UNAIR NEWS – Kemenristekdikti through Student Creativity Program 2016-2017 has passed the proposal of students of Universitas Airlangga who have succeeded in innovating to make surgical glue for leakage solution at baby heart by using snail mucus ( Achatina sp ).
The innovative team PKMPE (Exacta Research Creativity Program Student) of Faculty of Science and Technology UNAIR are Juliani Nurazizah Setiadiputri, Hana Zahra Aisyah, Putri Nurfriana Ramadhani, Putri Desyntasari, and Diana Fitri.
Under the guidance of their lecturer, Dr. Prihartini Widiyanti, drg., M. Kes., S. Bio.CCD., Juliani and friends’ PKMPE is titled ” Poly Surgical Glue (Glycerol Sebacic Acid) and Mucus Achatina sp. as an Adhesive Agent for Heart Leakage Solution in Infants “. Juliani Nurazizah and friends are entitled to receive research funds from Kemenristekdikti.
Explained by Juliani, the leaky heart disease itself often happens to children. This is the abnormality of macroscopic structures of the heart or intrathorax large blood vessels which have an important or definite function.
Causes of congenital heart abnormalities are various types of drugs consumed by the mother during pregnancy, the disease of the mother itself, exposure to x-rays, and other genetic diseases.
When performing surgery, doctors have a variety of ways to cure this heart leakage. For example with sutures (stitches) and staples . However, the use of this method often leads to many other problems because sutures and staples take a long healing process, causing wound to surrounding tissue and it is not water resistant.
From the problem, five students of the S1 Biomedical Engineering FST UNAIR is innovating the surgical glue as a solution for heart leakage in infants by utilizing mucus from snails, or in other words natural materials easily found in Indonesia.
Surgical glue itself has a good elasticity, it can adapt to dynamic movement of the tissue, has a very good biocompatibility, it is biodegradable, has a high adhesive strength, and resistant to pressure, especially caused by fluids in the body. In this case snail mucus works as an anti-bacterial derived from natural ingredients.
“We want to create an innovation in the field of health, so Indonesia which is currently a consumer can be a producing country in various aspects. We hope that our surgical glue can be a proof that Indonesian students are able to make innovations, especially in health, “Juliani said. (*)
Editor: Bambang Bes
