Chemicals abound in daily living raise the risk of harmful exposure to humans; for the average person every morning before she or he even leaves the house, with as much as a hundred of them or more across the range of personal care products.
At the 33rd International Invention, Innovation & Technology Exhibition (ITEX 2022) Malaysia, researchers from Management and Science University (MSU) made a difference.
Bagging Best Invention for Women 2022 as well as a gold medal for MSU under ITEX’s Beauty, Fitness, Sports category and MSU’s key research area of Halal Studies, ‘Halah Lipstick’ is a project by MSU’s School of Pharmacy (SPH).
Led by Saeid Mezail Mawaz, with team members Dr Jiyauddin Khan and Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons) student Nurul Aqilah Azreen Redzal, the project aims to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 for Good Health and Wellbeing; 9 for Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; and 12 for Responsible Consumption and Production.
All natural in its ingredients as well as processes, the food-grade halal product prepared only by melting and moulding has palm oil as its base, beetroot and tomato giving it colour, strawberry for fragrance as well as flavour, and lemon oil preserving the formulation.
With over a hundred billion dollars in revenue having been generated by the beauty industry worldwide in 2022, and the global lipstick market size expected to reach 12.5 billion dollars by 2026, ‘Halah Lipstick’ is rising to the challenge of reducing the use of synthetic materials in meeting beauty and personal care needs through the world halal market.
Three more gold medals to MSU from ITEX 2022 came in through MSU’s Information Technology Innovation Centre (ITIC), Eye Care Centre (iCARE), and Faculty of Health and Life Sciences (FHLS).
‘Smart Poultry Farm Monitoring System’ by ITIC is a collaboration with MSU’s Faculty of Information Sciences and Engineering (FISE). Winning under ITEX’s Agriculture category and MSU’s Big Data key research area, the project is led by MSU Senior Vice-President for Research, Innovation, Technology and System Professor Dato’ Dr Md Gapar Md Johar, with FISE team members Ts Dr Asif Iqbal Hajamydeen, Associate Professor Dr Mohammed Hazim Alkawaz, and Dr Lilysuriazna Raya, Master in Computer Science (by Research) students Naila Zakia Malika and Fatria Jumara Adha at MSU’s School of Graduate Studies (SGS), and Dato’ Nasharuddin Shukor of MSU’s AgroBusiness Sdn Bhd.
‘MSU Assessment Chart for Children with Special Needs’ by iCARE, which had received a gold medal from the Malaysia Technology Expo through the Social Innovations and Entrepreneur Management sub-category of MTE 2022, received the ITEX 2022 gold medal in the Child Care, Special Care category and under MSU’s Blindness Prevention key research area. The project is led by Associate Professor Dr Mohd Zaki Awg Isa, with Master in Health Science student Fairuz Mohd Nordin and Master in Science (by Research) Biomedicine student Mohamad Khamal Haqqim, both at SGS.
‘The Effects of Nevgro® Forte in Treating Depression in Rat Models Induced by Chronic Mild Stress: A Behavioural and Histological Study’ by FHLS received the ITEX 2022 gold medal through the ITEX Medical, Health category, under MSU’s Applied Health Sciences key research area. The project is led by Muhammad Danial Ramli, with FHLS team members Dr Mahathir Mohd Uzid, Associate Professor Dr Norshafarina Shari@Kamarudin, and Anita Zara Weinheimer; as well as Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Hons) student Juwita Junit, industry partner Ganofarm R&D Sdn Bhd researchers Dr Syntyche Seow Ling Sing and Cheng Poh Guat, and Hussin Muhammad of Institute for Medical Research (IMR).
MSU also clinched three silver medals from ITEX 2022 respectively from FISE, FHLS and the School of Education and Social Sciences (SESS) along a bronze medal through FISE