USM Researchers Win Seven Gold Medals Abroad

GEORGE TOWN (Malaysia), Nov 24 (Bernama) -- A group of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) researchers did Malaysia proud when they brought home seven gold medals from two product invention competitions in Germany and Poland recently. Research group leader Prof Hanafi Ismail said the university scored highest for their product on preserving environmental stability. "With over 100 products from 20 countries being strictly judged, the win means a lot to USM as a research university," he said at a news conference here Wednesday. He said they grabbed four gold medals, two silver and a bronze at the 2011 International Trade Fair for Ideas, Inventions and Products (IENA) in Germany held from Oct 27 to 30. Hanafi said he contributed one gold medal through the FruitPlast product, which is a biodegradable plastic for the future made of rambutan and jackfruit skins in place of petroleum-based plastic. He said another advantage of FruitPlast was that it cost 10 per cent less than conventional plastics used daily. "It is also biodegradable as it is made from waste namely rambutan and jackfruit skin," he added. Hanafi said three other gold medals were won by Prof Abdul Latif with his indigenous biomedical lateral flow membrane product, Assoc Prof Dr S.Srimala who submitted an air purifier product, Dr Lim Boon Huat's genostick which is a rapid universal kit for PCR amplicon detection. The group also obtained three gold, three silver and one bronze at the International Warsaw Invention Show (IWIS 2011) in Poland which took place from Nov 3 to 5. "After competing in Germany, the same group headed to Poland and struck gold with my product, Prof Abdul Latif's product and Dr Zainoodin Sheikh Abdul Kader's submission of a Meli-Dot Enzyme Immunoassay," he added. -- BERNAMA