Volume 3 of the Asian Youth Journal of Biology.

Original Article
A Baseline Comparative Ecotoxicological Study of Abundance, Physiological, Cellular and Biochemical Responses of Archaster typicus Found on St John’s Island and Pulau Hantu
by Hao Yuan Ang, Jani Thuaibah Isa Tanzil, and Beverly Pi Lee Goh
Asian Youth Journal of Biology 2023, 4:1-18   [PDF of article] 

Abstract. Echinoderms have increasingly become subjects of interest as possible biomarkers and bioindicators due to their abundance, ecological relevance and high sensitivity to many contaminants and environmental stressors. The common sea star, Archaster typicus, found along sandy inter-tidal areas in the Southern Islands of Singapore, was utilised in this baseline study to compare the density, physiological, cellular and biochemical responses to the environment at St John’s
Island and Pulau Hantu, and to determine if the employed biomarkers could serve as expedient and effective indicators of environmental change. Three field surveys each were conducted at St John’s Island with three-month intervals (September 2020, December 2020 & March 2021) and Pulau Hantu with one-month intervals (January 2021, February 2021 & March 2021). The physiological biomarker tested was the righting behaviour, cellular biomarker involved cellular lysosome response through the neutral red retention time (NRRT) assay, and biochemical assays included the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay and the total glutathione (GLUT) assay. Results showed that righting response and GLUT concentration were the two biomarkers with better predictability of environmental change and pollution, with an increase in response shown with increasing environmental stress. Seasonality, or specifically the monsoon seasons was a dominant environmental stressor.

Original Article
Co-Expression of Nucleocapsid (N) and Membrane (M) Proteins of SARS-CoV-2 in Mammalian Cells and Probing with Existing Specific Monoclonal Antibodies.
by Fu Yi Kan, Ravikumar Rajamanonmani and Mookkan Prabakaran
Asian Youth Journal of Biology 2023, 4:19-26   [PDF of article]  

Abstract. SARS-CoV-2 is a novel beta-coronavirus with positive-sense, single-stranded ribonucleic acid (ssRNA) encoding 16 non-structural proteins, 9 accessory proteins, and four structural proteins: spike (S), envelope (E), membrane (M), and nucleocapsid (N). Probing immunologically the two structural proteins, N and M, which are essential for the Ribonucleocapsid assembly, using specific monoclonal antibodies (mAb) already developed in house, forms the aim of the study. The results of the study will lead to antibody or assembly-based drug designing and discovery.