Food security is still a challenge in Southeast Asia due to pathogenic bacteria contamination. This contamination is caused by poor sanitation during food processing, storage and presentation. The existence of pathogenic bacteria in food ingredients leads to light diseases, such as diarrhea, up to deadly diseases. According to the data from The National Agency of Drug and Food Control of Republic of Indonesia (BPOM) year 2017, the causes of uncommon cases of food poisoning are dominated by microorganisms, which mainly are unidentified.
Commonly, antibiotics can be used to handle diseases caused by infection. However, resistance to antibiotics keeps increasing. The gene resistance and biofilm development of pathogenic bacteria make antibiotics no longer effective. This matter was elaborated during a scientific presentation by Prof. Dr. Diana Elizabeth Waturangi, the youngest professor of AJCUI Faculty of Biotechnology. According to her, diseases-leading microorganism elimination and knowledge of comprehensive strategies are specially needed.
“Two aspects related to these comprehensive strategies are the need of quick, specific and sensitive molecular development. We have developed molecular-based detection method for some innate pathogenic bacteria. At the same time, an exploration of bioactive components functioning as biofilm is also essential,” she explained during the Inauguration of Professors of AJCUI.
Aside from Prof. Dr. Diana Elizabeth Waturangi, AJCUI also welcomed another professor from Faculty of Education and Language, Prof. Dr. Setiono Sugiharto, S. Pd., M. Hum.
In his scientific presentation titled “Unmasking and resisting linguistic injustice in global academic publishing: towards a politics of locality”, he elaborated that there is linguistic injustice in the context of academic publication. This is caused by English language’s dominating scientific journal and therefore local academicians lose their opportunities to publish their studies.
In fact, the domination of English as global academic language brings up several concerns, such as inequality in knowledge construction, racial politics, linguistic imperialism, linguistic injustice, and intellectual estrangement. Therefore, the professor, who is famously known as a columnist, suggested that there is a need to develop critical understanding among local graduates.
“Aside from graduates who need to think critically, I also hope that government can appreciate accredited local and national journals more and bring these journals to international forums,” said Prof. Dr. Setiono Sugiharto, S. Pd., M. Hum.
These scientific presentations were delivered in the Inauguration of Professors at Campus Semanggi, AJCUI. This event was attended by more than 100 academicians.
The two professors have reputable achievements even before they reached the highest academic achievement. Prof. Dr. Diana Elizabeth Waturangi has once received recognition as the first outstanding lecturer from Association of Catholic Higher Institutions (APTIK) in 2009 and the first rank from LLDikti III in 2010. Moreover, she also often received national and international acknowledgements such as from Indonesia Toray Science Foundation (ITSF) in 2017 and International Society for Infectious Disease (ISID) in 2018.
Meanwhile, Prof. Dr. Setiono Sugiharto, S.Pd. M.Hum. is known as a columnist due to his active contribution in writing for national newspaper. He also achieved the recognition as “Productive National Writer” from Minister of National Education in 2009. His scientific papers in Applied English Linguistics have been published in international journals.