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MRIN Invited to Present Health Research at Two Prestigious Japanese Institutions
27-February-2024
The Mochtar Riady Institute for Nanotechnology (MRIN), the first private cancer research institution in Indonesia and part of the UPH Medical Sciences Group, recently took part in two international seminars organized by two of Japan’s top research institutions.
At the Maritime Asian and Pacific Studies international symposium organized by Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies on January 26-28, 2024, MRIN president Prof. dr. Irawan Yusuf, Ph.D. presented research findings on disease burden — the impact of a health problem as measured by financial cost, mortality, morbidity, or other indicators — in the Wallacea region, which covers Sulawesi, Maluku, and Nusa Tenggara Islands.
By applying the syndemic approach, Prof. Irawan with his team seek to investigate why and how certain diseases with high prevalence such as diabetes, hypertension and malaria interact with each other and increase their adverse effects on the health of communities, especially among the poor and vulnerable. Insight into this matter will help to inform policymakers in public health sector to allocate limited health care resources in a more targeted manner.
MRIN was also invited to the 2nd ARISE Annual Meeting hosted by the National Center for Global Health and Medicine (NCGM) on February 5-8, 2024, in Tokyo. ARISE is an alliance of academic research organizations (AROs) established with the aim to promote multiregional clinical trials in ASEAN and East Asia. MRIN is one of the only two institutions from Indonesia to be members of ARISE and to participate in this international symposium.
On this occasion, Prof. Irawan presented MRIN research idea to balance gut microbiota (microorganism that live in human digestive system) to improve the treatment of tuberculosis (TB) in Indonesia. This research is crucial as TB still poses serious public health threats to Indonesia, which ranks second in TB incidence worldwide after India.
Meanwhile, on a separate session, MRIN executive director Dr. rer. nat. dr. Juandy Jo presented about the use of digital tools in clinical trial conducts in Indonesia, which is expected to contribute to the health database buildup in the country in line with the Health Ministry’s Blueprint of Transformation Strategy in Indonesia Health Digital 2024.
As a follow-up of the 2nd ARISE Annual Meeting, two institutes in Japan, NCGM and Center for Clinical and Translational Research of Kyushu University will visit MRIN in February 2024 to discuss and set up Indonesia-Japan collaboration in clinical research.
By continuing to build wider international networking and collaboration, MRIN hopes to elevate its global stature and contribute to medical advancements in Indonesia and beyond.