By Nadia Sapuan
Pictures by Shahiddan Saidi

BANGI, 19 April 2017 – A research on hormonal balance disorder in women has led a second year postgraduate student from the Institute of Biological System (INBIOSIS), Nor Afiqah Aleng @Mohamad to win the UKM Three Minutes Thesis Competition (Faculty of Science and Technology Cluster).

Nor Afiqah said her research titled Construction of Protein Network to Understand the Pathogenesis of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) focuses on the disease that causes hormone imbalance among women which can affect or interfere with their menstruation and cause women unable to conceive.

“The research is still ongoing, so we have yet to identify the cause of PCOS,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Zainal Abidin, who presented his thesis entitled Internal Control System for Shariah Compliance in Islamic Financial Institutions won the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities category and Mohamed M.M. Aboras who presented about the Reutilisation of Remnants from Nano Zirconia Blanks for Dental Crown Applications won in a cluster of Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment.

All of them won RM500 and certificate of participation.

They will also represent the UKM to the national level, which will be held at Universiti Putra Malaysia soon.

Malaysian Biotechnology Information Center (MABIC) Executive Director, Dr Mahaletchumy Arujanan said communication skills is very important in presenting research, in order to attract the judges and the audiences to hear and make them stay with the presentation.

“I know that it is very difficult for you to put all the info of your research for three or four years into a presentation for three minutes, but it’s all possible if you regularly practice,” she said.

The competition was officiated by the UKM Pro Vice-Chancellor of Strategy and Corporate Development, Prof Dato’ Ir Dr Mohd Marzuki Mustafa.