UniKL Royal College of Medicine Perak is proud to announce that a funding proposal for Associate Professor Dr Mahendran Sekar’s international collaborative research project entitled “Anisotropic nanostructures material-enabled/ embedded mask and sanitizing solution to combat pandemic respiratory disease” has been approved for funding of approximately RM300,000.00 under the ASEAN-India Collaborative R&D scheme under ASEAN-India S&T Development Fund (AISTDF). The funding is from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.

The main objectives of the ASEAN-India Science, Technology and Innovation cooperation are based on the following principles:-

• Encourage and promote cooperation in science, technology and innovation, including through joint research activity, and development on cross-sectoral areas such as health, communicable and emerging infectious diseases, environmental management, climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, agricultural technologies, alternative energy, biodiversity, food processing, advanced materials for the development of value-added products, and space technology and applications;
• Encourage and promote cooperation in biotechnology including through capacity building and joint research and development for mutual benefit.
• Undertake activities and develop programs/ projects under the ASEAN-India Science and Technology Development Fund.

In order to support collaborative Research & Development (R&D) and to facilitate sharing of advanced research facilities among researchers of ASEAN MS and India, India and ASEAN agree to institute the scheme “ASEAN-India Collaborative R&D Program”. The priority area for the year 2021 is “Development of Technology and Innovation for Preventing and Combating Covid-19 Disease”.

In this project, Associate Professor Dr Mahendran Sekar from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, UniKL RCMP, will be collaborating with one of the TOP 10 Universities in the world i.e the National University of Singapore, SINGAPORE.

Three researchers are involved in this project namely:

1. Associate Professor Dr Manav Saxena, Jain University, INDIA.
2. Professor Dr Jayaraman Sivaraman, National University of Singapore, SINGAPORE.
3. Associate Professor Dr Mahendran Sekar, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA.

Congratulations Associate Professor Dr Mahendran Sekar for your achievement!