MALANG, May 28 – Representing Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Professor Fahrul Zaman Huyop of Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Science delivered a keynote lecture at the 7th International Conference on Biosciences and Medical Engineering (ICBME 2025), hosted by the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Brawijaya (UB), Indonesia. Jointly organized by UB and UTM, the conference attracted over 300 participants in a hybrid format, including academics, researchers, and students from across Southeast Asia, as well as international attendees from Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. The conference was officially opened by Professor Wisnu Barlianto, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, with welcoming remarks by Dr. Happy Kurnia Permatasari, Chair of the Conference. Pre-conference workshops covered a range of hands-on scientific topics, including Introduction to Cell Culture, Protein Visualization, Molecular Docking-Driven Drug Discovery, and LC-MS for Targeted Metabolomics.

Professor Fahrul’s keynote address, titled “Nutrigenomics and Microbiome Research in Southeast Asian Honey,” explored the scientific and therapeutic potential of regional honey varieties such as Tualang honey and green honey. He emphasized the application of metabarcoding techniques to detect honey adulteration and determine its botanical and geographical origin. By identifying plant DNA sequences present in honey, researchers can verify authenticity based on the local flora foraged by both honey bees and stingless bees.  Drawing on case studies from Malaysia and Indonesia, Professor Fahrul illustrated how regional plant biodiversity contributes to distinct molecular signatures in honey, enabling the authentication of local honey products and helping to prevent mislabeling and commercial fraud.  Also featured at the conference was an invited lecture by Associate Professor Dr. Nik Ahmad Nizam Nik Malek, a UTM expert in nanomaterials, who presented his work on “Antibacterial Activity of Biosynthesized Bauhinia kockiana-Silver Nanoparticles Incorporating Zeolite Y.”

During the visit, Professor Fahrul was also received by Professor Widodo, Rector of UB. In their meeting, both parties discussed expanding collaboration beyond conferences and research grants to include strategic joint initiatives under the International Collaborative Research Schemes – Matching Fund Programme, which was launched by UB more than six months ago. This programme aims to encourage co-funded research projects between international institutions and Brawijaya’s academic community. Professor Widodo also shared an exciting future plan to establish a new Postdoctoral Research Programme based on an online scheme. This initiative will allow candidates to remain in their home countries while focusing on scientific publication writing and engaging in mutually agreed joint research topics with Brawijaya faculty members. The aim is to strengthen research output, international collaboration, and the publication rate among staff at UB.

In his remarks, Professor Fahrul shared the history of ICBME, which was first launched in 2016 by the former Faculty of Biosciences and Medical Engineering, UTM. The conference was established to promote interdisciplinary and interfaculty collaboration in the fields of biosciences and biomedical engineering. Since its inception, ICBME has served as a non-profit platform for knowledge sharing, research networking, and academic partnership building.

One of ICBME’s key goals is to strengthen institutional collaboration through Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), Memoranda of Agreement (MoAs), and Letters of Intent (LOIs) among partner universities. It also supports the publication of conference outputs in peer-reviewed, Scopus-indexed journals to enhance international research visibility.  Professor Fahrul delivered the closing address, expressing gratitude to all participants and organizers. He also expressed his hope that the next edition, ICBME 2026, will be hosted by another Southeast Asian institution to further strengthen regional collaboration, research partnerships, and academic exchange.

Source: UTM NewsHub