UNAIR NEWS – Undergraduate students of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) of Universitas Airlangga Surabaya succeeded in making bone mass replacement material lost due to bone mass removal and amputation in surgery in case of bone cancer or osteosarcoma. The bone mass replacement, or bone graft , is made from coral fragments.

The team leader of Exacta Research Student Creativity Program (PKM-PE), Hana Zahra Aisyah explained that with four friends of hers she conducted this research to find an alternative to the existing problems as bone cancer in Indonesia is increasing.

Bone cancer or osteosarcoma is a type of cancer that attacks the human bones. Symptoms of this disease are often ignored, because it is often considered as ordinary pain. Treatment to bone cancer can be the removal of bone mass until amputation.

From that problem, Hana Zahra Aisyah, Juliani Nurazizah Setiadiputri, Agisa Prawesti, Danang Pristiono, and Ferisya Kusuma Sari utilized Indonesia’s marine biodiversity in the form of coral reefs as bone mass replacement material.

“In other countries, coral reefs have been utilized as bone graft , but the coral reef itself is included as protected the marine bio-organism with its great potential, we want to maximize its potential without damaging the marine biodiversity, so we use fragments of coral reefs in the beach sand, “said Hana Zahra.

Under the guidance of Djoni Izak Rudyardjo, M.Si., his research is proposed in the PKM-PE program entitled ” Coral Grains as a Hydroxyapatite-Alginate Raw Material for Bone Graft Application in Bone Cancer ( Osteosarcoma )”. After passing a rigorous assessment by General Directorate of Higher Education, this research deserved to get research fund from Kemenristekdikti in 2017 PKM.

Hana added that to increase the strength of this coral reef, the bone graft candidate is also added with Alginate. Alginate is a material compatible with bone and it improves the strength of bone graft.

“We want to give hope for people with bone cancer that the loss of some of the bones is not the end of everything, hopefully our innovation can help them to do their daily activities,” added Agisa Prawesti. (*)

Editor: Bambang Bes