JOHOR BAHRU, 2 November 2014 – Allocation from the 10th Malaysia Plan (RMK-10) worth RM 25 million was used by the University Industry Research Laboratory (UIRL) to purchase the latest state-of-the-art equipment in order to support high impact research activities.
UIRL Director, Assoc. Prof. Mustafa Yusof said the equipment purchased was for the four labs in UIRL, namely, the Advanced Mass Spectroscopy Laboratory, Microscopy Laboratory, Analytical Chemistry Laboratory and Surface Science Laboratory.
“The MALDI TOF-TOF MS/MS and Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS) equipment is placed at the Advanced Mass Spectroscopy Laboratory while the Microscopy and Imaging Laboratory received the Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS).
“The Analytical Chemistry Laboratory received equipment comprising a High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS), Gas Chromatography (GC), Inductively Couple Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) and Gas Chromatograply Mass Spectrometer (GCMS),” he said.
Assoc. Prof. Mustaffa added that the Surface Science Laboratory also acquired 9 types of new research equipment comprising an Elemental Analyzer, Temperature-Programmed Desorption, Oxidation, Reduction and Pulse Chemisorptions Analyzer (TPDRO), Surface Area & Pore Analyzer, Thermogavimentry Analyzer (TGA), Fourier Transform Infrared FT-IR Spectrometer (FTIR), Ultra- Violet VIS, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Fluorescence Spectroscopy and Ultra Microtome.
“All of the lab equipment in UIRL have generated RM 250,000.00 in testing service revenue throughout 2014,” said Assoc. Prof. Mustafa.
The second phase of RMK-10’s allocation worth RM129 million (Forth Rolling Plan) has been allocated for the year 2014 and 2016, with RM 46 million being used to buy additional equipment for UIRL and the remaining RM83 million will be distributed to facilitate and enhance teaching and learning activities in UTM. f
UIRL is committed to providing the highest quality in laboratory testing and measurement that conform to customers’ and regulatory requirements. This year of 2014, UIRL purchased QTOF, Q3TOF, Ultramicrotome & AFM, Capillary Electrophoresis TOF, GCMSMS VPSEM, BIOTEM, 2 Units of RAMAN and 2 units of XRD, Nanoparticle Size Analyzer, Semipreparative HPLC, Circular Dichroism (CD), Advanced Electrochemistry System, Polarimeter and many more .
Prof Madya Mustafa said that acquisition of Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) which is capable of viewing particles at the atomic level, worth RM10 million will make UTM the first University which has an Atomic Resolution Microscopy in the south East Asian region.
UIRL promotes a centralized concept of lab equipment use, resulting in the optimization of capital utilization. This means that all UIRL assets and equipment can be accessed and utilized by researchers across disciplines. The centralized concept also results in the reduction of cost through synergies achieved through the elimination of duplication processes and hierarchy in running the lab.
