Merdeka Awards: Nanotechnology, the promise of the future

UTM

Malaysia’s pioneer in Nanotechnology research Professor Halimaton Hamdan is excited that things are picking up for Science and Technology in the country after a sluggish decade, writes SUZIEANA UDA NAGU NANOTECHNOLOGY — an enabling science that has the potential for creating new knowledge and functional materials and systems — is set to shape and transform all areas of science in the future.

For example, it will revolutionise the pharmaceutical industry by changing the way drugs are produced and delivered.

Malaysia’s pioneer in Nanotechnology studies Professor Halimaton Hamdan says: “The content of a drug is less than 20 per cent of a tablet (drug carrier) — the rest are fillers and binding agents. But with Nanotechnology, we can encapsulate drugs in nanoparticles and use less binding agents.



“This requires further testing but, once proven, it will significantly improve the efficacy of drugs by reducing toxicity and increasing drug absorption, besides minimising costs.” Halimaton, who is the executive director of Enabling Science and Nanotechnology Research Alliance at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), lists the many potentials of Nanotechnology. “It has the prospect of producing clean water supply, greater agriculture production using less labour; and cheap and powerful energy generation.

“It is also a catalyst for green — clean, renewable and non-toxic — technology,” adds Halimaton during her recent talk on The Road Map of National Nanotechnology Initiatives at Universiti Industri Selangor, Shah Alam.

Halimaton is the recipient of the Merdeka Awards 2009 in the Health, Science and Technology category. She was the first awardee to kick off the second Merdeka Awards Lecture Series this year.

Established in 2007, the Merdeka Awards recognise individuals and organisations whose works have contributed to Malaysia’s growth and inspired greatness in its people (see accompanying report).

The 53-year-old made an outstanding contribution to the field of Nanotechnology for the discovery of Maerogel — Malaysian-made aerogel — a cost-effective material made from silica in rice husks, which produces high quality insulation material that can be applied to medicine and construction, among other areas.

The research on Maerogel is groundbreaking as it has significantly lowered the cost of producing commercial aeorogel — which looks like frozen smoke.

“Traditional aerogel costs about RM15,000 per kilogramme, whereas we can produce it for only RM5,000 per kilo,” says the Physical Chemistry professor.