Our Research Group
Founded in 2008, we have passionately carried out research on medicinal mushrooms and have diligently gathered data for the benefit and advancement of humankind.
We are pioneers in Tiger Milk Mushroom Scientific Research - FIRST in MALAYSIA and the world. Tiger Milk Mushroom is hailed as the Malaysian Medicinal Gem. The Tiger Milk Mushroom has long been extolled for its medicinal properties and has been used for the treatment of asthma, cough, fever, cancer, liver-related illnesses, and joint pains and as a tonic.
The history of usage for Tiger Milk Mushroom dated back to almost 500 years ago, but there were no records of scientific studies done due to unavailability of sufficient samples. Even when there were samples collected from the wild, the supply and quality were inconsistent. With the advent of cultivation success of one of the most utilized species of tiger milk mushroom (Lignosus rhinocerus TM02®) in 2009, scientific investigation was done to validate its traditional use and to investigate its safety for consumption and biochemical and biopharmacological properties using TM02® extract produced via ACE-Tech, xLr™.
Among the properties that have been investigated to date are antiproliferative, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, nutritional, immunomodulatory, and neuritogenesis activities of the xLr™. The scientific findings have so far verified some of its traditional applications and revealed interesting data which shows potential for it to be further developed into possible nutraceutical. More scientific investigations are much needed to validate the medicinal properties of Tiger Milk Mushroom across its species and to unveil potential biomolecules that may form a valuable foundation in pharmaceutical and industrial applications.
In Malaysia, three species of genus Lignosus have been identified: Lignosus rhinocerus, Lignosus tigris, and Lignosus cameronensis. Taxonomically, Lignosus rhinocerus is distinct from the rest of the Lignosus species. Prior to the discovery and identification of Lignosus tigris and Lignosus cameronensis as two separate and distinct species from Lignosus rhinocerus, these were often described and used interchangeably as Lignosus rhinocerus. To date, the wild types of these three species are still being referred to as Lignosus rhinocerus, as the sclerotia are often collected without intact stipe and cap, which make it hard to differentiate among the three.
Our endeavours have since advanced from bench to bedside and now encompasses more medicinal mushrooms from the same Lignosus family in Malaysia upon its discovery. We have also embarked on other medicinal mushrooms of therapeutic value to improve quality of life and to compound scientific data to support its therapeutic usages.
The Team
Prof. ChM. Dr. Fung Shin Yee
Lead Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Fung Shin Yee actively pursues her interest in natural compounds focusing on medicinal mushrooms. She leads the Medicinal Mushroom Research Group (MMRG) and has immense interest in the Malaysia’s National Treasure, the Tiger Milk mushrooms (Lignosus sp.) amongst other medicinal mushrooms.
Her innovative work with Lignosus sp. has won her several prestigious international and local prizes - including the much coveted Prix Du Salon International Des Inventions De Geneva and ITEX Gold awards; and a number of Malaysian patents. Her interest also includes other prized medicinal mushrooms such as the Ophiocordyceps sinensis, Antrodia camphorata, Inonotus obliquus (Chaga) and Sanghwang - to name a few.
Her research endeavours utilize a multidisciplinary approach in her methodology with multiple collaborators both local and international. Her work transcended from bench to bedside - a translational research that aims to bring the Malaysian medicinal gem to good use, promoting wellness to humankind.
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As a person constantly intrigued by the answers provided by nature for the problems faced in human health and social issues, she strongly believes that nature has many hidden secrets, which if one can tap into, will provide many solutions and platform from which to learn from. This has led her to her primary interest in natural compounds with healing properties.
Her work has been published in many high impact articles in international journals and books.
She is the Founder and CTO of Essenti Nutrien Sdn. Bhd. who specialises and pioneers the ACE Technology.
Ts. Dr. Yeannie Yap Hui Yeng
Principal Investigator
Dr. Yeannie Yap Hui Yeng is a highly skilled biomedical scientist with Professional Technologist certification. She earned her degree from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman and went on to pursue an MSc (UTAR, 2009) and a PhD in Molecular Medicine (University of Malaya, 2011), specializing in prion diseases and medicinal mushrooms.
Her research interests primarily revolve around translational research in cancer biology and biopharmaceutical studies. She focuses on investigating the bioactivities, purification, and characterization of natural compounds. Her dedication to advancing knowledge in her field is evident through her academic positions. She currently serves as a Senior Lecturer at MAHSA University. Prior to that, she worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and was awarded Endeavour Research Fellowship by the Government of Australia to train at University of Western Australia and the Australian National University.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Fazril Mohamad Razif
Principal Investigator
Dr. Muhammad Fazril Razif became a member of the Department of Molecular Medicine, Universiti Malaya in March 2014. He completed his undergraduate education at Murdoch University (Perth, Western Australia) in 2007 with a double degree: Bachelor of Science (Biomedical Science/Molecular Biology) and Bachelor of Forensics (Forensic Biology and Toxicology; Minor in Criminology).
In 2008, he completed his Bachelor of Science (Molecular Biology) Honours degree on his project 'Association between Polymorphisms 3' of ApoE and Susceptibility to Schizophrenia and its Subtypes'. In 2009, he joined the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, in collaboration with the University of Western Australia to undertake his PhD research. After four years, he received his PhD from the School of Medicine and Pharmacology with his project entitled “RNA-binding Proteins: Unravelling the code".
During his candidature, Dr. Fazril was short-listed as a State-finalist for the AusBiotech-GSK Student Excellence Awards (2011) for his project. He has worked on numerous research projects including the expression and validation of synthetic proteins, genomic and transcriptomic studies on acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, diabetes and schizophrenia, and studies on medicinal mushrooms and mitochondria biology.
In 2017, he joined the Medicinal Mushroom Research Group (MMRG) and has great interest in studying the genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics of medicinal mushrooms. His current research focuses on the expression of novel proteins found in medicinal mushrooms and the identification of their bioactivities in vitro and in vivo. He has graduated 2 PhD and 2 MSc students and is currently supervising 4 PhD and 1 MSc student. To date, he has published 3 Book chapters and 14 research articles and has received 9 research grants (3 as Principal Investigator).
Dr. Kong Boon Hong
Principal Investigator
Dr. Kong Boon Hong obtained her PhD in Molecular Medicine from the Universiti Malaya in 2018. She has a great interest in natural products, particularly medicinal mushrooms, and in the use of these products for drug discovery and development.
In her PhD study, she investigated the toxicity and anticancer properties of Lignosus tigris. Her discovery of a nuclease from the mushroom with anticancer properties has granted her a patent.
Since completing her PhD, Dr. Kong has joined the Medicinal Mushroom Research Group as a postdoctoral research fellow to continue researching medicinal mushrooms, including Lignosus spp., Ophiocordyceps sinensis, and Volvariella volvacea.
She is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Molecular Medicine. Her research interest is in translational research on the health effects of natural products. She focuses on further exploration of the bioactive properties of medicinal mushrooms to uncover their potential to be developed into a healthcare product for the prevention and mitigation of a wide range of diseases.