of the medical device industry are the government policy that regulates to use domestic products and the encouragement for continuous development of the medical device industry.

Infertility is common regardless of country, race and ethnicity, with one out of every ten couples facing this problem. There are a myriad of possible causes, such as deficiencies in the semen (e.g. an absent or low sperm count, low quality sperms), diseases and conditions such as mumps, hernia, hydrocele, varicose veins, the obstruction of ejaculatory duct due to sterilization or inflammation, genetic disorders and hormone imbalances.

Researchers at the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) in the United States of America have created a low-cost needle simulator that trains doctors to perform complex and delicate medical procedures. The handheld simulator is intended to provide an alternative for existing training approaches involving mannequins, which are expensive and are incapable of imitating all kinds of patients or settings.

The researcher reported experimental results in gene therapy technology in mice which showed efficacy for type 2 diabetes and obesity treatment with no long-term complications or relapse. This experiment used a gene therapy carrier in healthy mice which prevented weight gain from age including insulin resistance. Hence, when mice aged they remained healthy. This discovery was made at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain and the research was led by Professor Fatima Bos.

The Clinical Sequencing and APSHG Autumn School of Clinical Genetic 2018 will be held between the 31st of October to the 4th of November 2018 at the National University of Singapore. This is the second time that the event is organized by the Asia Pacific Society of Human Genetics (APSHG).
The purpose of the event is as follows:

TxCell is a pharmaceutical manufacturer, who uses patients’ immunosuppression (regulatory T-cell : Tregs), has collaborated with Lonza to produce pharmaceutical products by using HLA-A2 CAR-Treg.

Doctors in the United Kingdom have restored the eyesight of two patients suffering from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by treating them with stem cells. A common form of sight loss around the world that affects over 1,000,000 Canadians (according to CNIB estimates), AMD is caused by abnormal blood vessels leaking fluid into a portion of the retina. AMD commonly causes problems with central vision, blurriness and dark areas, making its patients unable to live a normal life by rendering activities like reading and driving difficult.

‘You are what you eat.’ In the quest for a healthier lifestyle, it is no surprise that consumers are becoming increasingly health conscious with regards to what kind of food they are eating. With research into the nutritional values of ingredients both new and old, the results of such research often influence the popularity of dietary supplements from year to year.

The sixth Sustainable Cosmetic Summit will be held from 12-13 November 2018 at The Excelsior, Hong Kong. This year, the focus will be on natural and environmentally friendly ingredients as well as good marketing practices for cosmetics. Apart from the forum, there will be workshops for visitors