About Us
Who We Are
We work for the Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, to deliver a world class medical school that brings value to Thai society and all mankind.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
RESEARCH
ANALYTIC SERVICE
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine was established in the year 1975 together with the establishment of Khon Kaen University Medical Center. Since the first head of department Asst. Dr. Netrachaleo Sanpitak (ผศ. ดร. เนตรเฉลียว สัณฑ์พิทักษ์), through the past 40 years, and 10 department heads, the department of biochemistry has continually grown and progressed to deliver research and education for regional and international levels. Currently, the department is led by Asso. Prof. Nisana Namwat (รศ. ดร. นิษณา นามวาท) and consists of 28 staff – 18 academic staff and 10 supporting staff.
Education and Training
MD Education
We are responsible for 3 compulsory modules for the Faculty of Medicine. Our academic staff are also part of committees and teaching teams in cross-department modules for medical students in pre-clinical years. For details of MD education, please see Academics Affairs, Faculty of Medicine
Undergraduate and Graduate Teaching
In addition to training future medical doctors, we provide biochemistry modules for 9 undergraduate programs in other health science faculties. This includes; for examples, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science, Faculty of Public Health and Faculty of Dentistry.
For the post-graduate study, the Department of Biochemistry has run Master Program in Medical Biochemistry since 1992, and PhD program in Medical Biochemistry since 1999. The curriculum has been constantly updated to provide students training on recent development and advance technology. Research outputs from our graduate programs are published at international level. Graduate students are trained to become a competent researchers who can communicate, synthesis, and distill insight from the research to solve practical problem. Currently, we provide Graduate Program in Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (International Program, MSc and PhD), as well as PhD double degree program (DDP) in collaboration with Kumamoto University, Japan.
Non-degree Training
Current updates on molecular biology and biochemistry are made available to life-long learners through our non-degree training programs. Available trainings focus on high-throughput metabolomics – a frontier technology that allows in-depth analysis of small molecules and metabolites in substances such as herbs, natural products, body tissues, and biofluids. See CliNaP-M (Clinical and Natural Product Metabolomics) Facebook page and website and to learn more. More topics for non-degree trainings, on-site and online versions, are in process and will be announced through our Biochemistry Department’s Facebook page.
Research
Our research drives development of Thailand and neighbouring countries through investigation on important health problems including liver fluke infection and bile duct cancer, melioidosis, chronic kidney disease. We fill the knowledge gaps with basic science and push for applications on diagnostic, prevention and treatments in order to improve health and well-being of the people and communities.
Analytical Service
Our department serve the genetic disease diagnosis laboratory (ห้องปฏิบัติการตรวจวินิจฉัยโรคพันธุกรรม) for paediatric ward of Srinagarind Hospital and associated hospitals. Water analysis unit (งานบริการตรวจสอบคุณภาพน้ำ และผลิตน้ำ) provides water quality assessment service for public and private sectors. The unit also produces ultra-pure laboratory water for research purpose. Additionally, we collaborate with the KKU International Phenome Laboratory (KKUIPL, ห้องปฏิบัติการทางฟีโนมนานาชาติมหาวิทยาลัยขอนแก่น) for analysis of metabolites through metabolomics approach.