Halal product guarantee in Indonesia, especially for food products, is essential considering that the majority of Indonesia’s population is Muslim. One of the efforts to ensure the halalness of food products is to test the ingredients contained therein. To support this effort, the Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia (FTUI) through the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Unit has developed halal testing for food and beverage using the magLEAD 12gC instrument.
MagLEAD 12gC can extract nucleic acids (DNA) quickly, precisely, and affordably. This tool is capable of extracting nucleic acids from any sample including detecting the presence of pig DNA. Magnetic bead extractions can provide more efficient therapeutic delivery of nucleic acids. In addition, the reagent cartridges and in-tip extractions in this tool are able to minimize plastic and reagent waste and reduce contamination.
Dean of FTUI Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, ST., M.Eng., IPU, said that magLEAD 12gC is a grant from Precision System Science (PSS) Co., Ltd., Japan. This grant acts as a follow-up effort to the development of collaboration with Japanese industrial partners which was carried out by the FTUI delegation in November 2022.
“In the future, there will be a lot of research potential by utilizing magLEAD 12gC. FTUI also plans to develop halal testing for food and beverage products as part of the Engineering Entrepreneurship program,” said Prof. Heri.
The magLEAD 12gC instrument is derived from Magtration® technology which has been used in more than 10,000 instruments worldwide. According to a representative from Precision System Science (PSS) Co., Ltd., Hirao Yuki, this tool can extract nucleic acids from any sample. DNA and RNA can be extracted within 30 minutes with a new chemical extraction, which is MagDEA Dx.
With the amplification method, magLEAD 12gC can facilitate the development of PCR (Polymerse Chain Reaction), LAMP (Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification), SmartAmp (Smart Amplification Process), NASBA (Nucleic Acid Sequence-based Amplification), and RPA (Recombinase Polymerase Amplification) through the process of DNA extraction.
After going through coordination with PSS Japan and PT ITS Science Indonesia, magLEAD 12gC now has been installed in the i-CELL FTUI Building. With this device, it is hoped that in the future the Entrepreneurial and Innovation Unit of FTUI with FTUI researchers can focus on developing innovations in testing the halalness of food and beverages.
“In the near future, we hope that FTUI will be able to work with industry parties who are interested in conducting halal testing for their food and beverage products,” said Dr. Muhammad Sahlan, S.Si, M.Eng. as the Head of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Unit of FTUI.
The handover of this grant was carried out at the i-CELL FTUI Building, last Monday (16/01) and was attended by Prof. Masafumi Yohda (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology), Rizal Achmadi (Country Manager of PT ITS Science Indonesia), researchers from the Research Center for Biomedical Engineering (RCBE), and FTUI laboratory assistants. Apart from the handover of the grant, on that occasion, PT ITS Science Indonesia as the device distributor also provided training on the use of magLEAD 12gC to researchers and laboratory assistants.
