Guest Lecture Discussing the Production of Anti-Toxoplasma Immunoglobulin from Mucuna bracteata Plants
- editormkimia
- April 23, 2025
Surabaya, April 23, 2025 — The Chemistry Department of Airlangga University held a guest lecture titled “Plant-Made Protein: Production of Anti-Toxoplasma Immunoglobulin from Mucuna bracteata,” open to undergraduate and master’s students of Chemistry as well as students from other study programs. The event featured Dr. Nazrin Abd Aziz, a lecturer from the Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), as the speaker. The lecture was moderated by Dr. Rico Ramadhan, a faculty member of the Faculty of Science and Technology at Airlangga University.
The event was officially opened by the Head of the Chemistry Department, Dr. Mochammad Zakki Fahmi, who extended a warm welcome to Dr. Aziz. As a token of appreciation, a souvenir exchange took place between Airlangga University and UTM before the lecture session began.
In his presentation, Dr. Aziz introduced Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, which has three main campuses in Johor Bahru, Pagoh, and Kuala Lumpur. He also presented the Innovation Centre in Agritechnology for Advanced Bioprocessing, a research center at UTM focusing on the development of pharmaceutical proteins through molecular pharming—a technique that produces therapeutic proteins using plants as bioreactors.
Dr. Aziz explained that the plant Mucuna bracteata is used as a medium to produce antibodies against the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, the causative agent of toxoplasmosis commonly found in cats. Genetic engineering is performed by transferring the immunoglobulin-encoding DNA into the plant via the bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens. He also compared the performance of Mucuna bracteata with other plants in expressing antibodies. “To produce antibodies, the immunoglobulin gene is given a special signal so that it can be directed to the plant’s endoplasmic reticulum,” Dr. Aziz said when responding to student questions about the production methods and protein functionality within the plants.
During the question and answer session, a master’s student asked about the efficiency comparison between permanent and transient genetic transformation methods. Dr. Aziz explained that the permanent system allows gene integration into the plant genome, whereas the transient method is not permanent and its expression results are often unstable. He also mentioned the possibility of protein degradation by proteases as one of the factors affecting expression outcomes.
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The event concluded with a group photo session involving the speaker, faculty members, and guest lecture participants as documentation and a token of appreciation for the knowledge shared. This guest lecture served as an inspiring platform for the academic community to better understand the potential of plant genetic engineering in the fields of health and modern pharmaceuticals.
Written by: HIMAKI Web Content Team
Edited by: Kautsar Ul Haq
