6th November, 2012, KUALA LUMPUR – Institute of Bioproduct Development, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (IBD, UTM) is collaborating with a locally renowned security firm, Independent Guarding Services Sdn. Bhd. (IGS) and a UK based vapour sensor technology company, Inscentinel Ltd. (UK) to train and validate the performance of local honey bees (Apis mellifera) as biosensor to detect explosives and drugs for freight and cargo security in South East Asia.
With the current technological advancement and the amazing olfactory perception of honey bees, the knowledge has been transferred into a highly reliable portable biosensor for the detection of trace level of vapour in many applications, not only in fighting terrorism, but also in food safety and disease diagnosis. The performance of bee sniffer for security enforcement is scientifically proven to be comparable to dog sniffer, in addition to the cost effective training conducted for honey bees without the presence of insect expertise.
The development of this technology is widely welcomed, particularly by Islamic countries. During BioMalaysia 2012 which was recently organized at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Dato Mohd Zulyadaen bin Haji Ismail, the Deputy Director of Anti-Narcotics Department of Polis Di Raja Malaysia (PDRM) was impressed by the demonstration of the biosensor system. The demonstration was also witnessed by Mohd Radzi bin Jamalluddin, the Deputy Director of the Chief Government Security Office from the Prime Minister’s Minister, and staff from Prison Department.
“This is another step forward in our international industrial collaborative effort, in which the 3 parties will provide cheaper but effective alternative solutions using our local honeybees in fighting terrorism and drug smuggling which in turn will benefit the government and society” says Prof Ramlan Aziz, Director of IBD. “The cost of a single honeybee is RM1 and takes only five minutes to train. But a sniffer dog would take six months to train and can cost up to RM380,000 a year to use”, he added.
The research will jointly be carried out with IBD’s Metabolic Profiling Laboratory, BIOTECHCORPS’s BioNexus (BNP) Partner and headed by Dr Chua Lee Suan.
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Institute of Bioproduct Development (IBD), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia is a Centre of Excellence focused on Research, Development and Commercialization of innovative bioproducts to support and elevate the nation’s wellness industry. It assists in developing high value components and processing technology for industries such as nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, phytochemicals, flavour and fragrance, food ingredients, probiotics, biofertilizers and biopesticides.
IBD is equipped with multi-purpose facilities and manned by a group of highly skilled multi-disciplinary experienced personnels. Researches are carried out in a ISO certified laboratory to ensure the quality are according to the international standard. IBD serve its customers to develop bioproduct through a complete process. IBD is located at UTM Johor Bahru, strategically near to the state administrative centre – Nusajaya.