THURSDAY, 9 JUNE – Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation (IBTP), Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Dr. Takashi Kamada won the Gold Medal award at BioMalaysia 2016 in the medical Biotechnology category.

Held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre recently, the award given was through his research entitled ‘Novel anti-inflammatory drug from Bornean Red Alga Laurencia nangil’ edged other researchers from 12 other universities that competed in the said category.

Speaking to reporters, he said nature had always been a very good source and inspiration in the development of drugs, and the island of Borneo was always lucky to have a vast collection of biodiversity resources rich natural treasures.

“This on-going research will lead to the discovery of new anti-inflammatory agents,” he said, in relation to the study jointly conducted by the Director of IBTP, Professor Dr. Charles S. Vairappan and Chin-Soon Phan.

The award was presented by the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau.

UMS also recorded notable achievements when it successfully won the BioPitch Award at BioMalaysia 2016 through two researchers under the Biotechnology Research Institute (IPB), Associate Professor Dr. Kenneth Rodrigues and Dr. Daisy Vanitha John.

The success was attributed to the production of ‘Lepto-AD’ Leptospira Antigen Detection Kit produced in collaboration with the commercial development and marketing by a company named Platcomm Ventures Sdn. Bhd.

Meanwhile, Deputy Director (Innovation), Centre for Research and Innovation (PPI), Dr. Azaze @ Azizi Abdul Adis was proud of the achievement.

“This strategic approach is important not only to produce high-impact research but at the same time to ensure that educational institutes and researches using public funds to develop scientific solutions to local problems effectively,” he said.  - SS (fl)

Source: Centre for Research and Innovation