Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) students won gold, silver and three bronze medals at the Invention and New Product Exposition 2010 in the US. The Invention and New Product Exposition was held between 16 and 18 June 2010 at the Convention Centre, Monroeville, Pittsburgh. Four UiTM students participated in the expo which saw 700 world researchers competing.
Hazwanie Hashim, a PhD student of the Faculty of Pharmacy, UiTM, Malaysia, won her gold with her research UGT1A1^PROMISE Kit for Personalized Treatment of Irinotecan Therapy in Colorectal Cancer. Her product is a kit to detect UGT1A1 variants before irinotecan treatment. Irinotecan is an anti-tumor drug for colon cancer. The kit assists to identify patients at risk of adverse effects of irinotecan treatment and she said that UGT1A1^PROMISE can be used by hospitals which treat colon cancer.
Silver was won by Master’s student Mohd Hariz Kamaruddin of the Faculty of Applied Sciences through his invention Eggshell-Polymer Special Tiles which he named EPoSTi. EPoSTi is composite tile made by combining polymers and chicken eggshells. Explaining their work in the expo, the use of eggshells in micro size will increase the rigidity and stiffness of the composite, making it a suitable flooring material. This is due to the nature of eggshells which can be used as rigid particulate fillers of the tiles. The combination offers excellent impact resistance, as it is able to withstand force applied to it.
Student Rassimi Abdul Ghani won a bronze by his New Composite Material from Chicken Feather and Amir Fakhrul Islam Abdullah, also a bronze by Natural Additive For New Generation Green Packaging Film. Mohd Razif Shamsuddin, a lecturer of the Faculty of Computer and Mathematics Sciences, Electronic Signature Personality Analysis Tool (eSign PAT) won a bronze.
Reported by Dr Megawati Omar
Research Management Institute
UiTM
