USU PR - Prostate cancer is the sixth leading cause of death in Indonesia, with a value of 7.4%. Based on that, a team from the Universitas Sumatera Utara Student Creativity Program (PKM) that competed in PIMNAS made a work entitled "Utilization of Carbon Nanofiber Film Chemosensors from Batang Kecombrang (Etlingera elatior) as a Prostate Cancer Diagnostic Sensitive Material."

The students who are members of the PKM team come from different disciplines: Wardhani Septina Sembiring and Ilham Prayogo from Chemistry, Dhea Alviolita Warman from Agribusiness, Muhammad Nuh Alhudawy from Medical Education, and Yoga Pratama from Physics. They combined ideas from each discipline to create this work.

By utilizing the local natural potential in North Sumatra, the team led by Wardhani utilizes the stem of the kecombrang as a material for making sensors for prostate cancer diagnostic tools.

When interviewed by the USU Public Relations Officer on Friday (10/29/2021), Wardhani said that batang kecombrang has a cellulose content of 48.48%, which can be used as a raw material for making thin films.

“Kecombrang stems have local potential in North Sumatra but have not been used strongly, let alone as materials for sensor manufacture. Meanwhile, this content can potentially be used as a chemosensor,” explained the MIPA Faculty student.

According to Wardhani, the prostate cancer detection tool that already exists has several drawbacks, namely the cost, the procedure, which is quite tricky and painful, and the time it takes. "The sensor that we lift is a urine sensor, so there is no need to injure the patient to detect whether he is infected," Wardhani said.

Not only that, Wardhani also explained that the thin film chemosensor innovation has the advantage of being easy to do and more sensitive. The organic material is relatively easy to obtain and does not need to be expensive.

Wardhani and her team have uploaded their work as a journal as an additional form of output. They will conduct further research for comparison, and this product will also be patented.

“During the presentation, we got beneficial insights from the jury. The questions are unexpected but provide significant input for developing our products,” she said.

During the research process, several stages were divided according to each team participant's discipline.

"For the manufacture of tools, the process of making kecombrang as a material to preparation with a urine sensor, we divide the tasks according to their respective disciplines and capacities," she said.

Wardhani and the team expressed their pride in USU being the host of the 34th PIMNAS. She also thanked USU for guiding his team. He hopes his team can make USU proud by bringing home a medal. She advised USU students to continue to develop innovations and ideas to revive the research climate at USU. "We want to share knowledge with our fellow students so that this inspiration can be passed on to the next generation," Wardhani said. (©ULC)

Author: Irsan Mulyadi - Humas

Interviewee: - - -

Photographer: Humas - Humas