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Plenary Speaker

Prof. Emeritus Dato’s Ir. Dr. Wan Ramli Wan Daud, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Keynote Speakers

Prof. Jerry Heng | Imperial College London.

BioCrystallisation: Challenges and Opportunities in Protein and Peptide Purification

The purification of high molecular weight new modalities such as proteins and peptides, for their use in biopharmaceutical drug therapeutics, can still account for a significant proportion of the drug development cost. However, advances in the optimisation of crystallisation conditions have seen significant increase in the scalability of peptide/protein crystallisation. Crystallisation provides an attractive isolation step for pharmaceutical products due to its unique ability to purify and control other properties such as particle size distribution, morphology, and polymorphism. In addition, crystallisation offers pharmacokinetic advantages such as better release control and higher bioavailability, and lower impurity loading. This talk will focus on my group’s recent efforts to control nucleation and crystallisation of complex macromolecules such as proteins (including a model monoclonal antibody, Anti-CD20) and homo-peptides; using 3D-nanotemplates for a range of model proteins (eg thaumatin, con A, catalase, etc) and the use of soft templates (eg amino acids) for insulin and the crystallisation behaviour of simple short-chain peptides. For peptides, the effects of chain length and thermodynamic properties (eg solubility) is determined to establish a rational design of the crystallisation conditions using glycine homopeptides as a model. The talk will also present results from our solubility studies for simple peptides in single and binary solvent mixtures, the effect of sequence and protection groups on solubility of peptides, and finally discussing their crystallisation behaviour in the absence and presence of templates. This talk will provide some insights into the challenges and opportunities in crystallisation as a purification unit process for proteins and peptides.

Prof. Samir Kumar Khanal | The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Micro/nanobubbles are tiny bubbles that have wide ranging applications in environmental remediation and agriculture. Due to their several unique properties, such as their high gas solubility, high electrostatic interaction, and their potential formation of reactive oxygen species, micro/nanobubbles can provide opportunities in various environmental remediation applications and different microbial-mediated processes where poorly soluble gases are difficult to supply using conventional technology. The perpetual generation of reactive oxygen species could also offer new avenues in pathogen and biofilm control. With rising population growth and soaring food demand, there is growing demand to enhance food production. Due to the limitations of conventional aeration methods to increase the oxygen solubility threshold, applying an innovative Micro/nanobubbles technology could bring dissolved oxygen levels beyond normal saturation, thus bringing improvements in plant yields. This presentation will showcase some of his efforts in applying nanobubble technology in controlled environment agriculture systems, including aquaponic systems using air and oxygen nanobubbles to enhance plant yields and nutrient solubilization, as well as the use of carbon dioxide nanobubbles to improve macroalgae biomass production.

Prof. Dr. Devi Nandita Choesin | Insitut Teknologi Bandung.

Blue Carbon Engineering: Optimizing Wetland Design for Maximum Sequestration

Mitigation of climate change requires innovative solutions, and coastal wetland ecosystems offer a powerful defense. Mangroves, seagrass meadows and salt marshes capture and store carbon at rates that exceed other natural ecosystems. The carbon sequestered by the world’s coastal and ocean systems is now referred to as “blue carbon”. However, relying on natural processes in blue carbon ecosystems may no longer be adequate, especially considering the continuing threats and degradation of marine ecosystems around the world. Therefore, these ecosystems must be actively engineered to boost their sequestration potential. Blue carbon engineering is the use of technology and design to restore coastal/marine ecosystems so they can optimally trap carbon dioxide and store organic carbon. This presentation highlights the current developments in blue carbon science, then explores how ecological engineering can optimize constructed wetland design, particularly by managing the critical factors of hydrologic control, soil management, and plant/biota selection. Various examples will show action research that bridges the gap between pure science and applied engineering. Besides sharing design frameworks and emerging high-tech solutions, this paper also emphasizes the importance of the concepts of ecosystem, ecosystem health and ecosystem services. When coastal wetlands are destroyed, stored carbon escapes back into the atmosphere as unwanted greenhouse gas. By engineering these spaces to remain healthy, we protect these systems and turn engineering tools into practical climate solutions.

Professor Ir. Dr. Dominic Foo, University of Nottingham Malaysia.

Process Integration Techniques For Decarbonisation

In the last decade, achieving carbon neutrality has become a major focus for various countries and economic sectors globally. Various techniques and planning tools have been proposed in order to achieve the carbon neutrality target by the mid of this century.  Carbon capture, utilisation and storage, as well as negative emission technologies are among those that have received good attention in recent years, apart from the conventional renewable energy.  For effective deployment of these technologies, various planning tools were proposed. Among them, process integration techniques have received good attention and have been utilised in various countries and sectors for decarbonisation efforts. Past works were reported for the use of these  techniques at various scales, ranging from product carbon footprint reduction, plant-level CO2 emissions reduction, to regional or nation-wide greenhouse emission avoidance; which is now known as carbon management network in short. This talk will present various insight-based techniques developed in the past decade in addressing CO2 reduction problems.