Dr. Ing. Cuk Imawan, M.Si., a lecturer and researcher in Physics at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia, is developing nanoparticles that can be used to inhibit the rate of Covid-19 transmission in the community.

The development was carried out in collaboration with other colleagues on the Bionano Technology team. This was conveyed directly by Dr. Ing. Cuk Imawan during his presentation at the MIPAtalk series 9 event, held virtually on Thursday, August 13, 2020.

In his presentation, the theme presented by Dr. Ing. Cuk Imawan was Prospect of Nanoparticles as Broad Spectrum Antimicrobial Agents.

At the beginning of his presentation, he explained that WHO has predicted that by 2050, the number of cases of diseases caused by AMR (Antimicrobial Resistance), including viruses, will be far greater than the number of cases of other diseases.

This is actually reflected in the Covid-19 pandemic situation, which is currently a serious problem in various parts of the world.

This background is what drives researchers to compete to create innovations and various types of vaccines or antibiotics that can be used to inhibit the rate of transmission of Covid-19.

One of the antibiotic materials currently being developed by Dr. Ing. Cuk Imawan and his team uses nanoparticles. There are at least three methods for producing these nanoparticles: Chemical Synthesis, Physical Method, dan Biological Synthesis.

Proses Chemical Synthesis is done by reacting the ions with a suitable reagent (usually the reagent used is silver). Meanwhile, the process Physichal Method can be done using laser ablation using ZnO – Fe compounds that have been dissolved in water. Meanwhile, for the process Biological Synthesis, can be done by using plant extracts or the help of certain microorganisms.

Currently, Dr. Ing. Cuk Imawan and his team have created tissue containing nanoparticles. Research has shown that the tissue can kill or at least reduce the presence of microbes.

At the end of his presentation, Dr. Ing. Cuk Imawan hoped his presentation would inspire the public to recognize alternative approaches to vaccine development, such as the physics approach using nanoparticles, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

“But an alternative to physics is to create nanoparticles, which, it turns out, can have a spectrum that can kill various microbes quite effectively,” he said.