SERDANG, 24th NOV – Six researchers from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) successfully seized 9 medals in Brussels Innova 2008 in conjunction with 57th International Innovation exhibition held in Belgium recently.
Head of Malaysian delegation, Associate Prof. Dr. Ratnasamy Muniandy stated that UPM’s success in bagging a special award medal, five gold medals and three silver medals had firmly positioned UPM as top recipient among the Malaysian delegation.
As one of the international jury at the exhibition, he claimed that 98 percent of Malaysian products took in about 60 percent points that is eligible for at least bronze medal during the exhibition held on 12th-15th November recently.
“Malaysian gave other products especially from Russia and Hungary a good run for their money due to the comparable quality. 405 products from 30 countries were put up for contest with 34 products are from Malaysia (six public institutes of higher learning and one research institute),” he added.
Associate Prof. Dr. Lai Oi Ming from the Faculty of Biotechnology and Bimolecular Sciences bagged three medals including the special award, World International Property Organization for the Best Invention Produced by a Women for the product, Novel Catalyst for Production of Acylglycerol Esters which secured a gold medal as well.
She claimed that the novel catalyst will significantly reduce the production cost of Acylglycerol Esters and it can be reused and regenerated for many cycles.
The second gold winning was for the Novel Process for Production of Diacylglycerols from Vegetable Oil; where it is the functional oil known as DAG yielded from vegetable oil hydrolyzed in a control manner by using an immobilized lipase as biocatalyst.
According to him, both products are the fruitful outcome of the collaboration done with Sime Darby Sdn. Bhd.
The third gold medal was awarded to Prof. Dr. Raja Noor Zaliha Raja Abd. Rahman from the same faculty with her product, 205y Lipase: A New Novel Organic Solvent Tolerant Enzyme for Industrial Applications which is a solvent-tolerant enzyme utilized widely in the industry of detergent, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and paper manufacturing.
“This project competently reduces cost and the country does not have to rely on imported enzymes,” she said.
She also claimed the silver medal through RNPeptiZyme ™:A New Novel Protease For Biocatalysis In Organic Solvents which is a new biocatalyst to be applied in synthesis, skin, and foods industry and its potential as cleaning agent in detergent.
Prof. Dr. Azni Idris from the Faculty of Engineering won the fourth gold medal with his product, New Bio-coagulant Using Fungi for Treating Polluted Water and Wastewater where he has developed BioFloc, a non-chemical substance used for river water treatment.
The fifth gold medal belongs to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ishak Aris from the latter faculty with Animated Robotic Language For Children- ANROLAN™ which is a special programming language package developed to assist children as early as six to program robot’s movement.
Another silver medal brought home was awarded to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shuhaimi Mustafa from the Instistute of Halal Products Research with his product, Rapid, Specific and Cheap Real-Time Halal Verification Kit which is able to detect porcine of DNA in food products.
Another medal won was silver awarded to Assoc. Prof. Adzir Mahdi from the Faculty of Engineering with the product Multiwavelength Brillouin-Erbium Fiber Laser, a laser system called Brillouin-Erbium to produce multiwavelength in the same laser cavity at more effective and lower cost.
By Promotion Division, Research Management Center (RMC) and edited by Media Unit, Corporate Communication Division UPM.
CAPTION: From left: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ishak Aris, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Adzir Mahdi, Roger Van Roosbroeck (President of International Jury), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shuhaimi Mustafa, Prof. Dr. Azni Idris, Prof. Dr. Raja Noor Zaliha Raja Abd Rahman and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lai Oi Ming. (Please click on the link below to view the picture)
