Wednesday, October 8, 2008

this is my story.....adawiyah....



PART A: About me

Name: Rabi’atul Adawiyah binti Ahmad
Age: 25 years old
Qualifications: Bachelor of Applied Science (Honours) (Biotechnology), Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2005. Currently pursuing Master in Bioprocess Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
Job Title: Research Associate
Employer: Chemical Engineering Pilot Plant (CEPP), University Teknologi Malaysia
What drives me in my work/research: My interest in doing research and I hope with this opportunity, I can learn new things and share my knowledge to contribute new inventions.
3 things I can’t live without: My laptop, hand phone and watch
Postgraduate study: I want to achieve my targets to develop nutraceutical products with scientific proven and fulfill the standard and requirement.

PART B: My background, my postgraduate study and current job

Choosing this area of research/postgraduate study:

I am a person who always looking for new experiences and hopes that I will gain more knowledge by doing postgraduate study. I have considered my own interest to further in bioprocess engineering. In future, with my knowledge and experience, I would like to join pharmaceutical industry to produce variety health supplement from local resources. Synthetic drugs with significant side effects may lead to other health problems. As for that reason, I hope that health supplement from natural resources can be as an alternative to synthetic drugs.

Starting postgraduate studies:

I started my postgraduate studies after a short course in ‘Herbal Plantation and Processing Technology’ and 6 months of working experience as a research assistant at CEPP.

My research/postgraduate study:

My research study is “Study of antidiabetic activity on cinnamon extract”. The purpose of this study is to investigate and prove the efficacy and toxicity of the cinnamon extract and its potential as antidiabetic. It was quite tough field of study since I have to familiar myself with ‘CINNAMON EXTRACTION’, ‘COMPOUND ISOLATION’, ‘ANIMAL STUDY’, ‘COMPOUND DETECTION ‘ and …… since UTM is an engineering university, I face difficulties to do ANIMAL STUDY here…=(

My first challenge is to purify the bio-active constituent name cinnamtannin B1 (CB1) using column chromatography. After one semester focus on the purification to get CB1… unfortunately, I am not succeed to isolate the targeting compound (CB1) but I’ve isolated other compound, known as coumarin. Hehehe…that what research are…rarely you get what you want and accidently you get something else… Recently, I am doing in vitro study on 3T3-L1 adipocytes to identify the potential of glucose uptakes and lipid droplet of cinnamon extract from different source.

The best bits:

Handling cell is the best experience for me. You have to care it as your baby…=). I have learned to motivate myself, always think positive, gain new knowledge and built up my skills in doing research. I also have expanded my networking while doing postgraduate studies.

My work:

In vitro and in vivo studies of antidiabetic activity on cinnamon extract. The experiences and skills help me in my work. Perhaps this study will help me in the future.

Looking ahead/Life after postgraduate study:

I love research and I would like to explore more and built my career in this area. Hopefully, with my new findings can give benefit to people.

My advice:

Although the going gets rough, always believe that you are though enough to make it…..ishoni gambarimasho….=)

1 comment:

F A Abdul Majid, PhD said...

well done, you finally managed to find time to fulfill the task given. I am sure if you apply this small achievement in other context, you will always ahead of others.