Month: July 2021

In an effort to continue its internationalization effort, the Faculty of Dental Medicine (FKG) Universitas Airlangga held a Meet and Greet session with nine adjunct professors from various countries on May 10, 2021.

In an online session, Dean of FKG UNAIR Dr Agung Sosiawan expressed his gratitude for the presence and assistance from the academics. According to him, the presence of adjunct professors is an effort to increase research results and international collaboration at FKG UNAIR.

“The target is, of course, an improvement of faculty’s ranking. We believe this global collaboration is important. I believe that our coming together is the beginning of collaboration towards success,” he added in the opening session.

Besides Dr Agung, some other FKG UNAIR officials also conveyed strategic steps to achieve these goals. Dr Dian Agustin Wahjuningrum, ,the Head of FKG Publication Center, for example, outlined some FKG strategies to improve research rankings, publications, and international collaboration.

Likewise, the Head of the Research Center, Tania Saskianti, explained the facilities and research group of FKG. The presentation was followed by the Head of FKG’s International Cooperation Unit, Ninuk Hariyani, who explained the scope and progress of the current FKG international collaboration.

The adjunct professors responded to the presentations in the strategic meeting positively. Dr Khairul Anuar bin Shariff from Universiti Malaya Malaysia, for example, expressed his readiness to support FKG UNAIR in improving the quantity and quality of publications.

“We can explore more areas of engineering materials that I have been researching a lot,” added the adjunct professor of the Department of Dental Materials.

Rajesh Ramasamy from Universiti Putra Malaya, Malaysia, explained, “As an adjunct professor in the Department of Dental Radiology, FKG UNAIR, I am ready to increase research and collaboration, especially related to tissue engineering.”

FKG UNAIR also invited Dr. Aspalilah Alias from Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Prof. Rosnah bint Mohd. Zain from Universiti Malaya, Dr Anuj Bhardwaj from Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Prof. Shailesh Deshmukh from Kalinga University India, Prof. Seong-Yong Moon from Chosun University South Korea, Dr Marhazlinda binti Jamaludin from Universiti Malaya, and Dr Haizal Mohd Hussaini from the University of Otago New Zealand.

The nine adjunct professors will be spread across nine departments of FKG UNAIR. Hopefully, this international collaboration will be able to boost the number of publications and research from FKG UNAIR in the near future.

The Asia Youth Speak-Up Forum 2021, organized by the Global Goals Youth in collaboration with the UN-Habitat and Korea National Committee for UN-Habitat, is a premier global virtual forum that engages youth leaders worldwide in collaborations and sharing of knowledge in solving global issues through leadership, negotiation and Sustainable Development  Goals (SDGs) comprehensive events.

Concurrently, the forum is designed to provide delegates with a wealth of international networks that would allow them to collaborate and engage in creating innovative, impactful and meaningful SDGs knowledge.

Participants are allowed the opportunity to enhance and refine their skills in public speaking, identify and improve individual talents and interests, thereby permitting them to effectively create and contribute meaningful ideas in their respective fields. Participants compete in Individual Speak Up Forums, Group Project Presentations, and Content of Presentations on the models used by various countries in implementing SDGs agenda, as well as learn how they could incorporate the activities to support SDGs.

UiTM team’s Nur Faiqah Dayana Abd Rashid, Noor Syairah Azhar and Nurin Miza Afiqah Andrie Dazlee from the Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences (FSKM) were announced as the winner for the Group Project Presentation.

The team, together with the Indonesian team, competed against delegates from Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Chile, India, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Kenya, Gambia, Colombia, and Brazil. Noor Syairah, representing the group, posited the idea of creating a Kids Coding Camp called “Lil Coders Camp” which aims to raise awareness on the importance of coding and to spark interest in computer sciences at a very young age. The three students were successfully mentored by Sanizah Ahmad.

In addition, Nurin Miza Afiqah Adrie Dazlee has made Malaysia proud with her achievement when she emerged as the Best Speaker in the Individual Speak-Up Forum competition. Nurin, who was chosen to represent Malaysia, staged her two-minute pitch on AdaLife by AdaLace, a prototype application that aims to bridge the financial gap for healthcare affordability in the form of crowdfunding.

The event which was held on 6th March 2021, and joined by 155 active youth leaders worldwide, provided a platform for participants to share perspectives and practical solutions to worldwide challenges and crises. The event was officiated by Heeryoung Kim, Manager for Communication UN Habitat for the Korea National Committee.

Participants enjoyed a session on living sustainably by Immanuel Bergmann, the Founder of Coaching for Cause. Meanwhile, Mr Dong-Ryul Kang, the Network Coordinator of Sustainable Development Solution Network (SDSN) Korea delivered a workshop on SDGs Activism, inspiring those young leaders to follow suit in regards to SDGs Activism.

This program has successfully achieved its purpose in enabling youth leaders to come together and share their opinions regarding world issues while enhancing their communication, critical thinking and public speaking skills. They have also gained insights on ways to promote sustainable living. The network built is immeasurable and participants are expected to continue to support and harness their energies in addressing some of the biggest challenges in leadership today. Above all, the young leaders who participated in this event were inspired to advocate sustainable living to their families and peers, promising a great future for the next generation.

On the 21st of May 2021, students from the Electrical Engineering Students Association(EESA) of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Terengganu branch, Malaysia, organized a webinar with a panel of speakers comprised of international students.

The webinar, ‘EESA International Webinar: Undergraduate Student’s Stem Experience’ (previously known as EESA International Stem Conference), was aimed to give an exposure to the various STEM practices one could specialize in as well as the increasing opportunities in each branch of the STEM fields. The talk featured panellists from Malaysia, The United States of America, India, Mexico, Turkey, and Egypt.

The STEM education system and the interest in engineering became the common ground for both the panellists and the 250+ attendees present during the webinar. Among the attendees was the honourable Rector of UiTM Terengganu, Assoc. Prof. Ts. Dr. Mazidah Puteh, who also officiated the programme by sharing her remarkable words with those that were present. Dr Mazidah also attended the full-length webinar in support of the organizers.

The overall number of attendees were made up of both local and international students, as well as professionals. They were given a window of opportunity to interact with the speakers at the final session of the programme. Attendees were allowed to make enquiries and further broaden their knowledge on the relevant subjects.

Each of the panellists was allocated 20-30 minutes to share their understanding and experiences in STEM at their level of study and also to provide insights into the learning culture in their respective universities. One of the panellists, Renee Garcia (nanotechnology engineering major), mentioned how her field of study will help meet the environmental remediation demand of her country given that it receives the support that it needs to flourish.

A few of them even noted important societal issues that play an impact on the education opportunities and quality of engineering majors in their country. One of the issues highlighted was brought up by Zeynep Ozkan, a civil engineering student, who spoke about the internalised misogyny that surrounds her field of study and how it has created this gender gap that is still present today.

This programme successfully bridged students and professionals from around the globe while increasing their comprehension of the progressing STEM field from an undergraduate’s point of view. The diverse content provided by each panellist was impactful to everyone that was present that evening. The power of solidarity that mankind can achieve when intellectual curiosity is enticed, is evident in this conference that for a brief moment in time, united people from across the globe.

This program was managed by Siti Ulfah Sofia, the program organizer and Tengku Nur Izzuddin, the deputy program organizer, Nurin Athirah, the secretary of the program and Atiqah Syahrul as the emcee. The fellow committee members of the program were Firdaus Hakimi, Nurul Syakinah, Nur Atikah Syafiqah, Husna Damia and Ammar Hariz who were involved in handling the multimedia, protocol, technical and registration aspects of the programme .

Lastly, the international representative committee members who are in charge of networking and advertising, Megan Greggor from South Africa and İpek Çakiroglu from Turkey.

The panellists of the programme were Shah Izzati Afzan from Malaysia who is pursuing her Diploma in Electrical Engineering (power) at Universiti Teknologi Mara (Dungun, Terengganu branch); Akshat Totla from India who is majoring in Computer Science at New York University in Abu Dhabi; Zeynep Ozkan from Turkey  who is majoring in Civil Engineering at Hacettepe University, Ankara; Seifeldin Maghawry from Egypt who is pursuing Mechatronics Engineering at Nile University; Ray Lee from the USA who is majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering at University Of Texas at Austin, Texas and lastly, Renee Garcia from Mexico who is pursuing Nanotechnology Engineering at Tecnologico de Monterrey.

Biologists at St Petersburg University have studied mechanisms of regeneration of marine animals and found out what plays the key role in the regeneration of tissues of Alitta virens.  This worm that lives in the White Sea is able to restore lost body segments. However, it turned out that suppression of FGF protein activity disturbs this ability. Similar proteins are found in humans. This discovery may lead to developing methods of fast wound healing. The research findings are published in the journal Genes as part of the project supported by the Russian Science Foundation.

Fibroblast growth factors (FGF) are proteins that play an important role in wound healing and tissue growth. When the need for regeneration of damaged body parts occur, FGFs are produced by epidermis, nervous tissue, macrophages and fibroblasts, which are the main cells of connective tissue. As a result, the process of active cell division and the production of tropocollagen (the structural unit of a collagen fibre) is triggered; the intercellular matrix and the main substance of the connective tissue are synthesised; and the growth of nerves and blood vessels begins.

‘Proteins of the FGF group are currently used in experimental methods of cell culture. They are added to the cocktail of nutritious medium in order to grow various cell cultures of animal origin. However, we can go beyond cell culture, for example, we can use them in fast wound treatment medicine’, explains Vitaly Kozin, Head of the project, Assistant Professor at St Petersburg University.

Embryologists of St Petersburg University studied FGF of Alitta virens. These annelids live in the White Sea. They are the largest annelids (up to half a metre long) and thanks to their unusual colour they look very impressive. They are extremely fecund, live long (three to seven years) and are able to grow lost body parts. Also, one can catch them with a scoop net: during spawning that happens at the end of June – beginning of July, when the animals swarm near the water surface. This is how the researchers gathered them. After that, they fertilised them artificially in a laboratory and grew new individuals in a controlled environment that were suitable for research.

First, the embryologists studied bioinformatics database where they found the genes they were interested in. Then they described the structure and origins of the genes in order to compare them with the part of DNA which play a similar role in humans. Alitta virens has only two ligands (molecules that bind to cell surface thereby transmitting the signal) and two FGF receptors, which is much less than in humans.

Then the scientists extracted these genes products from Alitta virens that were regenerating after damage and cloned their fragments. They synthesised detectable probes that made it possible to see where exactly these genes work in worms. The method is called hybridisation in situ, which means RNA sticking inside the body.

When the time and the place of gene activity were identified, the scientists artificially blocked receptors and intermediates of FGF signalling pathway by adding inhibitors SU5402 and U0126 into seawater where the worms lived. The process was monitored using antibodies with a special colour, fluorescent dyes and impulse labelling of DNA precursors.

It turned out that blocking of FGF affected not only the process of cell division in the damaged part of the body but also the regeneration process in general. The control animals (those that did not receive inhibitors) started cell division in four hours after amputation and regeneration of muscles and nerves were observed for six days, whereas, inhibitors stopped regeneration completely.

‘We managed to study the mechanism of regeneration of the tissues in Alitta virens. This knowledge can be used for therapeutic approaches in regenerative medicine. The study showed that the principal role of FGF in vertebrates and invertebrates does not differ. The analysis showed that participation of FGF in regenerating processes must have existed in a common ancestor of animals with bilateral symmetry that lived 500 million years ago. We are still to find out what was the reason for the slowing of regeneration in humans. This summer we will test synthesised fibroblast growth factor on Alitta virens. Perhaps, its increased level in comparison with a natural one will lead to speeding up regeneration. Also, we need to find out how damaging of tissues activates FGF and what other parts of the genome comply with its signals’, said Vitaly Kozin.