Life Science and Health Innovations Championed by Woman Researchers at ITB
By Vera Citra Utami
Editor Vera Citra Utami
Indonesia is considered as one of the world’s richest
nations in terms of its biodiversity. A large number of diverse species has
been studied extensively by ITB’s researchers resulted in many innovative
products to tackle food and health issues. Many research studies are championed
by woman innovators at ITB. The innovations in life science and health technology
have garnered serveral patents and awards such as L’Oreal Fellowship For Women
in Scince, as well as research grant from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Among the L’Oreal Award recepient is Dr. Fenny Martha
Dwivany. Her research in plant molecular biology is used to overcome
post-harvest fruit problems. Indonesia faces issues in handling of fresh
fruits. Fruit ripening process, such as in banana, is affected by gaseous
phytohormone (ethelyne). This physiological
characteristic leads to a fast ripening process and a short shelf-life. Several innovations to expand the banana shelf life have
been developed by Dr Fenny and her team through molecular biology or nanotechnology approaches and have been subbmited as two ITB’s registered
patents. These technologies will help both farmers and industries to increase agriculture’s
production.
Prof.
Tati Mengko, a leader in biomedical engineering research in Indonesia,
nurtures promising cadre of woman innovators at ITB. Prof Mengko and her team,
Amy Salman and Astri Handayani, developed several medical devices such as
telemetric ECG, non-invasive vascular analyzer, smart stethoscope, and radar-based
breast cancer detection. Prof Mengko team is also working on the community
based eHealth. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as well as IEEE
Foundation have awarded Yoke Irawan and Aliya Koesoema to work on anti-vaccine campaign and the use of
ICT for disaster readiness.
Dr. Heni Rachmawati, a pioneer in pharmaceutical product
innovation, has developed smart formulation for drug delivery to achieve a
proper therapeutic effect for patient. Dr. Heni research innovations deal with
drug release manipulation, selective and specific delivery, and promising
noninvasive delivery system. Some of her
innovations include curcumin nanoparticle for liver supplement, mlinjo
nanoparticle for anti hyperurichemia as well as for whitening agent. Dr. Heni
has successfully established a sustained delivery of bupivacaine HCl for local
and extended anesthetic effect. As compared to their conventional formulations,
these innovative approaches show better therapeutic value.