Tag: Thammasat University

A signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Chulabhorn International College of Medicine (CICM), Thammasat University, and Thai Herbs and Biologies Co., Ltd. (THB) in research and development projects for cannabis, hemp, kratom, and medicinal plants for medicinal uses with the following objectives:

1. Research on medicinal plants in animals and humans.
2. Development, innovation, processing related to natural products for medical purposes; and products from economic crops.
3. Audit to raise the standard of agricultural products and herbs (NON-LAB and LAB) and naturally processed products.
4. Develop publishing and joint patents in research and development in analytical and Assessment in agriculture of cash crops and herbs, as well as their processing into medical products health and products.
5. Treatment and research in humans with integrated medicine.

In this regard, Thai Herbs and Biologies Co., Ltd. have a plans to cooperate and support the organization of training programs for personnel and students for research and educational development in the field of natural products. Moreover, innovations to extend cannabis plants, hemp, kratom, and herbs as a product that can generate income for farmers, resulting in sustainability in the Thai economy and society.

The Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Thammasat University conducted research on “Innovation of Monoclonal Antibodies Production to the Dia blood type by Phage Display Technology” where the research team was led by Prof.Maj. Gen. Dr. Oytip Nathalang, Director of Graduate Programs and Asst.Prof.Dr. Jeeraphong Thanongsaksakul, Assistant Dean for Administration and Head of the Molecular Diagnosis Laboratory, Health Care Service Center, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, TU.

This technology is the production of “Antibody to specific blood type” that allows the test of an important blood type in Thailand and Asian populations, which is Dia (Diego a), to be more accurate and to prepare safe blood and blood products for patients who require regular blood transfusions.

Asst. Prof. Dr. Jeeraphong explained that the technology is initiated to simulate the mouse antibody library in vitro by Phage Display Technology which antibody genes are deposited into bacterial viral particles called “phages”. Each phage particle acts as a white blood cell to hold an antibody molecule on the particle surface with a variety of antibodies, which is called “antibody-phage library”.

“If antibodies to Dia blood type is required, we just simply match red blood cell molecules containing this blood type with a phage that have the antibody molecule on the particle surface of the specific Dia blood type. Consequently, specific antibodies will be selected to increase the amount of antibodies attached to phage particles in bacterial cells to be sufficient for testing for specificity of Dia blood type by a biotechnological process,”said Asst.Prof.Dr. Jeeraphong.

In addition, the method used by the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Thammasat University has a procedure to remove antibodies specific to other important and common blood types in Thai population in order to increase the specificity of the production of antibodies against Dia blood type.

Asst.Prof.Dr. Jeeraphong explained that currently the reagents used to test the Dia blood group must be imported. It is produced from the separation of lymph from the blood of people who produce antibodies to the Dia blood group.

“Each batch of the imported reagent is probably obtained from the same donor but at different times of collection or from different donors. This resulted in lot-to-lot variation because the antibodies produced in the human body vary according to the environmental response. However, the production of antibodies against Dia blood group that the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Thammasat University uses is a technique that produces antibodies in vitro with Phage Display Technology. Thus, the quality of antibodies in each batch is more stable,” Asst.Prof.Dr. Jeeraphong said

In addition, the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Thammasat University has signed an agreement and transferred technology knowledge with a biotechnology company in Germany in order to develop antibodies against Dia blood group that the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Thammasat University has produced to be suitable for use in daily diagnostic tests or in automated analyzers for further commercial reason.

“When TU passes on the prototype to them, they must develop it into an acceptable form as a medical device. If the development process is successful, the agreement we have signed will reach the commercial objective and if the formula works well, it can be sold which will allow patients to get an access to reagents and more accurate test that patients will be able to receive the matching blood group. This will reduce the side effects caused by the mismatch of blood,” Asst.Prof.Dr. Jeeraphong said.

Asst.Prof.Dr. Jeeraphong explained further that the production of antibodies benefited patients requiring surgery and blood to support the symptoms – life while losing blood during surgery. But for the group that will receive benefit the most is those who regularly require blood transfusions, such as, thalassemia patients because these patients are at high risk of getting a foreign blood type from each blood transfusion. If the blood group mismatch occurs, it may stimulate the immune system to reject. However, having accurate and easily accessible blood grouping reagents will help reduce the risk for such patients.

aculty of Public Health on behalf of Thammasat University signed a cooperation agreement on the promotion and development of comprehensive Digital Resilience for Thai youth under the “Vaccination Program for Digital Resilience and Cyberbullying Prevention for high school students in 5 regions in Thailand” on September 10, 2021 in order to raise awareness of online threats among youth, teachers and parents. This project encouraged Digital Resilience presented through Creative Media in which Digital Resilience assessment tools for youth have been developed, youth has been encouraged to participate in the development of creative media to promote Digital Resilience as well as network and integrated collaborative guidelines to promote Digital Resilience and complaint channels for young people who face online dangers.

The objective of cooperation between media funds and network partners will drive operation on cyberbullying solution as well as digital resilience to promote a safe and creative media ecosystem.

Assoc.Prof. Dr. Sasitorn Taptagaporn, Dean of the Faculty of Public Health, Thammasat University said that Thammasat University has its own outstanding identity as a model of democracy, anti-violence and anti-sexual harassment. Thammasat University and the Faculty of Public Health focus on issues of harassment or violence which teenagers face online, especially those that affect teenager’s health issues. Therefore, Thammasat University and the Faculty of Public Health are committed to preventing, improving and enhancing the health of teenagers who spend more time online. This is the work we have already worked on and will keep doing it.

This cooperation agreement is considered an important law that brings the cyber ​​resilience as a drive and encourage the Faculty of Public Health’s teachers and researchers to integrate the concept of cyber ​​resilience with teaching and learning approach and in-depth research on innovative health promotion. In addition, the Faculty of Public Health will act as a key player to communicate, promote and persuade Thammasat community including other faculties so that they can participate in this project.

This signing ceremony involves 8 organizations: the Ministry of Culture, Department of Mental Health, Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Education, Thammasat University, Chiang Mai University, the Council of Children and Youth of Thailand, and the Internet Foundation for the Development of Thailand and the Thai Media Fund together with the launch of comprehensive online platform developed in the project, the lectures on roles and responsibilities and the next steps of operation on Cyberbullying and Digital Resilience by representatives from 9 organizations and a special lecture on “How to build cyber resilience for Thai children”.

Thammasat University, Pattaya Campus (EECmd) led by Assoc. Prof. Kammal Kumar Pawa, M.D., Vice-Rector for Administration (Pattaya Campus), and Asst. Prof. Nattadon Pannucharoenwong, Ph.D., Assistant Rector for Administration (Pattaya Campus) discusses with Ms. Tassanee Kiat Phatraporn, Deputy Secretary-General for Area and Community Eastern Region, Eastern Economic Corridor Policy Office in the development of the Smart Sub-district Health Promoting Hospital System to help with disease screening for patients who come to the hospital under the concept of comprehensive medicine in order for the people to gain access to public health services. Initially, the system will be piloted at 3 smart sub-district health-promoting hospitals in 3 provinces in the Eastern Special Development Zone, namely Chachoengsao, Chonburi, and Rayong, with Thammasat Hospital, Pattaya Campus as the Command Center. In this regard, the intelligent sub-district health promotion hospital system is a project that responds to the policy of Thammasat Innopolis, an innovative city for health and wellness, elevating Thammasat to be more than a teaching and learning space to the space for ​​living. Initiate innovations that meet the needs of healthcare services and improve the quality of life of patients and medical professionals in Thailand and the world.

“Istituto Marangoni”, a leading design institute with a world-class reputation founded in 1935 in Milan. It is currently ranked in the TOP 5 of the world, offering teaching in all fields of fashion, whether it is Design, Styling, Photography, Communication, Promotion, Marketing or Business, becoming the ambition of the new generation around the world who wish to apply and study.

Primrose, Ms. Chulalak Chaikarn, a student from the Textile and Fashion Design Program, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Thammasat University is one of the very few people who have been selected by the institute to receive the Istituto Marangoni Scholarship: February 2022 to study the Master’s Degree in Fashion Luxury Brand Management program at Istituto Marangoni Institute, London Campus, having tuition fee reduced by around 2,500 pounds or about 115,000 Thai Baht.

Primrose said that normally, Istituto Marangoni has joint ventures with leading brands and there is also a scholarship of the university itself. It will accept no more than 3 scholarship students per class. This round is the university’s scholarship in which the institute will assign problems in accordance with the requirement of each major as part of the application process.

Fashion management is the program that “Primrose” applied. Therefore, there is no need to do a clothing design project like the fashion design major. However, the consideration criteria will be focused on outstanding work experience expressed through Statement of Purpose (SOP) and Curriculum Vitae (CV) along with academic results.

Although during her bachelor’s degree studying, “Primrose” was majoring in fashion, however, chose to study marketing as a minor subject, therefore has a portfolio and work experience in both fashion and marketing and having also various contest projects with guaranteed prizes.

Starting from her 1st year of study, she was the winner of the Sakura Collection 2018 Asia Student Award in Thailand competition and was representing Thailand in bringing the works to show on the runway collection of the Japanese fashion in Japan, and went on to study a short-term fashion course at the Bunka Fashion School in Japan. During that time, she had the opportunity to work part-time in a Japanese company for almost a year and later decided to quit to attend additional special classes in the field of pattern-making.

During her study, she has never been spared from submitting projects for any contests and accepting freelance jobs both on logo design, graphic work, and clothing design for various brands via Instagram to keep up with all the skills. Until the third year, she started to initiate her own clothing brand, Le moral, as a joint venture with her friend.

Primrose said that for Fashion Luxury Brand Management, most of the people who study and receive scholarships are graduates in marketing or management in particular. But even though she studied fashion however want to acquire knowledge to build on, so she decided to study in this major.

Artificial Intelligence Association of Thailand (AIAT) in collaboration with the National Electronics and Computer Center, Academic Institutes of Artificial Intelligence Network, University Network and over 60 private sector organizations presented “Gold Medal Award” to outstanding talent participating in the Super AI Engineer program to Mr. Isada Sukprapha, a Master’s degree student from the Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things (AI&IoT-TAIST Tokyo Tech) Program, Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology (SIIT), Thammasat University and “Silver Medal Award” to Ms. Romrawin Chumpoo, a Master’s degree student from the Engineering and Technology Program, SIIT, TU as well.

For the award winners, it is required that they pass the program assessment and join to work with leading private companies in Thailand in which the company’s evaluation after the program participants have applied their knowledge of AI to help develop or solve the obstacles of the company’s business is regarded as the main scoring.

Mr. Isada revealed that the Super AI Engineer program is open to those who are interested in developing AI skills. There will be classes and assessments and is divided into three levels. This means that if the participants meet the required score, they will be evaluated in order to progress to the next level. By passing to the second level, the participanting companies in Thailand will be providing participants with different real world business problems faced by them. Participants will be divided into groups to use AI to help solve problems of each week. When passing to the third level, those who participate in the program will be able to sign up to join the real work with companies they are interested in and comply to their keen abilities, such as data analysis, image processing, etc.

Ms. Romrawin said that she had just discovered the passion of coding during her study in chemical engineering. There was one coding subject within the course in which she found enjoyable and admired. This provided her the opportunity to participate in this program and as well had a chance to study all subjects in relevant to artificial intelligence that would normally be taught by subject.

For the first season of Super AI Engineer program in 2020, there were more than 2,059 applicants, having those who passed the post-training proficiency assessment as; 8 gold medalists, 19 silver medalists and 45 bronze medalists.

This research is the discovery of thw world new orchid species in the Corybas Salisb. genus having Prof. Dr. Janejaree Inuthai from the Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University as a member of the research team together with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sahat Chantanaorapin, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University; Dr. Somran Suddee, Forest Botany Group Forest and Plant Conservation Research Office, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation; Dr. Naiyana Tessana, Forest Botany Work Group, Forest and Plant Conservation Research Office, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation; Mr. Manop Phophat, Forest Botany Work Group, Forest and Plant Conservation Research Office, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and; Mr. Wittawat Khiaobang, Forest Economics Division, Royal Forest Department, which has been published in the PhytoKeys journals.

This new species of orchid is called “The Gemstone of Nakhon Si Thammarat” or Corybas papillatus Inuthai, Chantanaorr. & Suddee in the Corybas genus or a small soil orchid. At present, there are approximately 120 species propagated in India, southern China, southern Thailand, Malaysia, New Zealand and the Western Pacific Islands Region.

The title ‘Corybas papillatus’ is named after the papillae that appear on the posterior half of the dorsal sepal. This orchid is similar to Corybas villosus J. Dransf. & Gord. Sm. and Corybas ridleyanus Schltr. However, C. papillatus differs from the two aforementioned orchids in that the base of the lateral calyx connects to the lateral lobe, and that C. villosus has ridged upper calyx back. C. ridleyanus has a truncated upper calyx which is clearly different from the new species.

Prof. Dr. Janejaree Inuthai from the Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University revealed that the new orchid species is a species at critical risk of extinction (Critically Endangered) according to IUCN guidelines. However, since this new species of orchid is very small, this allow them to escape from the sight of the explorer. Currently, only 4 plants of this orchid species have been found and is from only one area that is Khao Luang, Khao Luang National Park, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. It was discovered only once in the 2018 survey and sample collection.

In the past, there have been continuous reports of the discovery of the world and Thailand new orchid species from the Nakhon Si Thammarat mountain range. This shows that the southern region of the country is an important region in terms of Thailand orchid diversity.

In July 2021, Associate Professor Gasinee Witoonchartwas once again appointed by the EFMD as the “First Thai” to sit in a high-ranking executive position, namely “the EMFD Board (Board of Trustees) in order to join in setting the direction for studies in international business administration.

In today’s modern world, the direction and trends for global business administration, tend to be involved with and led by accreditation institutions for world-class educational standards in business administration. There are three giant institutions in this group: 1. The EFMD, or the European Foundation for Management Development is an accreditation institution for educational standards in Europe; 2. The AACSB, or the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business is an accreditation institution for educational standards in the United States of America and 3. The AMBA, or the Association of MBAs is an accreditation institutions for educational standards in the United Kingdom.

The main duties of all three of these institutions is to certify educational standards for faculties of business administration at accredited universities celebrated as “Owners of the Crown”. Nevertheless, although the business administration curriculum involves arranging lessons in leading universities worldwide, less than 1% of all accredited universities offering this curriculum meet the standards of these three institutions, or are owners of the “Triple Crown”.

But the Business School at Thammasat University under the leadership of Assoc. Assoc. Prof. Gasinee Witoonchart, Rector of Thammasat University, had been one of the successful owners of the Triple Crown in that 1%.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, the name, “Assoc. Prof. Gasinee ” has been widely mentioned as a model for leading academic institutions to serve society. And over the past year, her name has been in the spotlight again for her appointment as the only EFMD Fellow in Asia.

Assoc. Assoc. Prof. Gasinee says that EFMD expects Thammasat University to serve as a network or hub in ASEAN to link with organizations in the business sector, including institutions offering courses in business administration for advancement toward quality at the international level together.

The Board of Trustees is the high-ranking board that sets EFMD policy, which includes connections with the government, businesses and academic institutions all over the world to join together in the development and application of business administration knowledge, further including the setting of evaluation criteria for developing the capacity of academic institutions in the field of business administration worldwide, leading the way to what education should be in the future.

For example, EFMD has specified that current trends are international, ethical and cooperative matters with various organizations for the development of knowledge and society together, which will lead to global business administration aimed at development of courses. Otherwise, EFMD will not grant accreditation.

From Assoc. Assoc. Prof. Gasinee’s point of view, business administration during and after the COVID-19 era will undo tremendous changes. Businesses need agility with constant adaptation to rapidly changing situations, continually developing people through up-skilling/re-skilling, which is the core of corporate success. Access to new technology is not limited to only large companies. For example, small restaurants can benefit from the Food Delivery application by accessing new customer bases, which boosts their competitive capacity like never before. Therefore, universities have a duty to enable everyone to access new knowledge anytime, anywhere. The development of skills should be lifelong learning. Thammasat University has developed online platforms for anyone who is interested in developing new skills. Furthermore, they can accumulate units until they’ve earned a master’s degree.

For her primary mission after receiving this EFMD appointment, Assoc. Assoc. Prof. Gasinee and Thammasat University are prepared to host international conferences in order to inform organizations in Thailand and the ASEAN region.

“The even we’re about to organize will involve getting international organizations and leading world-class universities to accept best practice in various aspects, so they can exchange experiences for integration of knowledge and cooperation among international organizations,” said Assoc. Assoc. Prof. Gasinee.

This conference will be a pilot conference in expanding participation. Thammasat University will invite organizations in ASEAN to attend, so they can exchange knowledge about good corporate governance accepted at the international level.

Although society is becoming more open, understanding and accepting of gender diversity, however the problem of gender inequality still does exist.

Youth, people of new generation and student at Thammasat University, therefore established a social driving group under the name of “TU Changemaker” hoping to foster changes, especially on sexual harassment and gender equality.

Mr. Siwakorn Tassanasorn (Buzzy), a 4th year student from the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Thammasat University who served as Vice President of the Thammasat University Student Union, Rangsit Campus for the academic year 2021, one of the key driving forces in the work of the TU Changemaker Group, said that the TU Changemaker Group is a gathering of students who are keen in various fields, both management, marketing strategy, and politics joined the working group with Prof. Dr. Oraphan Pochanukul, former Vice President for Student Affairs, Ms. Uraiwan Chartthong and Ms. Montira Nakwichian, United Nations Communications Specialist and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) to support and advise.

The very first mission of the TU Changemaker group is to conduct a mental conditioning workshop for the LGBTQ+ groups to provide them a space to vent, allow every of them to see that they are not the only one facing with the problems, aiming for them to have a more optimistic view of the world and leave behind of the past for a fresh start in life. The next project is about adolescent pregnancy, with the perception that it is unecessary for teenage mothers to drop from school, wishing the society to understand that there is nothing wrong being pregnant. When it comes to delivery time, they are able to take maternity leave and later come back to study.

“Buzzy” mentioned about the starting point in driving to foster social changes. It was from the environment in which he lived in during his childhood, often seeing violence and abuse against women by men. But personally, fortunately, his family does not encounter with any of those situations, therefore, hoping for friends or children of his generation to also be receiving these good fortunes.

“I first started from knowing nothing, gradually expanding until I had the opportunity to be the voice of students, being the spokesperson of Thammasat University, having had the opportunity to be the Vice President of the Thammasat University Student Union, being one of the committee to promote gender safety and understanding and having been awarded the Equity Award 2020 from the United Nations (UN). Such responsibilities and award do allow me to facilitate as an image and symbol of discussion on gender equality which is able to change the society,” Buzzy concluded.

Images of the suffering from the flood situation as a result of the depression “Dian Mu” that caused damage to people in the north, the northeast and the upper central region, causing the Thai society to raise big questions about the government’s flood countermeasures.

Not only in the severely affected areas, but the images of the damage have frightened Bangkok residents and brought back bad memories from the great flood in the year 2011.

In the midst of the feeling of insecurity, many people have risen up to build a surveillance system as well as create innovations to live with water or “Living with Water” by themselves.

One of them is “Am (phi) bious”, an award winning project from the contest of Water Disaster Response Learning Station, under the project “Save Ubon” by students of Thammasat University (TU). The project is currently being built and actually installed in Ban Nong Kin Phen School, Warin Chamrap District, Ubon Ratchathani Province.

Ban Nong Kin Phen School is considered a “prototype” of adapting to live with water in other areas, can be applied according to their own context. This school accepts students from kindergarten to elementary level and if there is no flood situation, the school spaces will be used for the students to do activities.

However, Mr. Thanabadee Thanatak and Mr. Narachit Krotprom, 4th year students from the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Thammasat University see an opportunity to adapt school spaces to cope with flooding. Therefore, jointly designed a new building in the style of “floating building” where around 20 to 30 people can come to live in a sustainable way. There are sufficient vegetation plots, food and clean water for long-term living.

Within the building, there is also an activity room zone for students to learn and acquire information of the proper actions in the event of flooding as well.

 

Mr. Thanabadee said that the style of the architectural project was designed to be flexible. The floating form of the building is similar to the raft with an oil tank underneath. The building is modular, making the proportions and scale of the architecture easy to manage and is able to use standard size materials that are generally available. This is to minimize the amount of materials and reduce material costs. This prevents the cost of the project from escalating and increases the possibility of construction.

“Clean water is essential to life. We therefore design a system to separate drinking water from water for general uses and there are areas to plant homegrown vegetables that are eatable without having to process or season. When there is a flood, this part of the vegetation can be used for living. The capacity to accommodate people to come to shelter during the flood is about 20 to 30 people,” said Mr. Thanabodee.

It is certain that the project “Am (phi) bious” has attracted attention and has been extended to achieve real construction. But with a limited budget of only two hundred thousand Thai baht, causing the reduction in size by more than half and changes to some structures which was initially designed to accommodate 20-30 people down to only about 10 people when it comes to actual construction.

“Fortunately, when initially designing, ready-made construction materials were already used which is not a custom size. Therefore, there is no need to adjust anything much. After completion, this building will be set up in front of the school. While in normal circumstances, it can be used as a meeting point for parents to pick up their children,” Mr. Thanabadee explained.

This TU student also said that all the knowledge learned from the university was used in the design. But when they encounter with the actual job, they need to learn to adjust which must be consistent and based on the interests of users. In the construction process, lecturers from the Faculty of Architecture has come to support in the selection of the structural material for cost efficiency.

As for the construction of the Water Disaster Response Learning Station “Am (phi) bious”, we have already discussed with the contractor and there is coordination to Ubon Ratchathani University to help monitor the construction as well, as it is close to the actual construction site which is expected to be completed before the end of this year.

“This is the first design project to receive an award and actually be constructed. It is different from the previous one that was designed only as a class project. The issues and obstacles that arise are considered very important experiences. Personally, I surely enjoyed and feel happy to design and insist on creating new projects to drive society,” said the student.