JOHOR BAHRU- The Institute of Bioproduct Development (IBD) UTM held its 2nd International Postgraduate Symposium in Biotechnology (IPSB) on the 24th and 25th September in Bilik Kuliah 8 and tutorial room, Block C24, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. This seminar was a bi-annual event, served as a platform to promote interactive ways for scholars to submit their research proposals and progress and in return received inspiring ideas, useful hints and constructive criticisms from the audience, experts and academics who were present at the seminar. Also being able to evaluate the overall development of students in IBD, this event afforded students an opportunity to originate as a researcher, instilling trust and improving intellectual deliberation and presentation skill.
IPSB 2019 had focused on various important disciplines of biotechnology and its related areas. It was one of the remarkable events hosted by IBD, after the International Conference on Biotechnology in Wellness Industry (ICBWI). Biotechnology is one of the most exciting areas of scientific research, which is often interdisciplinary and require in-depth study to create and improve products for the betterment of society. Biotechnology is broadly defined as the field of applied sciences intended to improve all manner of problems across multiple fields of human endeavor. Among the most progressive aspects to arise out of the biotech and wellness industries’ are the clinical research and identification or development of ingredients with the potential to impact disease. Graduates in Biotechnology are trained to fuse their technical expertise and contribute their talents across a diverse scope of industries ranging from manufacturing, the service industry and even environmental management.
As the institute continues to strive for continuous innovation, in the last decades, there has been a growing interaction between research and development (R&D) laboratories and so, IBD opted for going through a quality management system based on international requirement standard aimed at improving products and service dependability. Considering this context, the establishment of IBD Laboratory Services accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for the past 10 years presented scenarios where the quality management system must run in an environment where R&D and accredited testing services co-exist. The espousal of this measure is a way to cut costs, reduce test execution deadlines, satisfy clients and increase the quality of the services provided and products produced. The sharing of experience to implement this management system and its impacts towards R&D activities and innovations then was briefly shown in the first ISO book launched today “PEMAHAMAN KEPADA SISTEM KUALITI MAKMAL dan “PENGALAMAN PELAKSANAAN & PENGEKALAN SAMM ISO/IEC 17025 DI MAKMAL ANALISIS IBD, UTM”. The product launch was delayed earlier to concur with the 2nd International Postgraduate Symposium in Biotechnology on the same day.
The seminar began at 8.30 am with prayer recital and welcoming speech by the chairperson of the organizing committee, Prof Dr Hesham El-Enshasy. The event was then officiated by Assoc Prof Dr Noor Hazarina Hashim, the Chair of School of Graduates Studies, UTM. The ceremony was then followed by the launch of ISO book. A total of 90 postgraduate students presented either their research proposals or progress in the two-day time frame. The conference organiser was honored to be able to invite Prof. Dr Enoch Park from Research Green Institute of Science Technology, Shizuoka University and Prof Dr Rosli Md Illias from Research Alliance, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia as keynote speakers in this symposium. The event was closed with the closing remark and announcement of the best presenter award by Prof Dr Hesham EL-Enshasy, the Director of IBD and Prof Dr Enoch Park, Director of RIGST, Shizuoka University.
