PENANG, August 2015 – Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Tomsk State University, Russia (TSU) are embarking on cross-disciplinary research in Biopolymers and Biotechnology as agreed in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) inked in March 2015.

According to lecturer from the School of Biological Sciences, USM, Professor Dr K. Sudesh Kumar A/L C. Kanapathi Pillai, USM’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) Professor Dato’ Dr. Muhamad Jantan was committed to ensuring the success of the collaboration between USM and TSU as both institutions possess similar goals of driving excellence; in this instance within the areas of Biopolymers and Biotechnology.

Sudesh added that the collaboration has the potential for research outcomes that will create an impact for the global community, such as producing cost effective, environmentally friendly alternatives for surgical material that are much sought after around the world.

USM and TSU are both climbing the global university rankings and as such, the collaboration between Malaysia’s APEX university and one of Russia’s oldest leading educational institutions has strong potential to develop technology in the area of Biosciences.

TSU researcher and Head of the Biopolymers and Biotechnology Laboratory Dr Anna Nemoykina acknowledged USM’s expertise in the Biosciences and expressed her hope that the collaboration would achieve the desired outcomes for both institutions.

“TSU’s Biopolymer and Biotechnology Laboratory was opened in 2014 and our research is primarily focused on sustainable and environmentally friendly products, especially in synthetic polymers which is one of the courses for our biomedical students,” she added.

When asked about the history of the collaboration, Nemoykina who is currently on a three-month research attachment at USM’s School of Biological Sciences explained that in 2014 her newly founded laboratory was seeking suitable expertise to help establish their Biopolymer research programme. She read many research articles in the area by top researchers in the field from all over the world, especially those with high impact publications before finally selecting Professor Dr Sudesh as her collaborator.

To date, the collaboration with USM has progressed well and is one of TSU’s best international linkages, not only in terms of the level of commitment but also the shared determination to achieve similar long-term goals.

Established in 1878, TSU is one of the oldest universities in Russia and among the top 5 universities in the Russian programme for Competitiveness Enhancement of Leading Russian Universities (Project 5-100). Under Project 5-100 the federal government provides support to selected leading Russian universities with the target of achieving world class level. The success of Project 5-100 will be measured by 5 Russian universities entering the top 100 of global university rankings by 2020.

Translation: Dr. Nurul Farhana Low Abdullah/Text: Siti Naquiah Abdillah/Photo: Hafiz Meah Ghouse Meah