Omics Applications for Systems Biology

This book explains omics at the most basic level, including how this new concept can be properly utilized in molecular and systems biology research. Most reviews and books on this topic have mainly focused on the technicalities and complexity of each omics’ platform, impeding readers to wholly understand its fundamentals and applications. This book tackles such gap and will be most beneficial to novice in this area, university students and even researchers. Basic workflow and practical guidance in each omics are also described, such that scientists can properly design their experimentation effectively. Furthermore, how each omics platform has been conducted in our institute (INBIOSIS) is also detailed, a comprehensive example on this topic to further enhance readers’ understanding. The contributors of each chapter have utilized the platforms in various manner within their own research and beyond. The contributors have also been interactively integrated and combined these different omics approaches in their research, being able to systematically write each chapter with the conscious knowledge of other inter-relating topics of omics.

The potential readers and audience of this book can come from undergraduate and postgraduate students who wish to extend their comprehension in the topics of molecular biology and big data analysis using omics platforms. Furthermore, researchers and scientists whom may have expertise in basic molecular biology can extend their experimentation using the omics technologies and workflow outlined in this book, benefiting their research in the long run.

Dr. Wan Mohd Aizat received his Bachelor and PhD degrees from The University of Adelaide, Australia majoring in Biotechnology and Plant Science, respectively. He has then assumed research fellow position at the Institute of Systems Biology (INBIOSIS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia. His main research interest is in multi-omics study, in particular employing proteomics to decipher protein profile of various species from plants such as mangosteen and Persicaria minor, animals such as rats and commercial meat products as well as human. He has also received formal training for various mass spectrometry instruments including Bruker Q-TOF and Thermo Fisher Orbitrap, as well as conducted proteomics classes and workshops periodically.

Dr. Hoe-Han Goh received his Bachelor and PhD degrees from The University of Sheffield, United Kingdom with specialisation in Plant Molecular Systems Biology. His first and current academic position is at INBIOSIS, UKM as a research fellow. He was appointed as the Head of Plant Biotechnology Centre and currently as a Head of Centre for Bioinformatics Research. He has established a Plant Functional Genomics Research Group with research focus on elucidating the functional genomics of tropical plants for biomolecular discovery and crop improvement towards human wellbeing. His research approaches incorporate multiomics strategy with bioinformatics integration for systems understanding. His major research specialisation is on transcriptomics with the latest sequencing technology including Illumina and PacBio.

Dr Syarul Nataqain Baharum received her PhD in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from Universiti Putra Malaysia. She then received her postdoctoral training in the field of metabolomics at The University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. She has been appointed as Senior Research Fellow at Institute of Systems Biology (INBIOSIS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia. Her research is focused on the new insight of analytical and biological perspectives of the metabolomics in the field of systems biology. It is particularly aimed on the understanding of secondary metabolite production in local herbs plant as well as fluxomics studies of Lactococcus lactis. Her work has been awarded prestigious awards including BioInnovation Awards in 2011 and Selangor My Innovation Award, 2014. Currently, she is the Principal Investigator of Metabolomics Research Group and the Head of Centre for Genome Analysis and Technology and the Head of Centre for Plant Biotechnology at INBIOSIS, UKM.